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Search Engines v. Directories: What’s the Difference and Why Should We Care?

Search Engines v. Directories: What’s the Difference and Why Should We Care?. Kerry Smith, Library Instruction Services Coordinator Mississippi State University Libraries ksmith@library.msstate.edu. I.N.F.O.R.M.A.T.I.O.N. S.U.P.E.R.H.I.G.H.W.A.Y.

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Search Engines v. Directories: What’s the Difference and Why Should We Care?

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  1. Search Engines v. Directories:What’s the Difference andWhy Should We Care? Kerry Smith, Library Instruction Services Coordinator Mississippi State University Libraries ksmith@library.msstate.edu

  2. I.N.F.O.R.M.A.T.I.O.N. S.U.P.E.R.H.I.G.H.W.A.Y. “ ‘Information Superhighway’ is really an acronym for ‘Interactive Network For Organizing, Retrieving, Manipulating, Accessing And Transferring Information On National Systems, Unleashing Practically Every Rebellious Human Intelligence, Gratifying Hackers, Wiseacres, And Yahoos’.” -- Keven Kwaku

  3. The Need for Efficient Web Searching • December 1997: approximately 320 million web pages • February 1999: approximately 800 million web pages, 6 terabytes of text data, 3 million servers • No search engine indexes more than about 16% of the web • Search engines do not index sites equally • Search engines are increasingly lagging in efforts to index the web SOURCE: Lawrence, Steve, and C. Lee Giles. “Accessibility of Information on the Web.” Nature400 (July 1999): 107-109.

  4. The Need for Efficient Web Searching • We’re all busy, tired, overworked • Someone else has already done the work, with us in mind • Take advantage of the fact -- don’t re-invent the wheel • Reap the fruits of others’ labor • Work smart, live longer • Use directories (when appropriate) • But why?

  5. Directories v. Engines • Directories • Sites are compiled, organized, and usually evaluated by human beings (highly selective) • Intended to direct users to the best sources • Typically annotated for our benefit • Normally maintained at educational institutions by librarians or other folk of good will

  6. Directories v. Engines • Directories • Pros: • organized and evaluated for quality • Cons: • limited to what’s been deemed worthy • at the mercy of someone else’s standards of quality • not getting everything available (may be a pro, actually)

  7. Directories v. Engines • Directories • Examples of the best: • About.com • Academic Info • AlphaSearch • Argus Clearinghouse • BUBL Link: Catalogue of Selected Internet Resources • INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections • Internet Public Library • Librarians’ Index to the Internet • Links2Go • Scout Report Signpost

  8. Directories v. Engines • Professional Directories • Examples of the best: • Best Information on the Net: Librarianship • Internet Library for Librarians • Librarians’ Index to the Internet: for Librarians • Librarians’ Resource Centre • LibraryLand • Library & Information Science Resources • Library Resource List

  9. Internet Library for Librarians

  10. Directories v. Engines • Engines • Sites are compiled by a computer and usually are not evaluated, except according to mathematical relevancy (minimally selective, or not at all selective) • Intended to do the grunt work without thought, hence the engine metaphor

  11. Directories v. Engines • Engines • Biggest Pro: • Huge collection of information from which to glean what you need (information jackpot!) • Biggest Con: • Huge collection of information from which to glean what you need (needle-in-a-haystack syndrome)

  12. Engines Examples of the best: AltaVista Ask Jeeves Direct Hit FAST Search Google HotBot LookSmart Northern Light Directories v. Engines

  13. Shakespeare’s Comment on Search Engine Results “You shall seek all day ere you find them, and, when you have them, they are not worth the search.” – The Merchant of Venice, 1.1.114

  14. Options • When directories are the best choice: • If you want to shield amateur searchers from hit lists with a mind-numbing 3,000,000+ results • When you want to locate several resources that fall under a broad subject, but you don’t have specific resources in mind (i.e., browsing) • Examples: • a list of professional associations in the field of counseling • a collection of reliable web resources on global warming • locating finding aids for book reviews

  15. Options • When search engines are the best choice: • When you’re dealing with savvy web researchers • When you need specific information but don’t know what subject would subsume it a directory • Examples: • location of a specific home page whose URL you can’t remember • information on a specific company, or its home page (directories usually won’t list specific companies) • finding old or obscure book reviews or citations by using the somebody-has-surely-put-a-bibliography-on-the-web-somewhere strategy

  16. Where to Get More Information Brandt, Scott D. “Do You Have an Ear for Searching?” Computers in Libraries 19.5 (1999): 42+. Gandhi, Subash. “Proliferation and Categories of Internet Directories.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 37.4 (1998): 319+. Lawrence, Steve, and C. Lee Giles. “Accessibility of Information on the Web.” Nature 400 (1999): 107-109. Oder, Norman. “Cataloging the Net: Can We Do It?” Library Journal 123.16 (1998): 47+. Search Engine Watch. http://www.searchenginewatch.com/ Vidmar, Dale J. “Darwin on the Web: The Evolution of Search Tools.” Computers in Libraries 19.5 (1999): 22+.

  17. Web Resources Cited • Directories: • About.com - http://about.com/ • Academic Info - http://www.academicinfo.net/ • AlphaSearch - http://www.calvin.edu/library/as/ • Argus Clearinghouse - http://www.clearinghouse.net/ • Best Information on the Net: Librarianship - http://vweb.sau.edu/bestinfo/Library/libindex.htm • BUBL Link: Catalogue of Selected Internet Resources - http://bubl.ac.uk/link/ • INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections - http://infomine.ucr.edu/Main.html • Internet Library for Librarians - http://www.itcompany.com/inforetriever/ • Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/

  18. Web Resources Cited • Directories, continued: • Librarians’ Index to the Internet - http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex/ • Librarians’ Index to the Internet: for Librarians - http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/searchindex?title=for:+Librarians&query=librarians&searchtype=subjects • Librarians’ Resource Centre - http://www.sla.org/chapter/ctor/toolbox/resource/ • LibraryLand - http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/LibraryLand/ • Library and Information Science Resources - http://www.mnsfld.edu/depts/lib/library.html • Library Resource List - http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dlcl/pld/lib_res.html • Links2Go - http://www.links2go.com/ • Scout Report Signpost - http://www.signpost.org/signpost/

  19. Web Resources Cited • Engines: • AltaVista - http://www.altavista.com/ • Ask Jeeves - http://www.askjeeves.com/ • Direct hit - http://www.directhit.com/ • FAST Search - http://www.alltheweb.com/ • Google - http://www.google.com/ • HotBot - http://www.hotbot.com/ • LookSmart - http://www.looksmart.com/ • Northern Light - http://www.northernlight.com/

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