SR281 Summary of the implementation of a fire research federated search element (2018)

This is a summary of the development and implementation of a fire research search element developed to facilitate the electronic search of international fire research literature in a single location.

The fire research community has large amounts of ever-growing research outputs and information in a vast array of formats located in discrete repositories around the world. This fragmented environment is collectively inefficient, resulting in a loss of unidentified opportunities to use research outputs, increasing duplication and limiting project sizes, scope and impact. There is an opportunity to more effectively utilise our fire information.

To improve the search process and access to relevant fire research and fire safety information, a collaborative effort was undertaken to develop and implement a federated search element for the international fire community. A federated search tool is located on a single website, through which a user can search a collection of online fire repositories, webbased information and databases to locate relevant papers from a wide range of sources.