Open‐source tools for enhancing full‐text searching of OPACs

Abstract

PurposeThere are many library automation packages available as open‐source software, comprising two modules: staff‐client module and online public access catalogue (OPAC). Although the OPAC of these library automation packages provides advanced features of searching and retrieval of bibliographic records, none of them facilitate full‐text searching. Most of the available open‐source digital library software facilitates indexing and searching of full‐text documents in different formats. This paper makes an effort to enable full‐text search features in the widely used open‐source library automation package Koha, by integrating it with two open‐source digital library software packages, Greenstone Digital Library Software (GSDL) and Fedora Generic Search Service (FGSS), independently.Design/methodology/approachThe implementation is done by making use of the Search and Retrieval by URL (SRU) feature available in Koha, GSDL and FGSS. The full‐text documents are indexed both in Koha and GSDL and FGSS.FindingsFull‐text searching capability in Koha is achieved by integrating either GSDL or FGSS into Koha and by passing an SRU request to GSDL or FGSS from Koha. The full‐text documents are indexed both in the library automation package (Koha) and digital library software (GSDL, FGSS)Originality/valueThis is the first implementation enabling the full‐text search feature in a library automation software by integrating it into digital library software.