• 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.