Yitzchak - I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have about
Summon.  I will give a brief description to answer your questions - but for
any other questions you might have we can discuss offline as to not spam the
mailing list with lots of propaganda for Summon - thought it is really
awesome and everyone should purchase a subscription :)

Summon is really more than an NGC as we are selling it as a service - a
unified discovery service.  This means that it is a single repository of the
library's content ( subscription content, catalog records, IR data, etc.).
Federated search is not apart of Summon ( thought federated search could be
used along side of Summon), all of your library's content is indexed in a
single repository - no need for broadcast searching.  We have an API for
Summon that allows you to access the service with all of the features that
we offer through the Summon User Interface.  This allows you to "plug"
Summon searching into an NGC such as VuFind or Blacklight (I've done the
development for Summon integration in VuFind already).  Our company is also
working on the Summon integration for AquaBrowser.

I'd be more than happy to give a demonstration for your institution on
Summon so you can see it in action and get a better understanding.

Please email me directly for any other questions - or if you would like to
schedule a demonstation for your library.

Cheers
Andrew

On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 12:03 PM, Yitzchak Schaffer <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Hello all:
>
> I see that there was an Andrew Nagy-led breakout on Summon at the con.
> Summon is a NGC product with the distinction of using a local copy of
> indexes of licensed content (by agreement with Elsevier, JSTOR, et alia) for
> federated search - rather than the traditional Z39.50 or API calls to vendor
> servers.
>
> Can anyone offer a brief summary of what was discussed?  I am particularly
> interested in the feasibility of obtaining local indexes for use in an OSS
> product.
>
> Best,
>
> --
> Yitzchak Schaffer
> Systems Manager
> Touro College Libraries
> 33 West 23rd Street
> New York, NY 10010
> Tel (212) 463-0400 x5230
> Fax (212) 627-3197
> Email [log in to unmask]
> Twitter /torahsyslib
>