Some of you will know of AuseSearch but most won't. AuseSearch is a custom search engine operated by Google under my management since 2006 that returns search results in the familiar Google format, based on searching all the institutional repositories (digital archives) in Australia, and nothing else. The price is that Google advertising appears on the results page. I have just updated AuseSearch, using the data in Kennan & Kingsley http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2282 /2092, while including Australasian Digital Theses as well.
May I encourage you to add the link to AuseSearch to any relevant library or repository search pages? My university did so long ago. AuseSearch does a similar thing to the Australian ARROW Discovery Service, but faster, without the glitz, with Google's ranking of results, and it is free. You can check this out by going to http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=012189697858739272261:yyyqychcumo (AuseSearch's home page). You can add an AuseSearch box to a personal iGoogle home page there too. Better you can add the search box to your library website or repository homepage by using this code. Results will appear on a new Google page. <form action="http://www.google.com/cse" id="cse-search-box"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="012189697858739272261:yyyqychcumo" /> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="UTF-8" /> <input type="text" name="q" size="31" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> </div> </form> <script type="text/javascript"src="http://www.google.com/coop/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box&lang=en"></scr ipt> The same technique can be used for any country. Once the data is in an institutional repository, it is findable and capable of being aggregated. This is why institutional repositories and mandates to deposit in them are so important. How about similar facilities for the USA, Canada, Germany, or whatever? I'm happy to help or even set them up. We could have a directory of country-based search engines for those that want to drill down into a country issue! Arthur Sale Emeritus Professor of Computer Science University of Tasmania