PRESS RELEASE
American University of Armenia
300 Lakeside Drive, 5th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Contact: Maggie Mead
Tel: 510-987-9125
Fax: 510-208-3576
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.auac.am

WebFeat & American University of Armenia Launch First Demonstration of
Federated Search Services in Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Yerevan- The first demonstration of a customized federated search service in
the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), an alliance of 11 former
Soviet Republics, has been launched by WebFeat, developer of the WEBFEATT
and WebFeat ExpressT Search Prisms, and the Papazian Library at the American
University of Armenia (AUA). Library users can now simultaneously search
the Library's catalog and selected popular databases from a quick search
box.

WebFeat is used by over 5,000 leading public, academic, government, 'Global
1000' libraries, and information centers-including over half of the 20
largest U.S. public libraries, 9 statewide library systems, and one out of
every 10 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions.

"WebFeat is pleased to team with the American University of Armenia (AUA)
and SEFLIN, the Southeast Florida Library Information Network, to
demonstrate federated search services for the AUA community. (SEFLIN is a
membership organization of libraries dedicated to working cooperatively to
advance library services). WebFeat is used by over 5,000 leading libraries
and we are delighted to contribute our services to this demonstration
project at the Papazian Library," stated Todd Miller, President of WebFeat.

"We are grateful to Todd Miller, Founder & CEO WebFeat, and to SEFLIN, the
Southeast Florida Library Information Network, for partnering with the
American University of Armenia (AUA) in providing this valuable service,"
stated Satenik Avakian, AUA Library Director. "WebFeat enables patrons to
search the online database resources and the library catalog simultaneously
with a single search interface," said Avakian.

"WebFeat has already become an indispensable topic-oriented tool for AUA
students. "It provides us with a unique opportunity to search the library's
entire collection alongside many other articles and catalogs in a very
organized manner" says Lena Hovivyan, 2nd year student in the AUA Political
Science and International Relations graduate program.



"Through the generous support of Todd Miller and WebFeat, federated search
services are being demonstrated for the first time in Armenia and the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)," said Tom Sloan, SEFLIN Executive
Director. "We are pleased to have brought these partners together and
congratulate WebFeat and the American University of Armenia in demonstrating
innovative technology to search digital content," stated Sloan.



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AUA's Papazian Library currently holds 30,000 volumes and serves over 10,000
library patrons. What began as a single library facility has now evolved to
include the Legal Research Center and the Krikor Soghikian Public Health
Reference Room.The Library's WebFeat search service is located at
http://www.aua.am/aua/library/e-reference.htm.