Survey Of UK HE Institutional Search Engines

About This Document

This document provides information from a survey of UK University search engines. The survey was originally carried out between 16 July and 24 August 1999. The survey was carried out using the list of Higher Education Universities and Colleges provided by HESA.

A report on the survey was published in Ariadne issue 21.

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.

NOTE: An update on this survey is available at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/surveys/uk-he-search-engines/>.

Changes

The following changes were made since the last version was announced. Note that CHANGE indicates a change on the institution's web site and ERROR indicates an error made by the author.

25 Jan 00: UNN changed from Unknown to Harvest ERROR
18 Jan 00: Chester changed from None to ht://Dig Change; Updated code for Open University to make it operational: Error
17 Jan 00: Updated URL for Southampton Institute Change
14 Jan 00: Welsh Collge of Music and Drama has changed from none to SimpleSearch: Change
11 Jan 00: Abertay has changed from none to Verity: Change; Aston has changed from none to Harvest: Change; Napier has changed from none to Microsoft: Change; Stirling has changed from none to ht://Dig: Change
11 Jan 00: Queen's University Belfast has changed from Harvest to ht://Dig: Change; Cranfield has changed from Harvest to ht://Dig: Change
5 Jan 00: Reading has changed from Harvest to ht://Dig: Change; DMU changed URL details: Update; Nene changed URL details: Update
14 Dec 99: University of London (Institutes) changed from Unknown to Netscape: Change
13 Dec 99: Added search form for Anglia: Update; Changed location of search page for Northern College: Update
10 Dec 99: MMU now use AltaVista instead of ht://Dig: Change
5 Nov 99: Bournemouth have installed ht://Dig: Change
15 Oct 99: Warwick uses Harvest. Previously not found due to error by author: Error; Southampton have moved from Harvest to ht://Dig: Change; Strathclyde uses ht://Dig. Previously not found as not located on home page: Error; LGU uses ht://Dig. Previously was SWISH: Change; Roehampton uses MS Index. Previously none found: Change; SBU inform me they use SWISH. Previously labelled as home-grown, as they use unusual URL: Error; Sunderland have moved from Excite to MS SiteServer: Change; Details for NEWI were given twice - once (correcly) for Webinator, and once for Ultraseek. Deleted the Ultraseek entry: Error; Wolverhampton uses ht://Dig. Previously listed incorrectly as Excite: Error; Leeds have moved from Glimpse to ht://Dig: Change

