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The introduction of DIALOG's OneSearch was hailed in the online community as a major step forward in online searching. The ability to search multiple databases simultaneously greatly simplifies the search process and saves both time and money. The duplicate removal (RD) command made OneSearch even more effective. DataStar, today a sister Knight-Ridder Information Inc. company, approached multiple database searching and duplicate detection in a different fashion. While DIALOG OneSearch operates in a seemingly simultaneous mode, in response to a single search request, DataStar's StarSearch uses a sequential approach, requiring multiple and sequential database selections to show results. Both approaches produce fast, accurate results from their structured and growing databases.
Enter the Internet. Along with the phenomenal growth in Internet resources came Internet search engines that automatically comb the Web, indexing resources. Alta Vista, InfoSeek, HotBot, and Magellan have become common names among information seekers. Each has a different method for searching and a different database of resources. Unique records can be identified using each of the major Internet finding aids.
So, is there something like DIALOG's OneSearch or DataStar's StarSearch capability on the Net? Since none of the search engines is comprehensive, why not search them all at once? Sure enough, numerous sites have tackled the task of creating a mega search page for searching multiple search engines. These "allin-one" pages include sites such as the All-in-One page, MetaCrawler, Savvy Search, and more.
Like the search engines themselves, these multiple database searches each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Since each search engine uses different techniques and there is no commonly accepted way of performing even such basic functions as a Boolean AND, these all-in-one approaches can lead to some unexpected -even inaccurate-results. A second disadvantage is that, by reaching out to multiple, and often very busy, services, they can be rather slow.
MEGA SEARCHERS EXPLAINED
So what exactly are these mega search services? First, they do not create their own databases; rather, they rely on databases gathered by other Internet search engines, such as Alta Vista, HotBot, and Infoseek. Instead of building their own database, they provide a search interface for submitting queries to multiple finding aids. To achieve this, the mega search engines use one of two approaches.
Some list search engines and...