Rollyo is something that I think could be a very, very cool tool. Basically, all you do is list a few websites to search a common query, group those websites together in one Rollyo search, and voila! -- instant results from the sites you have specified to search. I am a huge music fan, so something I am constantly doing is shopping for music online, whether it be mp3, CD, or LP format. I'm CONSTANTLY toggling between Amazon's MP3 store, the iTunes store, 7digital (a UK mp3 store), as well as a few others looking for the best price on mp3 albums. It's really a fairly manageable task, and it's a challenge I don't mind undertaking being such a music freak (and bargain hunter)! However, if I were able to type in a single query on a single site and have the results for all three (or more) sites pop up in a single location? -- well, I'm down with that!
It seems like Rollyo is something that may require a bit of fine-tuning (my search for the new album by John Legend & the Roots resulted in WAY too many links - I mean, really, 30k results of links for the same item?!), but this is something I could really get into. Relating it beyond personal gratification, I can see tying in several different libraries that one may have access to (public, academic, institutional, etc.) to find a resource that quite possibly could be available at any one of those facilities. The library I completed my practicum at this semester has the equivalent of Rollyo (as do many libraries participating in regional state or university systems): a database called CONSORT that links five liberal arts colleges in the state of Ohio that have an interlibrary loan agreement so that students may have access to each school's resources. I think I will probably explore Rollyo a bit more in depth for personal use to see what criteria may be required to limit search results (its creators seem to still be tweaking it as well, seeing as how it's still in Beta), but this seems like a tool that could be pretty great and versatile in the long run!
(See the Rollyo searches I created below: one for music, one for cycling/outdoor gear.)
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