Questions to ask before you help a patron on the Internet

1. Are they looking for a set of really good sites on a topic? If so, try a general selective directory like Scout Report Archive (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/archives/) or Librarian's Index to the Internet (http://lii.org/), or any of the specialized subject directories these might lead them to.

2. Are they trying to answer a specific question? (X-Refer, or Ask Jeeves)

3. Are they looking for a site that can serve as a kind of home base and community of people who share their interests? If so, About.com would be a good place to start (http://about.com/

4. Remember, the net is also a delivery system for magazines, newspapers and even full-text books. Should they looking through a database of full-text magazine and journal articles instead of web sites? (Iowa and Illinois have licensed full-text databases citizens can access through their public libraries, but some article databases, like MagPortal and FindArticles.com are free)

5. Remember that the net is a communication system. Might they want to talk to, or listen to, human beings in news groups, bulletin boards, or "Aska" site (Ask a Priest, Ask a Doctor, etc.)? Google's Usenet search

6. Might what they want be hiding on the invisible web? Try Direct Search or invisibleweb.com/

7. Ask yourself: Who would collect that sort of information?

Some Good All Purpose Directories

1. About.com http://about.com/ -- offering human guides for over 700 topics

2. Internet Public Library http://ipl.org/

3. Librarians Index to the Internet http://lii.org/

4. Scout Report Archive http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/archives/ -- over 10,000 reviewed sites, organized by topic

5. SearchIQ http://www.zdnet.com/searchiq/ -- an annotated guide to good topical portals and search engines

What's the Difference Between Search Engines?

1. How many pages they cover -- since Google started indexing pdf documents, it's the clear leader at well over a billion pages

2. How they allow you to state your question -- for complex Boolean statements, prefer HotBot or AltaVista or Google in advanced search mode

3. How they allow you to refine your results

   Google has the "more like this" command and link to appropriate subject heading in its directory;
   Northern Lights, Excite and Vivisimo divide results into subtopic folders;
   AltaVista has related searches, click for keywords related to this term, and search within results;
   HotBot has search within results

4. How they prioritize their results -- collaborative filtering, word frequency and placement, etc.

5. Special features: Altavista's translation feature, AltaVista and Google's family filters you can activate, FastSearch and AltaVista's audiovisual search, Northern Light's journal collection, Ask Jeeves' metasearch and "people who did this search found these sites useful"; Google and Northern Light's government search, Excite's and MSN's ability to restrict search to smaller universes like news, classified ads, etc.; Google's Usenet search

6. Their intended audience -- special children's search engines

7. Some search within specific subject areas: audiovisual search engines, law searchers, government documents finders, people finders, etc.

8. the Huh? factor -- sometimes search engines give you answers that leave you scratching your head

General Search Tips

1. Searching is a multi-stage process. Sometimes you want to start with a specialized directory and search inside that. As you pick up information in the course of your search, use it to alter or refine your search.

2. GO WHERE IT IS -- if you need sites for children, use a good children's directory or search engine; if you know federal and state governments would have the info you want, use searchgov.com, etc.

3. Play with words. Move up and down the continuum from general to specific. Remember, AN answer is not the only possible answer.

4. Read the help screens.

5. Most search engines accept quotes around multiple words as a sign to search them AS A PHRASE -- "The Name of the Rose"

6. Most search engines allow you to use the boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT (AltaVista also allows NEAR). Most search engines recognize them as operators if you put them in caps. Most search engines will also accept + for AND, and - for NOT. Voltaire + revolution - American

7. HOWEVER, if you use boolean operators, you will overrule all the efforts the search engine is making at natural language processing, so as a general rule try natural language queries first, and boolean only when you have a complex question or the natural language query doesn't work

8. USE WEDGE WORDS:
   

   "financial ratios" + FAQ
   laser printers + features + comparison
   "Word 6.0" + tutorial
   Hispanics + demographics
   "rock music" + encyclopedia
   "used cars" + "book value"
   catholicism + expert or priest + aska science + announcements
   maps + "lesson plans"
   cataloging + listserv
   audio + "search engine"
   patents + database

Some Good General Search Engines

1. AltaVista http://www.altavista.com/ -- best for coverage of non-American web sites, translation feature, available family filter, full boolean searching in advanced search mode, "search within results" feature; search for who links to specific URL.

2. Ask Jeeves http://www.askjeeves.com/ -- tries to answer questions from their database of answers, "People with similar queries have found these sites relevant," related searches, and results from metasearch

3. Excite Precision Search http://www.excite.com/search/ -- Use "zoom in" to narrow a broad topic into smaller subject folders, restrict search to the smaller universes it offers, click on related articles. Also, if you've misspelled a word, it offers alternative speallings.

