Students of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) will now have access to a world of knowledge with the launch of the Next-Generation Melvyl search engine. Designed to replace the current Melvyl library search software, Next-Generation Melvyl will be capable of searching all University of California libraries and UC books digitised by Google. In addition, the search engine will grant UC students and affiliates consolidated access to the WorldCat global catalogue. The WorldCat global catalogue is an online computer library center which contains library records from around the world.
The Next-Generation Melvyl seeks to improve search capabilities by providing a more interactive platform for users. Though the search engine is still in its beta phase, it will eventually be a compendium of resources from all 10 UC campus libraries and will serve as an electronic entry into library catalogues throughout the world.
The UC library system will bring this new version into mainstream usage for the next six months, at which point a decision will be made whether or not to proceed with the programme.
