A new federal search engine called Summon is making all the difference for the University of Miami community.
Students finally have access to an efficient search engine that provides results that apply directly to their subject matter.
“I have always hated doing research for my writing intensive classes,” sophomore Melissa Berkowitz said. “I used Summon for my first paper of the year and cut my researching hours in half! It is so organized and easy to use, I think it definitely made a difference in my grade on the paper.”
The Summon search box, located at the top of the Otto G. Richter Library’s Web site, and therefore widely accessible, can search across disciplines and formats instantly. Results are ranked in a single list, unlike the old system where results were ranked by relevance only within each database, instead of one clean, compiled list.
Scott Britton, a spokesperson for the Richter Library said Summon is a big help for everyone who wants a broad, simple search on a topic “without requiring people to know which databases are most appropriate for the subject.”
Summon has access to more than five million records, including the library books and most major journal publishers.
Danielle Landau may be contacted at dlandau@themiamihurricane.com.