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Case Study
Inside Indiana U's Move to ChaCha
University to bolster research with guided search functionality
8/8/2007
www.kb.iu.edu, and through IU's "Ask a Librarian" service, all will use ChaCha's search platform.Since those searches will originate from with IU's site, librarians will know that the search customer is an IU student, faculty or staff member. Librarians will be available through a live instant-messaging chat interface. Other search engines, including Google, will continue to be available for conventional searches. "It also allows us to bring our subject expertise to bear," Walters said, since questions can be handed off to an appropriate expert--a librarian for now, but eventually a faculty member or even perhaps a student--through the IU and ChaCha system.
A huge benefit to IU librarians from the ChaCha arrangement, Walters explained, will be the ability to begin building a knowledgebase of commonly asked questions, along with standard reference sites and suggestions for research. An introductory English class, for example, assigns students a writing project each year that generates the same resource questions from students year after year. Using data gathered through ChaCha queries, librarians can formally create what they already have built informally in many areas of the IU site: links to resources specific to certain IU courses and assignments.
Offering guided searches is hardly a new business for any university, Wheeler said. "We're [already] in the guided search business," he pointed out, through resources as varied as the library reference desk, tech support help line, and health center--all places where students looking for information call on faculty and staff.
The arrangement with ChaCha will help formalize and standardized that process, he explained, moving every part of the university to the same generalized platform for guided searches. "Many will use algorithmic searches ... and move on," Wheeler said. "But when you value that expertise," students or faculty may well turn to ChaCha for human-guided search instead, he said.
For now, the pilot project includes the Bloomington and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campuses; eventually, the school said, IU's other six campuses will be included.
Read More:
- Indiana University
- ChaCha
- Indiana University FAQ about the Implementation
- Related Article: Indiana U Partners with ChaCha for Academic Search
Linda L. Briggs is a freelance writer based in San Diego, Calif.
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