Engine of innovation: Building the high performance catalog

Abstract

Numerous studies have indicated that sophisticated web-based search engines have eclipsed the primary importance of the library catalog as the premier tool for researchers in higher education. We submit that the catalog remains central to the research process. Through a series of strategic enhancements, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in partnership with the other members of the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN), has made the catalog a carrier of services in addition to bibliographic data, facilitating not simply discovery, but also delivery of the information researchers seek.