WebWatch: UK University Search EnginesThis document provides information from a survey of UK University search engines. The survey was originally carried out between 16 July and 24 August 1999 and is updated periodically. This page contains access to the survey carried out in June 2003.
A report on the survey was published in Ariadne issue 21. An updated report was published in Ariadne issue 30 in January 2002.
Please note that this page contains a simplified interface to the institution's searching service.
Also note that this page contains an interface to search engines as originally recorded in July/August 1999. The information will be updated periodically in order to monitor trends. If you do notice any errors or changes please contact Brian Kelly.
| Institution | Name | Search | Location |
| Aberdeen | ht://Dig (and Google) | http://www.abdn.ac.uk/central/search/ | |
| Abertay | ColdFusion | http://www.abertay-dundee.ac.uk/ | |
| Aberystwyth | Microsoft | http://www.aber.ac.uk/search.shtml | |
| Anglia Polytechnic University | ht://Dig | http://www.anglia.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Aston | ht://Dig | http://www.aston.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Bangor | ht://Dig | http://www.bangor.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Bath Spa | Freefind | http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Bath | ht://Dig | http://www.bath.ac.uk/htsearch/ | |
| Belfast, The Queen's University of | Ultraseek | http://search.qub.ac.uk/ | |
| Birkbeck | ht://Dig | http://www.bbk.ac.uk/search.html | |
| Birmingham | Inktomi | http://www.search.bham.ac.uk/ | |
| Bolton Institute of Higher Education | ht://Dig | http://www.bolton.ac.uk/ | |
| Bournemouth University | ht://Dig | http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Bradford | ht://Dig | http://www.brad.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Brighton | ht://Dig | http://www.bton.ac.uk/ | |
| Bristol | ht://Dig and Google | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/search/ |
|
| Brunel | ht://Dig | http://www.brunel.ac.uk/search.html | |
| Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College (BCUC) | Microsoft | http://www.bcuc.ac.uk/ | |
| Cambridge | Inktomi | http://www.cam.ac.uk/global/search/ | |
| Canterbury Christ Church | Microsoft (Index Server) | http://www.cant.ac.uk/misc/search.htm | |
| Cardiff | Ultraseek | http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/searching/ | |
| Cardiff, University of Wales Institute (UWIC) | Microsoft (IIS) | http://www.uwic.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Central England, University of (UCE) | Perlfect Search | http://www.uce.ac.uk/ | |
| Central Lancashire | eXcite | http://www.uclan.ac.uk/excite/AT-sitequery.html | |
| Central School of Speech and Drama | Atomz | http://www.cssd.ac.uk/search/searchframe9.html | |
| University of Gloucester (was Cheltenham and Gloucester College of HE) | None found | See home page | |
| Chester College | ht://Dig | http://www.chester.ac.uk/htdig/search.html | |
| University College Chichester (UCC) | ColdFusion | http://www.ucc.ac.uk/search.cfm | |
| City | ht://Dig | http://www.city.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Coventry | ht://Dig | http://www.coventry.ac.uk/htdig/search.html | |
| Cranfield | ht://Dig | http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/search.htm | |
| Dartington College of Arts | None found | See home page | |
| De Montfort (DMU) | ht://Dig | http://www.dmu.ac.uk/ | |
| Derby | http://www.derby.ac.uk/fastq.html | ||
| Dundee | Maestro | http://www.somis.dundee.ac.uk/search/www-gtw | |
| Durham | ht://Dig | http://www.dur.ac.uk/search/input.htm | |
| East Anglia, University of (UEA) | Webinator | http://www.uea.ac.uk/cgi-bin/uea/search/texis/webinator/search?db=uea_dbs/uea_public | |
| East London | Not known | http://www.uel.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Edge Hill | eXcite | http://www.ehche.ac.uk/Architext/index.htm | |
| Edinburgh | Ultraseek | http://www.ed.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Essex | Microsoft (SiteServer) | http://www2.essex.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Exeter | ht://Dig | http://www.ex.ac.uk/public_html/search.html | |
| Falmouth | Microsoft | http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/ | |
