Design and implementation of the E-referencer

An expert system Web interface to online catalogs called E-Referencer is be ing developed. An initial prototype has been implemented. The interface has a repertoire of initial search strategies and reformulation strategies tha t it selects and implements to help users retrieve relevant records. It use s the Z39.50 protocol to access library systems on the Internet. This paper describes the design and implementation of the E-Referencer. A preliminary evaluation of the strategies is also presented. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.