An Evaluation of the Usefulness of Multi-Search Engines in Scholarly Communication

Abstract

Academics often use publications from a wide range of sources. Multi-search engines enable simultaneous online searching of these distributed resources, which is claimed to make working easier for users interested in publications on a given topic. Because some multi-search engines are sold as commercial software, often at considerable cost, it may be asked whether the use of such software in an academic environment is beneficial and economically justified. Does the academic community in fact perceive a need to use these programs? Is their function not performed equally well by Google Scholar? Is it not more effective to make exclusive use of specialist databases? These questions are investigated by comparing the effectiveness of searching using Google Scholar and the Primo search engine.