4. FastSearch http://www.alltheweb.com/ -- comprehensive and fast; offers a multimedia search

5. Google http://www.google.com/ -- Comprehensive, fast. Ranks by link popularity. Has a "more like this" feature. Searches inside pdf documents and now includes the usenet search (http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search). "Who links to..." feature (a good way to check validity of a site), government search feature.

6. HotBot http://hotbot.lycos.com/ -- advanced search offers most control of every element of your search; "People who did this search also searched for"

7. MSN http://search.msn.com/ -- suggests popular related search topics and 10 most popular sites; offers specialized news search

8. Northern Light http://www.northernlight.com/ -- custom search folders sort your search results, searches an article database as well, articles available cheap; advanced search offers boolean template

9. Subjex http://www.subjex.com/
   a question-answering engine that for me works better than Ask Jeeves

10. Vivisimo http://www.vivisimo.com/ -- sorts results into topical folders, good for narrowing overbroad search

Some Specialized Search Engines

1. Ask Jeeves for Kids http://www.ajkids.com/ -- a kid-friendly database of answers

2. Celebhoo http://celebhoo.com/ -- searches fan pages for celebrities

3. Ditto.com http://Ditto.com/ -- a very good picture search engine

4. Kids Click http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/ -- searchable directory of good sites for kids

5. SciSeek Science Search Engine http://www.sciseek.com/

6. SearchBug: the Most Useful Searches http://www.searchbug.com/ -- has saved results of the most common searches, by topic

7. SearchEdu.com http://www.searchedu.com/ -- restricts itself to searching university web sites, along with links to related topics in the Open Directory

8. Search Engine Watch Report on Kids' Search Engines http://searchenginewatch.com/links/Kids_Search_Engines/

9. SearchGov.com http://searchgov.com/ -- searches federal, state, local and international government sites

10. TotalNews http://www.totalnews.com/ -- a news search engine

11. X-Refer http://w1.xrefer.com/ -- searches through online dictionaries, encyclopedias and quote books

The Invisible Web

1. Direct Search http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~gprice/direct.htm

2. The Invisible Web http://www.invisibleweb.com/ -- more sites that search engines can't get into

Some Database Links

1. AskERIC http://askeric.org/Eric/ -- the primary abstract service for education articles (or search the smaller ERIC/AE full-text library for actual documents http://ericae.net/ftlib.htm)

2. Davenport Public's Online Databases http://www.rbls.lib.il.us/dpl/FREEinfo.htm -- available to DPL cardholders only

3. FedStats http://www.fedstats.gov/

4. FindArticles.com http://www.findarticles.com/PI/index.jhtml -- indexes and links to magazine articles on the net

5. FirstSearch http://www.ref.oclc.org/ -- user name and password required

6. MagPortal http://magportal.com/ -- indexes and links to magazine articles on the net

7. Medline http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/medline.html -- primary abstracting source for medical literature.

8. Medline Plus http://medlineplus.gov/ -- a database for laypersons of excellent resources on medical conditions

9. Online Books Page http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/ -- search over 13,000 full-text books

10. Statistical Resources on the Web http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/stats.html
    
    
    

    Search Engine Experts Links

1. Debbie Abilock's Guide to matching your question to the best search engine for that purpose http://www.nueva.pvt.k12.ca.us/~debbie/library/research/adviceengine.html

2. Research Buzz, from Tara Calishain http://researchbuzz.com/ -- updates available by e-mail.

3. Search Engine Showdown http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/ -- updates available by e-mail, from Greg Notess

4. Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com/ -- updates available by e-mail, from Danny Sullivan

5. Web Search at About.com http://websearch.about.com/ -- also look here for a nice selection of topical portals and search engines, as well as search engine strategies

1. Finding Information on the Internet http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html -- also good info on how to evaluate what you find on the net

2. Searching the Invisible Web http://websearch.about.com/internet/websearch/library/searchwiz/bl_invisibleweb_apra.htm -- outline of a presentation by Chris Sherman and Gary Price.

3. When and How To Search the Net http://marylaine.com/howto.html

In these sites, search engines allow you to see what people are searching for and how they are searching. A good way to test your searching prowess is to see if you can find some of the things these people are looking for.
1. Ask Jeeves Peek through the Keyhole http://www.askjeeves.com/docs/peek/

2. Lycos Top50 Daily Report http://50.lycos.com/

3. Savvy Search Snoop http://www.savvysearch.com/snoop