Institution	Name	Search	Location
Aberdeen	eXcite		http://www.abdn.ac.uk/central/search/
Abertay	Verity		http://www.abertay-dundee.ac.uk/search/search1.cfm
Aberystwyth	Microsoft (FrontPage)		http://www.inf.aber.ac.uk/search/searchuwa.html
Anglia Polytechnic University	Harvest		See http://bridge.anglia.ac.uk/www/uni-search.html
Aston	Harvest		http://www.aston.ac.uk/enter.htm
Bangor	Netscape (Web Publisher)		http://www.bangor.ac.uk/search.html
UCL	Netscape (Compass)		http://www.ucl.ac.uk/search/compass/
Bath Spa	None found		See home page
Bath	ht://Dig		http://www.bath.ac.uk/htsearch/
Belfast, The Queen's University of	Infoseek		http://www.qub.ac.uk:8765/
Birkbeck	ht://Dig		http://www.bbk.ac.uk/search.html
Birmingham	eXcite		http://www.bham.ac.uk/webmaster/excite.shtml
Bolton Institute of Higher Education	None found		See home page
Bournemouth University	ht://Dig		See http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/search/
Bradford	ht://Dig		http://www.brad.ac.uk/search/
Bretton College	None found		See home page
Brighton	ht://Dig		http://www.bton.ac.uk/htdig/search.html
Bristol	ht://Dig		http://www.bristol.ac.uk/search/
Brunel	ht://Dig		http://www.brunel.ac.uk/search.html
Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College	None found		See home page
Cambridge	Ultraseek		http://www.cam.ac.uk/Searching/
Canterbury Christ Church	Microsoft (Index Server)		http://www.cant.ac.uk/misc/search.htm
Cardiff	wwwwais		http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/uwcc/search/
Cardiff, University of Wales Institute (UWIC)	Microsoft (FrontPage)		http://www.uwic.ac.uk/search.asp
Central England, University of (UCE)	SWISH		http://www.uce.ac.uk/search/search.htm
Central Lancashire	eXcite		http://www.uclan.ac.uk/excite/AT-sitequery.html
Central School of Speech and Drama	None found		See home page
Cheltenham and Gloucester College of HE	None found		See home page
Chester College	ht://Dig		http://www.chester.ac.uk/htdig/search.php3
Chichester College	None found		See home page
City	ht://Dig		http://www.city.ac.uk/search/
College of Guidance Studies	None found		See home page
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)	Harvest		http://www.dmu.ac.uk/Search/
Derby	Public AltaVista service		http://www.derby.ac.uk/homepage/search.html
Dundee	Maestro		http://somis.ais.dundee.ac.uk/search/www-gtw?server=Search+the+University
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	None available		See home page
Edge Hill	eXcite		http://www.ehche.ac.uk/Architext/index.htm
Edinburgh	Ultraseek		http://www.ed.ac.uk/search.html
Essex	Microsoft (SiteServer)		http://www2.essex.ac.uk/search/
Exeter	eXcite		http://info.ex.ac.uk/public_html/search.html
Falmouth	None found		See home page
Glamorgan	None found		See home page
Glasgow Caledonian University	eXcite		http://www.gcal.ac.uk/web/general/search.html
Glasgow School of Art	None found		See home page
Glasgow	ht://Dig		http://www.gla.ac.uk/search
Goldsmiths College	ht://Dig		http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/search/
Greenwich	None found		See home page
Harper Adams	None found		See home page
Heriot-Watt	None found		See home page
Hertfordshire	None found		See home page
Huddersfield	None found		See home page
Hull	wwwwais		http://www.hull.ac.uk/search.html
Imperial	ht://Dig		http://webindex.cc.ic.ac.uk/
Institute of Education	None found		See home page
Keele	ht://Dig		http://www.keele.ac.uk/search.htm
Kent	ht://Dig		http://www.ukc.ac.uk/search/
Kent Institute of Art and Design	None found		See home page
King Alfred's College, Winchester	None found		See home page
King's College London (KCL)	SWISH-E		http://www.kcl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/kclsearch
Kingston	eXcite		http://www.kingston.ac.uk/~webmast/search/search.htm
Lampeter	None found		See home page
Lancaster	SWISH		http://www.lancs.ac.uk/cgi-bin/swish-cgi.pl
Leeds	Glimpse		http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ghindex.html
Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU)	Netscape Web Publisher		http://www.lmu.ac.uk/quickref.htm
Leicester	ht://Dig		http://www.le.ac.uk/
Lincolnshire and Humberside	None found		See home page
Liverpool	Harvest		http://www.liv.ac.uk/Search/
Liverpool John Moore	Microsoft		http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/
Liverpool Hope	None found		See home page
London Business School	None found		See home page
London Guildhall	ht://Dig		http://www.lgu.ac.uk/ugp/search/
London Institute	None found		See home page
University of London (Institutes)	Netscape		http://www.lon.ac.uk/search/
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/
Loughborough	eXcite		http://www.lboro.ac.uk/
Luton	ht://Dig		http://www.luton.ac.uk/
Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST)	ht://Dig		http://www.umist.ac.uk/
Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)	AltaVista		http://wwwsearch.mmu.ac.uk/
Manchester	ht://Dig		http://search.mcc.ac.uk:8002/
Manchester Business School	Microsoft (Index Server)		http://www.mbs.ac.uk/Search/
Medicine, University of Wales College of	wwwwais		http://www.uwcm.ac.uk/search/all_uwcm/
Middlesex	Microsoft (Index Server)		http://www.mdx.ac.uk/mdx/info/search/
Napier	Microsoft		http://www.napier.ac.uk/search/search.asp
Newcastle	Webinator		http://search.ncl.ac.uk/search.html
Newman	None found		See home page
Newport	Ultraseek		http://www.newport.ac.uk:8765/
North-East Wales Institute of Higher Education (NEWI)	Webinator		http://www.newi.ac.uk/search.htm
North London (UNL)	Ultraseek		http://legacy.unl.ac.uk/seek/
North Riding College Higher Education Corporation	None found		See home page
Northampton, University College	FreeFind (remote index)		http://www.nene.ac.uk/websearch/search.html
Northern College of Education	eXcite		http://www.norcol.ac.uk/Searchsite.html
Northern School of Contemporary Dance	None found		See home page
University of Northumbria at Newcastle	Harvest		http://www.unn.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search.cgi
Norwich School of Art and Design	None found		See home page
Nottingham Trent	Microsoft (SiteServer)		http://www.ntu.ac.uk/search.html
Nottingham	eXcite		http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/Excite/AT-www_nottingham_ac_ukquery.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 (FrontPage)		http://www.paisley.ac.uk/welcome/search.htm
Plymouth	None found		See home page
Portsmouth	ht://Dig		http://web-search.port.ac.uk/htdig/search.html
Queen Margaret University College	Not known		http://www.qmced.ac.uk/
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		http://www.rdg.ac.uk/
Ripon and York St John, College of	None found		See home page
Robert Gordon University	None found		See home page
Roehampton	Microsoft (Index Server)		See home page
Royal Academy of Music	None found		See home page
Royal College of Art	None found		See home page
Royal College of Music	None found		See home page
Royal Holloway	Ultraseek		http://www1.rhbnc.ac.uk:8080/?qc=campus&
Royal Northern College of Music	None available		http://www.rncm.ac.uk/search.html
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama	Search facility not yet available		See home page
Royal Veterinary College	None found		See home page
St Andrews	None found		See home page
St George's Hospital Medical School	eXcite		http://www.sghms.ac.uk/excite/AT-sghmsquery.html
St Mark and St John, College of	None found		See home page
St Mary's College	FreeFind		http://www.smuc.ac.uk/search/
Salford	ht://Dig		http://www.salford.ac.uk/search.html
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)	WebStar		http://www.soas.ac.uk/searchsimple.html
Scottish Agricultural College	Microsoft (FrontPage)		http://www.sac.ac.uk/search.htm
Sheffield Hallam University	SWISH-E		http://www.shu.ac.uk/find/index/
Sheffield	Webinator		http://www.shef.ac.uk/search/
South Bank University	SWISH		http://www.sbu.ac.uk/search_site/
Southampton	ht://Dig		http://www.search.soton.ac.uk/soton/
Southampton Institute	Microsoft (Index Server)		http://www.solent.ac.uk/search/searchsite.asp
Staffordshire	Search service unavailable at time of survey		See Search page
Stirling	ht://Dig		http://www.stir.ac.uk/search.html
Strathclyde	ht://Dig		http://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/quick.html
Sunderland	Microsoft (SiteServer)		http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/trialsearch.html
Surrey Institute of Art and Design	Not known		http://www.surrart.ac.uk/search
Surrey	Muscat		http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Search/
Sussex	Ultraseek		http://search.sussex.ac.uk/USIS/
Swansea Institute of Higher Education	Not found		See home page
Swansea	Harvest		http://www.swan.ac.uk/uws/search/
Teeside	None found		See home page
Thames Valley	eXcite		http://www.tvu.ac.uk/Excite/AT-Public_TVU_Websitequery.html
Trinity and All Saints	WebFind		http://www.tasc.ac.uk/index2/all.html
Trinity College of Music	None found		See home page
Trinity College, Carmarthen	None found		See home page
Ulster	Ultraseeek		http://www.ulst.ac.uk/
University College London	Netscape (Compass)		http://www.ucl.ac.uk/search/compass/
Warwick	Harvest		http://www.warwick.ac.uk/search/
Welsh College of Music and Drama	SimpleSearch		http://www.wcmd.ac.uk/English/Search/search.html
West of England, University of (UWE)	eXcite		http://www.uwe.ac.uk/
Westhill College	None found		See home page
Westminster 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/cgi-bin/search/

