Curate, connect, and discover
Mind you, Trek isn’t quite as bad as Star Wars in this regard. I can still type the name of, say, Jenna D’Sora or Susanna Leijtin into Memory Beta and discover that they’ve never appeared in any of the novels since their appearances on TNG.
star trek character who appears for 3 lines of dialogue: hello, my name is Blek’tho, i’m a Zeeyopian dishwasher repairman
star trek beta canon: Blek’tho, the secret prince who had newly become king of all zeeyop,