| Glamorgan | ht://Dig | http://www.glam.ac.uk/ | |
| Glasgow Caledonian University | Inktomi | http://www.gcal.ac.uk/itsc/search.htm | |
| Glasgow School of Art | http://www.gsa.ac.uk/contents.html | ||
| Glasgow | ht://Dig | http://www.gla.ac.uk/search | |
| Goldsmiths College | Unknown | http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/ | |
| Greenwich | Picosearch | http://www.gre.ac.uk/ | |
| Harper Adams | Unknown | http://www.harper-adams.ac.uk/ss.html | |
| Heriot-Watt | ht://Dig | http://www.hw.ac.uk/ | |
| Hertfordshire | Unknown | http://www.herts.ac.uk/ | |
| Huddersfield | http://www.huddersfield.ac.uk/search/search.html | ||
| Hull | ht://Dig | http://www.hull.ac.uk/ | |
| Imperial | ht://Dig | http://webindex.cc.ic.ac.uk/ | |
| Institute of Education | Homegrown | http://www.ioe.ac.uk/ | |
| Keele | ht://Dig | http://www.keele.ac.uk/search.htm | |
| Kent | ht://Dig | http://www.kent.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Kent Institute of Art and Design | http://www.kiad.ac.uk/htm_hub.htm | ||
| King Alfred's College, Winchester | None | See home page | |
| King's College London (KCL) | ht://Dig | http://www.kcl.ac.uk/htdig/htsearch.html/ | |
| Kingston | ht://Dig | http://www.kingston.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Lampeter | http://www.lamp.ac.uk/search.html | ||
| Lancaster | http://www.lancs.ac.uk/search.htm | ||
| Leeds | http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ | ||
| Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) | Ultraseek | http://www.lmu.ac.uk/rightcol/search.htm | |
| Leicester | ht://Dig | http://www.le.ac.uk/cwis/searchsite.html | |
| Lincolnshire and Humberside | None found | See home page | |
| Liverpool | Harvest-NG / Zebra | http://www.liv.ac.uk/NewSearchEngine/Everything/ | |
| Liverpool John Moore | Microsoft | http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/ | |
| Liverpool Hope | None found | See home page | |
| London Business School | Infoseek | http://search.london.edu/ | |
| London Guildhall | ht://Dig | http://www.lgu.ac.uk/homepage.html | |
| London Institute | None found | See home page | |
| University of London (Institutes) | Atomz | http://www.lon.ac.uk/search.htm | |
| London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) | ht://Dig | http://www.lse.ac.uk/search.html | |
| London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine | ht://Dig | http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Loughborough | eXcite | http://www.lboro.ac.uk/ | |
| Luton | ht://Dig | http://www.luton.ac.uk/ | |
| Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST) | Microsoft | http://www.umist.ac.uk/ | |
| Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) | AltaVista | http://wwwsearch.mmu.ac.uk/ | |
| Manchester | ht://Dig | http://search.mcc.ac.uk/man/ | |
| Manchester Business School | http://www.mbs.ac.uk/Search/ | ||
| Medicine, University of Wales College of (UWCM) | Microsoft | http://www.uwcm.ac.uk/search.htm | |
| Middlesex | Microsoft (Index Server) | http://www.mdx.ac.uk/ | |
| Napier | Unknown | http://www.napier.ac.uk/ | |
| Newcastle | Webinator | http://search.ncl.ac.uk/search.html | |
| Newman | http://www.newman.ac.uk/ | ||
| Newport | http://www.newport.ac.uk/search/index.htm | ||
| North-East Wales Institute of Higher Education (NEWI) | Webinator | http://www.newi.ac.uk/search.htm | |
| North London (UNL) | Inktomi | http://www.unl.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Northampton, University College | http://www.nene.ac.uk/websearch/sitesearch.html | ||
| Northern School of Contemporary Dance | None found | See home page | |
| University of Northumbria at Newcastle | ht://Dig | http://online.unn.ac.uk/ | |
| Norwich School of Art and Design | None found | See home page | |
| Nottingham Trent (NTU) | None | See home page | |
| Nottingham | http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/search.html | ||
| Open University | In-house | http://www.open.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Oxford | ht://Dig | http://wwwsearch.ox.ac.uk/ | |
| Oxford Brookes | eXcite | http://www.brookes.ac.uk/search/search.html | |
| Paisley | Microsoft | http://www.paisley.ac.uk/search.asp | |
| Plymouth | Microsoft | http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/pages/search.asp | |