Summary

Summaries are given below.

Name	Total	Details
ht://dig	31	Bath - Birkbeck - Bournemouth - Bradford - Brighton - Bristol - Brunel - Cranfield - Chester - City - Coventry - Durham - Glasgow - Goldsmiths - Imperial - Keele - Kent - Leicester - London Guildhall - London School of Hygiene - LSE - Manchester - Oxford - Portsmouth - Reading - Salford - Southampton - Stirling - Strathclyde - UMIST - Wolverhampton - Worcester - York
eXcite	16	Aberdeen - Birmingham - Central Lancashire - Edge Hill - Exeter - Glasgow Caledonian - Kingston - Loughborough - UMIST - Nottingham - Northern College - Oxford Brookes - St George's - Thames Valley - UWE - Worcester
Microsoft	15	Aberystwyth - Canterbury Christ Church - Essex - Liverpool John Moore - Manchester Business School - NTU - Middlesex - Napier - Paisley - Roehampton - Scottish Agricultural College - Southampton Institute - Sunderland - UWIC - Westminster
Ultraseek	8	Cambridge - Edinburgh - Newport - Queen's University Belfast - Royal Holloway - Sussex - Ulster - UNL
Harvest	7	Anglia - Aston - DMU - Liverpool - UNN - Swansea - Warwick
SWISH / SWISH-E	5	KCL - Lancashire - South Bank - Sheffield Hallam - UCE
Thunderstone's Webinator	4	Newcastle - UEA - NWI - Sheffield
Netscape (Compass/Web Publisher)	4	University of London - Bangor - LMU - UCL
wwwwais (formerly available from <http://www.eit.com/>)	3	Cardiff - Hull - UWCM
FreeFind (Remote Index)	2	Northampton - St Mary's College
Muscat	1	Surrey
Maestro	1	Dundee
AltaVista (Product)	1	MMU
AltaVista (Public Service)	1	Derby
WebStar	1	SOAS
WebFind	1	TASC
Verity	1	Abertay
SimpleSearch	1	Welsh College
Other (Not known, home-grown)	3	Open University - Surrey Institute - Queen Margaret University College
None (or not easily found)	50	Aston - Bath Spa - Bolton - Bretton - Bucks - CSSD - Cheltenham - Chichester - COGS - Dartington - East London - Falmouth - Glamorgan - Glasgow School of Arts - Greenwich - Harper Adams - Heriot-Watt - Herts - Huddersfield - Institute of Education - Kent Institute - King Alfred's - Lampeter - Lincolnshire - Liverpool Hope - London Business School - London Institute - Newman - North Riding - Northern School - Norwich - Plymouth - Ravensbourne - Ripon - RGU - Royal Academy - Royal College of Art - Royal College of Music - Royal Northern College of Music - Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama - Royal Veterinary College - St Andrews - St Mark - Swansea Institute - Trinity College of Music - Trinity College - Westhill College - Westminster College - Writtle - Wye
Web site or search engine not available at time of survey	1	Staffordshire
Total	160

WebWatch: UK University Search Engines