Making Search Engines Notice: An Exploratory Study on Discoverability of DSpace Metadata and PDF Files

Abstract

This study analyzed the search results of four main Internet search engines on three newly created digital collections at Texas Tech University Libraries, in order to assess the search engine indexing on metadata and PDF files of digital items that are published in the institutional repository. The exploratory study found that only one search engine discovered PDF files, while the others only discovered metadata. The results of the study also suggested that metadata and PDF files can supplement each other to facilitate discoverability of the digital collections on search engines, and revealed some findings that are contradictory to conclusions in previous research.