Published: 2007.12.17

On Dec. 3 the UCLA portal team launched a new campus search engine, accessible from the campus home page (www.ucla.edu) and available to other campus sites.

“We want campus users and visitors alike to be able to search all UCLA web sites simply and effectively,” said Don Worth, executive director of Administrative Information Systems (AIS).

The new search uses the Google appliance. Unlike free versions of Google used on some campus sites, the new campus-wide search is both hardware- and software-based. This allows AIS to include sites that are technically outside the ucla.edu domain, Worth said. Examples of UCLA sites outside ucla.edu include uclahealth.org, uclaextension.edu, uclabruins.com (athletics), and uclastore.com.

“When the public thinks of UCLA, they think of all that UCLA offers – not ‘except the hospital,’ ‘except Extension,’ or any other exceptions. That’s the way our search engine needs to operate,” Worth said.

The UCLA portal project is a multi-year effort to put campus administrative information and applications on line, and to organize them according to tasks and functions rather than affiliation or reporting relationship. “The next decade will see a huge turn-over of staff and faculty,” Worth said. “There won’t be enough ‘old-timers’ around to teach the newcomers how to navigate complicated organizational labyrinths.”

An effective search is especially important to the portal because it’s another way to flatten barriers among service providers, Worth said. “An inclusive search helps our project, but it also helps the campus at large,” he said.

Comments on the new search may be sent to aisportalteam@ais.ucla.edu