Beyond Search Engines:

Advanced Web Searching

Subject Directories Librarians’ Index to the Internet Infomine

Finding Databases on a Subject The Invisible Web

Library Gateways or Virtual Libraries The Internet Public Library New Canaan Library

Usenet Discussion Forums (NewsGroups) Google Groups

Subject Directories

• A Subject Directory is a collection of links to internet resources

• Resources submitted by site creators or selected by the Subject Directory’s evaluators

• Organized into browsable subject categories. • Have an established selection policy• Offer keyword and advanced search feature.

Subject Directories

There are two types of subject directories:

• Commercial portals such as Yahoo! And Lycos

• Academic or professional directories such as “Librarian’s index to the Internet” and “Infomine.”

Subject Directories

• Academic and professional directories are created and maintained by subject specialists to support the needs of researchers

• Commercial portals cater to the general public and compete for traffic

Subject Directories

• Professional Subject directories differ significantly from Commercial Directories in their selection policies

• Unlike professional Directories, commercial services tend not to disclose either their policies or the names and qualifications of their site reviewers

Subject Directories

• Many people don’t make use of subject directories, but instead go straight to a search engine

• Professional Subject Directories, such as the LII, contain carefully chosen and annotated lists of quality internet sites, checked for accuracy and value to researchers

Subject Directories

LII (Librarians’ Index to the Internet)

• The LII is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 8,000 Internet resources, Directories and Databases.

• LII strives to be reliable and efficient guide to evaluated resources on the Web.

SearchingLII

LII Features:

• Subject category browsing

• Keyword searching

• Advanced search features

Searching LII

• Keep in mind that you are not searching the Web, but LII’s reviews of Web sites or pages

• Automatically stems words

• Use AND as default operator

• Accepts use of Boolean Operators OR and NOT

Searching

LII

Use parentheses to group search terms

Example:

travel and (kids or children)

Use an asterisk to truncate a word

Example:

librar* finds library, libraries, librarianship

Searching LII

Advanced Searching

• Field Searching

• Limit by Best Of, Directories, Databases and Specific Resources

• Turn off stemming

Searching LII

• LII records are divided into fields.

• Start your search making sure the circle to the left of the Keywords search field is selected. This searches the title, description, and subject fields of the LII record.

Subject DirectoriesInfomine

• Infomine is a comprehensive subject directory and reference tool containing over 20,000 highly useful Internet/Web resources including databases, electronic journals, electronic books, online card catalogs, directories and many other types of information.

• Built by librarians from over 20 California universities.

SearchingInformine

• Automatically stems words• Supports Boolean AND and OR operators• Default operator is AND

SearchingInfomine

Searching for Exact Terms

• Use quotation marks to search for an exact word

Example: “Rivers” retrieves only pages with exact word rivers in titles, subject terms, or keywords

SearchingInfomine

Searching an Exact Phrase

• Can also quotation marks to search for an exact phrase

Example: “New Mexico” retrieves only pages with the exact phrase “New Mexico” in the title subject or keywords.

SearchingInfomine

Boolean Operators• Use the words AND and OR to search

more than one term at a time• Infomine inserts AND when two or more

words are in a search query

Example: a search for GENETICS DATABASES retrieves pages which have both terms

SearchingInfomine

Example: a search for JOBS OR OCCUPATIONS retrieves pages with either jobs or occupations in the title subject or keywords.

Example: a search for HAZARDOUS (WASTE OR SUSTANCE) retrieves pages with all the relevant terms

Finding Databases on a Subject

• Specialized databases exist on all kinds of topics and for many purposes

• Standard Search Engines do not index these databases

• Many good Subject Directories link to database sites on the Web

• Other specialize search tools, such as The Invisible Web, can also be used to find databases on the Web

Finding DatabasesThe InvisibleWeb.com

The InvisibleWeb.com is a directory of over 10,000 databases, archives and search engines that contain information that traditional search engines have been unable to access

SearchingThe InvisibleWeb.com

• Allows users to find targeted information located on the Invisible Web

• Uses Intelligent Agent technology• Human editors organize the databases

resources into navigable categories• Features include: Simple & Advanced

keyword searching, subject category browsing and Hotlists

Library Gateways

Also known as Virtual Reference Libraries

Library gateways offer access to a variety of information from specialized collections and databases to ready reference tools such as handbooks, directories and indexes.

Library GatewaysThe Internet Public Library

• Started in 1995 by the University of Michigan’s School of Information and Library Studies as a graduate seminar,

• IPL is the first public library of and for the Internet community.

• Well established with corporate sponsorship, grant funding and a full-time paid staff.

Library GatewaysThe Internet Public Library

• Topics classified by subject category

• Keyword Searching.

• Automatically stems words

• Searche the title, publisher, description and subject headings fields

• Results are in alphabetical order

Library GatewaysThe New Canaan Library

• Virtual Reference Desk

• Subscription Databases

• Ask a Librarian

• Internet Turtorials

Newsgroups

UseNet Newsgroups• A Newsgroup is an online discussion group. There

are some 30,000 newsgroups covering every conceivable interest.

• To view and post messages you need to register at a site that offers Web-based access (e.g. Google Groups) or by using a news reader that runs on your computer and connects you to a news server on the Internet. Newsgroup have been around since 1979

• Google Groups is the best tool for searching Newsgroup

Searching Newsgroupsgroups.google.com

• Google Groups is a specialized database for searching Newsgroups that contains an extensive archive (over 650 million messages) of newsgroup postings from 1995-

Features:• Browse newsgroups by name • Keyword search messages and forums• Advanced Groups Search

Beyond Search EnginesAdvanced Web Searching

Thank you

Jeff Zaino

New Canaan Library