What is a metasearch?
Answer
A metasearch is known by many names: integrated, federated, broad, parallel, cross, single, or simultaneous search, to name a few. In brief, it allows you to search multiple databases from different vendors. At TLU, we refer to the metasearch as QuickSearch because it allows you, simultaneously, to search databases from EBSCO, ProQuest, and ThomsonGale. An example of a simultaneous search confined to one vendor is EBSCO's Academic Search Complete, which searches almost all the EBSCO databases to which TLU has access. To qualify as a true federated search, the search must search databases from different vendors.