Facilitator: Kathy Vetter kvetter@sau56 somersworthhslmc.wikispaces

1. Facilitator: Kathy Vetterkvetter@sau56.orgwww.somersworthhslmc.wikispaces.com Info Guru SSD – Summer Tech Institute July 12 & 13, 2010

2. Info Guru • Search Engines • Search tips and tools • Website evaluation • Organizing information

3. Browsers • Read web files differently • Have different add-ons and options

4. Browsers • Internet Explorer • Firefox • Safari • Google Chrome

5. Search Enginesand Subject Directories • Individual Search Engines • Meta-Search Engines • Subject Directories

6. Individual Search Engines • “Spiders” or “robots” scan web pages and index words. • Rank pages • Frequency of keywords and phrases • Popularity (# links pointing to the sites)

7. Individual Search Engines • Google • Yahoo • Bing • Exalead How does Google Work? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHR6IQJGZs&feature=related

8. Individual Search Engines • Huge amount of web files are indexed so chances of finding something obscure is good . • More relevant pages often moved to the top of the result list. Difficult to weed through huge amount of results Good search strategy skills needed.

9. Meta-Search Engines • Do not create their own databases • “Crawl” other individual search engines and compile results

10. Meta-Search Engines • Yippy.com • Dogpile.com • Monstercrawler.com • Mamma.com For a List of metasearch engines visit http://www.pandia.com/powersearch/

11. Meta-Search Engines Fast results Get an overview of several search engine results. May show results from search engines you don’t normally use. Limited results Many don’t query Google which has largest database.

12. Recommended Search Engines – U.C. Berkeley http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SearchEngines.html Search Poster – Joyce Valenza, Springfield Township High School Librarian http://springfieldlibrary.wikispaces.com/Search+Poster Search Engine Links

13. Subject Directories, Portals, Vortals, & Databases • Maintained by humans • Content is selected for inclusion by humans • Content usually annotated with descriptions

14. Subject Directories • Yahoo http://dir.yahoo.com/?skw=yahoo+subject+directory • MSN http://specials.msn.com/ • Pandia http://www.pandia.com/plus/ • ipl http://ipl.org • The Open Directory http://www.dmoz.org/ • Beaucoup http://www.beaucoup.com/ For a list of directories go to http://www.bestdirs.com/sitemap.php It’s a little overwhelming - try clicking on Popular Directories

15. Portals (gateways) • Academic Information • Digital Librarian • Infomine • Internet Public Library • Lakes Region NHhttp://www.lakesregion-nh.com/ • www.virtual Library

16. Vortals (subject specific) • Educator's Reference Deskhttp://www.eduref.org/ • Expedia • Encyclopedia of Lifehttp://www.eol.org/ • Internet Movie Databasehttp://us.imdb.com • Kelley Blue Bookhttp://www.kbb.com • Monster • Motley Foolhttp://www.fool.com • MySimon • Voice of the Shuttlehttp://vos.ucsb.edu • WebMDhttp://www.webmd.com • Roller Coaster Databasehttp://www.rcdb.com/

17. Directories, Databases, Portals and Vortals • Dead links • e-commerce bias? • Could be outdated • Limited results Organization of material may be easier to navigate/search. Human touch- higher quality results. Points to resources on the Invisible Web

18. Search Tips • Advanced Search • Boolean Operators • Google tips

19. Advanced Search • Most search engines and databases have options for advanced search. • Use them!

20. Boolean Operators • AND, OR, NOT • + -

21. Boolean Operators Strawberry OR Vanilla OR Chocolate

22. Boolean Operators Strawberry AND Vanilla AND Chocolate

23. Boolean Operators Strawberry AND Vanilla NOT Chocolate

24. Boolean Operators • Boolean Searchinghttp://www.ithacalibrary.com/sp/subjects/guide.php?subject=boolean • Boolify http://www.boolify.org

25. Boolean Searching • Salamanders not newt • Colleges or Universities • Safari not apple • Bass not music • Martin luther not king

26. More Search Tips • Parenthesis “to be or not to be” • Stop words - and or not is the • Use * to truncate • Control F or Edit>Find • Link: • Site: • Define:

27. Google Tips More Google tips @ • http://springfieldlibrary.wikispaces.com/Google+Search+Options • http://web.appstorm.net/roundups/tips-tricks/25-awesome-google-search-tips-and-tricks

28. Invisible Web • Information in database files that are not indexed by search engines. • Most subscription databases • Google Scholar is able to search some of the invisible web.

29. Invisible Web • Use subject directories like Internet Public Library • Use “database” as a search term

30. Invisible Web tools • http://incywincy.com • http://oalster.worldcat.org Open archive digital resources • http://www.somersworthhslmc.wikispaces.com/Research+Databases

31. Website Evaluation Using CARRDSS to Evaluate Sources • Credibility/Authority • Accuracy • Reliability • Relevance • Date • Sources behind the text • Scope

32. Website Evaluation Using CARRDSS to Evaluate Sources • Credibility/Authority • Who wrote/created it? • What are the author(s) credentials? Education? Area of expertise? • Look for - about us, contact us, FAQ, site map. • Is there a way to contact the creator of the website? • Do other sites link to this site. Try doing a Google search preceding the URL with link: Example link:http://www.eol.org)

33. Website Evaluation Using CARRDSS to Evaluate Sources • Accuracy – • Based on your knowledge, is the information accurate? • Can you verify the information in other sources? • Do you notice any spelling or grammatical errors?

34. Website Evaluation Using CARRDSS to Evaluate Sources • Reliability/objectivity- • What is the PURPOSE of the publication? • Does it try to persuade, sell, inform? • Does it present a particular point of view or bias?

35. Website Evaluation Using CARRDSS to Evaluate Sources • Relevance • Does the information directly support my hypothesis/thesis or help to answer my question?

36. Website Evaluation Using CARRDSS to Evaluate Sources • Date (currency) • When was the website last created? • When was it updated or revised? • Depending on the subject matter maybe it doesn’t matter.

37. Website Evaluation Using CARRDSS to Evaluate Sources • Sources behind the text. • What sources did the author rely on? • Are the sources reliable and credible? Tip: Try linking to or searching for sources listed.

38. Website EvaluationSites to Evaluate • http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/fisher • http://nytimes-se.com • http://martinlutherking.org

39. More Website Evaluation Tips • Paste the URL into the search box of http://www.alexa.com and click “get details” • Use the Wayback Machine to see what the website looked like in the past. http://web.archive.org/collections/web.html • Look up the authors name in a search engine. Don’t forget to use quotes, i.e. “John Smith” Also try “John * Smith” - the * will stand for the middle name or initial.

40. Organizing Web Resources • Social Bookmarking • Diigo.com • Delicious.com • Wikis • pbworks • wikispaces

41. Credits "Finding Information on the Internet." The Library-University of California, Berkeley. Web. 11 July 2010. <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInf o.html>. Hanes-Ramoms, Melanie. "Bare Bones 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web." University of South Carolina. Web. 11 July 2010. <http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/bones.shtml>. Henderson, John, and Jennifer Strickland. "Research Guides - Boolean Logic." Ithica College - Research Guides-Boolean Logic. Ithica College Library. Web. 11 July 2010. <http://www.ithacalibrary.com/sp/subjects/guide.php?subject=bool ean>. Valenza, Joyce Kasman., Emily Valenza, and Joyce Kasman. Valenza. Power Tools Recharged: 125+ Essential Forms and Presentations for Your School Library Information Program. Chicago: American Library Association, 2004. Print.