Open Source At The Smithsonian

September 3, 2010

Resource shelf.com received several emails from people wondering about the technology used to power the Smithsonian’s popular Collection Center catalog. A new article titled “What Search Technology Is The Smithsonian Collection Search Center Catalog Using?”  answers that question. The article says, “Bottom line. It was built using open-source technology.”

The museum needed a system capable of supporting a wide range of documents and objects. In the end, the Smithsonian selected open-source Lucene/Solr indexing software for the project, which has given the Smithsonian a flexible and scalable indexing environment. The Smithsonian has also enhanced their online display by programming in a Java environment.

This is a major coup for open-source SOLR/Lucene software. We’ll be paying close attention. As budget pressures increase for certain types of organizations, open source search solutions may be getting more attention. With search vendors morphing into the great marketing hyperbole dimension, Lucene/Solr may be the down to earth solution that fills a void. If you want to download a Lucene/Solr system, navigate to Lucid Imagination.

Stephen E Arnold, September 3, 2010

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