Developing an effective search engine

I chair an enthusiastic History Group for our big village. We have now assembled a large (1K+) collection of old village photos, numerous articles scanned in, and are currently involved in scanning in household deeds of significant buildings. All this in addition to four local history books. 

Names and subjects frequently re-occur across all these references. Additionally, RAF Benson, adjacent to the village, forms a substantial part of our local recent history. 

We wrestle with developing an effective search engine. We are aware of the advantages that would accrue were a standard community search engine available throughout UK. We understand progress in this respect is slow and in danger of becoming bogged down. 

We would welcome the latest thoughts of your Conference in order to decide if we go ahead with our own Search Engine, or await a National solution – with some impatience!