Since libraries lost their near-monopoly as information providers they once had (Lehman & Nikkel, 2008), it is essential for them to adapt their websites and especially the provided search functionalities to the needs and the workflow of their users. The aim should be to offer the same ease of use, robustness and performance as internet search engines and similar services combined with the quality, trust and relevance traditionally associated with libraries.
Great effort has already been made in this direction. An indication of this is the large number of projects dedicated to the development and provision of so called “next-generation library catalogues” or “discovery tools”. But there is still room for improvements and a lot of libraries still have to take that step.