For the first time, a USC student can now sit down at a computer, open a single Web interface and search across not only the university’s conventional library holdings but also its subscription databases.

Such a “smart” browser for academic researchers is available thanks to an innovative Scholars Portal developed by USC and partner institutions – all members of the Association of Research Libraries.

“USC joined with Dartmouth, Iowa State, the University of Arizona, Arizona State, the University of Utah and UC San Diego in the initial phase of what became a three-year project,” said USC librarian and digital information specialist Deborah Holmes-Wong, who has been working with ARL on the project since its inception.

This spring, a pilot version of the Scholars Portal was launched at http://www.usc.edu/isd/sp.

For the first phase of the project, 40 resources were configured for searching, including all of the participating universities’ library catalogs and subscription databases.

The Scholars Portal does not replace USC library catalogs or other systems already in place but rather facilitates their use.

In recent weeks, project team members have conducted an evaluation of the Scholars Portal interface with students, soliciting faculty feedback and assembling focus groups to determine what databases should be added and which profiles needed to be created to make the portal useful to scholars pursuing more in-depth research.

Jerry D. Campbell, USC’s chief information officer and dean of University Libraries, has led the creation of a Scholars Portal.

Campbell developed a white paper in 2000 that enticed ARL to develop a multi-institutional portal under his initial leadership. In spring 2002, the ARL signed a contract with a software developer, Fretwell-Downing Inc., to begin work on the project.

Fretwell-Downing’s software allows users to execute a single search that queries library catalogs, subscription databases and Web sites to retrieve results from all of these resources through a common interface.

The user can then click on the appropriate button either to acquire information about local holdings or to call up full-text displays, should they be available.

The potential benefits of the Scholars Portal are substantial, Campbell said.

“Existing library Web pages are focused on individual libraries. Consequently, with rare exceptions, Web access hosted by libraries is not designed to serve as a general entry point for the larger world of Web services,” he explained. “Neither are the multitude of individual library Web pages equal to a single, widely known, dependable beginning place for research in the Web environment.”

Existing commercial search engines, such as Google, do not yet fill the bill. While current search engines do search efficiently for resources on pages that their indexing programs can reach, most library pages are locked away out of reach.

Some universities have placed signature collections in special areas that make them hard to find. But the missing link needed by a researcher may be hiding in plain sight, in an unlikely spot and never be found unless a scholar tries every index in the country individually.

Many universities also subscribe to specialized indexes whose content is not made freely available on the Internet and not indexed in popular search engines. Unlike Google, these indices cover digital content, as well as resources available exclusively in print, many of which go well back in time.

The Scholars Portal geological database, for example, indexes geoscience articles, books and papers dating back to 1785.

Turning what is known as “federated searching” into reality has required an extensive program of refinement.

The initial idea of a single, standard interface that would search holdings everywhere in the academic universe was modified in favor of an interim structure in which sites retain their individual institution’s personality.

The original seven ARL institutions will report back to general membership on their pioneering experiences. Now that the initial project is completed, several of the original partners are planning a new project to enhance the portal.

Though a single, consolidated Scholars Portal will not take shape for years, Campbell continues to believe in the vision.

“Whether it will evolve from Google’s current efforts, this particular Scholars Portal or another portal project, what we have created at USC will enable us to improve user search capability during the interim,” he said.

Those with questions about Scholars Portal or who would like to provide feedback about its usefulness can contact Deborah Holmes-Wong at dhwong@usc.edu.