A comparison of the union catalogs of the Egyptian University Library Consortium and OhioLINK

The study aimed at comparing the Union Catalog of the Egyptian University Library Consortium and that of OhioLINK by examining the components of each union catalog, searching strategies (simple search, advanced search); the types of records they contain; the searching types (Boolean, truncation, proximity…etc.); whether is possible to identify the types of documents indexed, the location of a document; whether it is possible to search within a time limit; the language of the document; the metadata given for each document; whether there is a help button on the screen; how accurate and relevant the search results are; how efficient the search engine is; and the difficulties that a researcher confronts while searching each union catalog. The study reports the results of the analysis and comparison in detail and will give suggestions and recommendations for improving the Union Catalog of the Egyptian University Library consortium.