| Portsmouth | ht://Dig | http://web-search.port.ac.uk/search.shtml | |
| Queen Margaret University College | ColdFusion | http://www.qmced.ac.uk/search/index.cfm | |
| Queen Mary and Westfield College | ht://Dig | http://www.qmw.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication | None found | See home page | |
| Reading | ht://Dig and Google | http://www.rdg.ac.uk/search/ | |
| York St John College | Not Available | http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/apps/site/search/default.asp?SearchArea=All&Parent_ID=734 | |
| Robert Gordon University | ColdFusion | http://www.rgu.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Roehampton | Microsoft | http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Royal Academy of Music | http://www.ram.ac.uk/search2.htm | ||
| Royal College of Art | None found | See home page | |
| Royal College of Music | Not Known | http://www.rcm.ac.uk/main.asp?display=Search&link=site | |
| Royal Holloway | Ultraseek | http://web.rhul.ac.uk/Search/ | |
| Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) | Microsoft search engine | http://www.rncm.ac.uk/site_search.asp | |
| Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama | None found | See home page | |
| Royal Veterinary College | http://www.rvc.ac.uk/help/search.cfm | ||
| St Andrews | ht://Dig | http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/ | |
| St George's Hospital Medical School | ht://Dig | http://www.sghms.ac.uk/ | |
| St Mark and St John, College of | http://www.marjon.ac.uk/search/ | ||
| St Mary's College | Microsoft | http://www.smuc.ac.uk/search.asp | |
| Salford | ht://Dig | http://search.salford.ac.uk/ | |
| School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) | ColdFusion? | http://www.soas.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Scottish Agricultural College | Microsoft (FrontPage) | http://www.soas.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Sheffield Hallam University | ht://Dig | http://www.shu.ac.uk/ | |
| Sheffield | Webinator | http://www.shef.ac.uk/search/ | |
| South Bank University | http://www.sbu.ac.uk/search/ | ||
| Southampton | ht://Dig | http://www.search.soton.ac.uk/soton/ | |
| Southampton Institute (Solent) | http://www.solent.ac.uk/search.asp | ||
| Staffordshire | http://www.staffs.ac.uk/search/ | ||
| Stirling | ht://Dig | http://www.external.stir.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Strathclyde | ht://Dig | http://www.strath.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Sunderland | None Found | See home page | |
| Surrey Institute of Art and Design | Atomz | http://www.surrart.ac.uk/search.html | |
| Surrey | http://www.surrey.ac.uk/search/ | ||
| Sussex | Inktomi | http://search.sussex.ac.uk/USIS/ | |
| Swansea Institute of Higher Education | ht://Dig | http://193.62.88.76/htdig/search.html | |
| Swansea | ht://Dig | http://www.swan.ac.uk/uws/search/ | |
| Teeside | ColdFusion? | http://www.tees.ac.uk/search.cfm | |
| Thames Valley Univesity (TVU) | Netscape | http://www.tvu.ac.uk/search | |
| Trinity and All Saints (TASC) | Microsoft | http://www.tasc.ac.uk/search.asp | |
| Trinity College of Music | Microsoft | http://www.tcm.ac.uk/rpmServer/generatorSystem/asp/rpmServer_GoGenerate.asp?PageMode=frameset& | |
| Trinity College, Carmarthen | Microsoft | http://www.trinity-cm.ac.uk/search/ | |
| Ulster | Ultraseeek | http://search.ulst.ac.uk/ | |
| University College London (UCL) | ht://Dig | http://www-search.ucl.ac.uk/htdig/ | |
| Wales | Microsoft | http://www.wales.ac.uk/ | |
| Warwick | ht://Dig and Google |
|
http://www.warwick.ac.uk/search/ |
| Welsh College of Music and Drama | Fluid Dynamics Search Engine | http://www.wcmd.ac.uk/search/ | |
| West of England, University of (UWE) | ht://Dig | http://www.uwe.ac.uk/ | |
| Westhill College | None found | See home page | |
| Westminster | Microsoft (Index Server) | http://www.westminster.ac.uk/advquery.asp | |
| Wolverhampton | ht://Dig | http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/search.html | |
| Worcester, University College | ht://Dig | http://www.worc.ac.uk/search.html | |
| Writtle College | None found | See home page | |
| Wye College | None found | See home page | |
| York | ht://Dig | http://www.york.ac.uk/search/ |
Summaries are given below.