shayna keces reference librarian intermediate internet searching or how to really find information...
TRANSCRIPT
Shayna Keces Reference Librarian
Intermediate Internet Searching
Or
How to really find information on the internet
Agenda
Size of Internet
Types of search engines
Search strategies
Choosing a search engine
Interpretation of search results
Size of Internet/World Wide Web
July 2000 2.1 billion web pages, est. 4 billion pages by early 2001 (Some place much higher if count invisible or deep web)
Size of search engine databasesGoogle 2 billion
Fast (alltheweb) 625 million
AltaVista 550 million
Yahoo 2 million catalogued (Google for not catalogued)
Search strategies
Do notsuse search buttonuse a string of keywords without specifying Boolean propertiesuse upper case unless part of strategyuse NOT or - unless absolutely sure is necessary
elimination of unanticipated pagesformat is non standardized
Search Strategies
DoConsider what type of resource will best answer your question and search for that resource (eg. dictionary or certain type of web page)think of a list of keywords that will narrow or broaden your search keeping in mind that with the internet, narrowing your search is usually betterStick to small list of search engines and learn the search syntax for the search engine you’re using
Boolean Search
Developed by mathematician George Boole
Or widens a search
AND and AND NOT narrows a search
Parentheses used to group operations that have to be done together
(Public libraries OR bookstores) AND
(Ottawa OR Nepean OR Gloucester OR
Goulbourn OR Carp)
Public libraries OR bookstores Ottawa OR Nepean
OR Gloucester OR Kanata OR Goulbourn OR Carp
Group A AND Group B
Types of search engines
Keyword or robot based (builds a database)
Directory based (categories indexed by people rather than computer)
Annotated directory-based search engines
Meta indexes (can combine searches or allow you to search a variety of engines individually)
Specialized search engines
Keyword or robot based Search Engines
Large database of web pagesNo human involvement and no quality controlCan submit website or will find some on ownSearches full text to certain level, does not search deep or invisible webGoogle (www.google.com)Alta Vista (www.altavista.com)Hotbot (www.hotbot.com)Fast (www.alltheweb.com)
Google (www.google.com)
Presently largest database (1.5-2 billion)
Very sophisticated placement of results particularly good for popular sites, company sites
Advanced search can limit search to title of page or to URL
implied AND
+ for stop words
Google (www.google.com) cont.
If you want or needs to be expressed in caps
not case sensitive
no stemming
description shows keywords in context
cached pages
AltaVista (www.altavista.com)
One of larger search enginesParticularly good for finding less popular sitesImplied “or” probably, often changesCase sensitive when word is in quotationsStemming with * at end or in middle of wordsSearch within these resultsSophisticated search of elements, url, text, etc. http://help.altavista.com/adv_search/syntax
AltaVista Advanced Search
Has guided search as well as blank space for true Boolean search using Boolean terms and parenthesisMust use Boolean operators or equivalent symbol (not + and -) No operators implies phraseHas sort by feature which can be used to determine how results are Can specify dates of last modification
Directory-based Search Engines
Indexed by individuals so subject searches will be more accurateSmaller database than Robot enginesUsed mainly for finding good site on general topicYahoo (www.yahoo.com or ca.yahoo.com)About (about.com or home.about.com/aboutcanada)Looksmart (www.looksmart.com)
Yahoo (ca.yahoo.com)
Most popular of directory based search enginesMany different versions (international have same pages as others but local options are supplied first)Uses Google as search engineCan search by categories and move up and down the category structure by clicking on category and looking at hierarchy
About (about .com or home.about.com/aboutcanada
Another popular directory-based search engine
Volunteer guides responsible for finding good websites on appropriate subjects
Some guides exist on all version of About but geographic versions have items specific to country
Annotated directory-based search engines
Because annotated, database is even smaller than Directory-based engine
Quality of web pages is better
Web pages often rated
Librarian’s Index to the Internet (lii.org)
Argus Clearinghouse (www.clearinghouse.net)
Argus Clearinghouse (www.clearinghouse.net)
Topical list of fairly scholarly guides submitted to Argus on a variety of subjects.Can have more than one guide or page on the same subject.Not all are accepted and all are objectively rated by Argus staff and the detailed rating in available.Because Argus does not solicit web pages, coverage is unevenDate of rating is also provided
Meta indexes
One site searches more than one search engineResults can be separated or combinedSometimes a problem in interpreting question for all search enginesUsed if not sure which search engine will give you best results and/or obscure topics
Meta indexes examples
Dogpile (www.dogpile.com)
Metacrawler (www.metacrawler.com/index.html)
Surfwax (www.surfwax.com)
All4one Search machine (www.all4one.com)
Specialized Search Engines
Geographic based (www.altavistacanada.com, http://www.ottawastart.com/
Phone directories (canada411.sympatico.ca/, home.infospace.com/)
Newsgroup searching (groups.google.com)
Women’s information (wwwomen.com)
Specialized sites
Ottawa Public Library (www.library.ottawa.on.ca)Reference tools (see library reference sites, eg. lii.org, www.ipl.org/ref)Encyclopedias (www.britannica.com, Columbia encyclopedia www.bartleby.com/65/Canadian information (vrl.tpl.toronto.on.ca/, Canadian information by subject www.nlc-bnc.ca/caninfo/ecaninfo.htm, Canadian encyclopedia online, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/
Some hints on selecting search strategies
For any page on general topic you need an introduction try Directory-based search engine. If do not need specific quality can use address bar search
For web page of major company or organization try Google or Alta Vista if more obscure
For a specific web page that would not necessarily be popular try Alta Vista.
Some hints on selecting search strategies cont.
For health topics try health website engine like www.medbroadcast.com or health links on OPL web page.
For very obscure topic topic try Google or Alta Vista or one of meta indexes
Interpretation of search results
Look at results and reformat search using things like searching within results and adding new keywords
Analytically choose which sites to look at in result list
Anatomy of URL domain + type of name
Do not look through pages and pages of results. If first three pages are not promising redo search
Some useful tutorials for searching
See “Learning to search” section of Collection of special search engines
www.leidenuniv.nl/ub/biv/specials.htmWeb searching tips www.searchenginewatch.com/facts/index.htmlNet tutor (gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/les5/)Check links under Internet, General in OPL adult links (www.library.ottawa.on.ca)