While the Internet is a terrific source of information, the problem is finding it. There are numerous free and commercial search engines one may use, but none cover everything. Many sources publish their information but provide no method for searching. Recently, with the advent of database driven sites, a new problem has arisen - there is nothing for these search engines to index. To solve this problem, the DILT initiated the Consolidated Search.
Users specify their search criteria once and identify the sources to be included.
The DILT search process then proxies the user's search to each specified source. The material being searched was previously indexed directly by the DILT or the external source's own search engine is called upon. The user is presented with a list of matches where most duplicates have been removed. The sources to include in the search are configurable for each hosted client. As commercial search methods improve accuracy and provide standard options, the DILT consolidated search will become an even more useful tool.