Why am I not finding what I want?

1. You may be looking in the wrong place
2. You may be asking the wrong question
3. You may not have told your search engine what a good answer would look like
4. You might need to know something to find out something more
5. You might have given up too soon
6. Your answers may be on the invisible web
7. You might not know what to do with the information you did find
8. You might need help from an expert

RULE 1: Go Where It Is

Where information comes from	A guess about the amount of information by form
Which part of the net?	Which part of the totality of books?
Which part of the totality of periodicals?

RULE 2: The Answer You Get Depends on the Question You Ask

The needle in the haystack problem may be viewed in many ways:

A known needle in a known haystack
A known needle in an unknown haystack
An unknown needle in an unknown haystack
Any needle in a haystack
The sharpest needle in a haystack
Most of the sharpest needles in a haystack
All the needles in a haystack
Affirmation of no needles in a haystack
Things like needles in any haystack
Let me know whenever a new needle shows up
Where are the haystacks?
Needles, haystacks -- whatever

[from Matthew Koll. "Major Trends and Issues in the Information Industry." http://www.asidic.org/news/techsumf99.html]

RULE 3: The Answer Should Match the Information Need

Ask yourself these questions before you start to search:

A. Do I want a little or a lot?
B. What level of knowledge?
C. Do I want to search through everything or only the good stuff?
D.What will a good answer look like?

Then use wedge words to tell the system what kinds of answers you're looking for. Among the wedge words:

FAQ
encyclopedia
directory or gateway or portal
database
statistics
image
expert
discussion or bulletin board or forum

RULE 4: Research Is Like Detective Work

The most important part of the process is getting from zero to something.

Everything you retrieve contains clues: new terms, names of authors, bibliography. Each of these can be followed as far as you want to find more information.

RULE 5: Information Is Meaningless in Itself

RULE 6: Information May Be True But Still Wrong

RULE 7: Ask a Librarian

Because we know where different kinds of information reside

Because we're good at word games, at thinking up and down a continuum

Because we know how to make databases sit up, roll over, and lick our faces.

Because we start out with the gut-deep conviction that the answer EXISTS, and by God, on our honor as librarians, we WILL find it.