Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Searching Intelligently: It’s No Longer a Nightmare Oregon Library Support Staff Division Gateways 2006 Conference

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Today’s Goals – To Learn How is the web indexed? – Google in particular. Which tool to use? – Search engines, directories, hidden web, listservs and online discussion groups. Drawbacks and advantages of the Web. Browser tips and research power tools. Horizontal searching.

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 How Search Engines Work 1. Discovery and Database 2. User Search 3. Presentation and Ranking Source:

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Google Background “Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed Google in a Stanford University dorm room and it is currently the world's largest search engine. Source:

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Google’s Discovery and Database Google has programs called spiders (a.k.a. Google bots) constantly searching the web for new or updated web pages. When a spider finds a new or updated page, it reads that entire page, reports back to Google, and then visits all of the other pages to which that new page links.

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Google’s Cache When the spider reports back to Google, it doesn’t just tell Google the new or updated page’s URL. The spider also sends Google a complete copy of the entire Web page – HTML, text, images, etc. Google then adds that page and all of its content to Google’s cache.

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 How Google Works When you search for multiple keywords, Google first searches for all of your keywords as a phrase. So, if your keywords are baseball spring training, any pages on which those words appear as a phrase receive a score of X.

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Google – Adjacency Google then measures the adjacency between your keywords and gives those pages a score of Y. A page with “baseball spring training” next to each other gets a higher score than one with “baseball” and then “spring training” farther down the page.

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Google - Weights Then, Google measures the number of times your keywords appear on the page (the keywords’ “weights”) and gives those pages a score of Z.

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Presentation & Ranking Google takes – The phrase hits (the Xs), – The adjacency hits (the Ys), – The weights hits (the Zs), and – About 100 other secret variables Throws out everything but the top 2,000 Multiplies each remaining page’s individual score by it’s “PageRank” And, finally, displays the top 1,000 in order.

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Google – PageRank? There is a premise in higher education that the importance of a research article can be judged by the number of citations to it from subsequent articles in the same field. Google applies this premise to the Web: the importance of a Web page can be judged by the number of hyperlinks pointing to it from other pages.

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Google Advanced & Tricks Calculator Define ~, +, - Advanced Searching Finding Information on the Internet a Tutorial Finding Information on the Internet a Tutorial

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 My Favorite Quote: “Focus on users and their tasks, not the technology.” – Jeff Johnson

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 When Searching the Web: “Focus on your query, not the technology.”

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Four tools: 1. Search Engines 2. Directories 3. Invisible Web (Deep Web) 4. Listservs and Online Discussion Groups

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Which Tool to Use? “It all Depends.”

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 When to use a Search Engine: You are looking for the “Society of American Registered Architects.” You have a specific phrase or unique keyword.

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Which Search Engines are Used Can you guess what percentage of people use the various search engines available?

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Share of Searches 2005 Source:

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Rating Search Engines Search Engine Watch Search Engine Showdown

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Problems With Search Engines: Speed response eliminates some documents Bias toward text User expectation and skills Costs of crawling Metasearch engine: jux2jux2

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 When to Use a Directory: “I’m looking for sites on American Architecture.” Broad category Early in your research Opposing viewpoints

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Sample Directories Google Directory Internet Scout Project Internet Resources Columns Targeted Directories: Classics ResourcesClassics Resources

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Problems With Directories: Small Editorial policies Timeliness Charging for listing

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Hidden/Invisible Web Searchable databases Excluded pages

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 When to use the Invisible Web: “I’m looking for a list of architects in Baltimore.” “I need a specific statistic on the death rate of women with heart disease in 2002.” “I’m looking for information on a plane crash in Salem, OR in 1979.”

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 How to Find the Hidden Web Google: – Databases + your topic Searching general web directories – Librarians Index Librarians Index – Infomine Infomine

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 When to use a Listserv? “If I’m looking for an opinion on a particular topic.”

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 How to Find a Listserv: Tile.net Google: “topic” and listserv Google Groups

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Browser Tips & Tools Bookmarks (personal toolbars) History ConQuery (search plugins) – Journal Title List – Creative Commons – Open WorldCat via Google Bookmarklets Tabs, Tabs, Tabs

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Horizontal Searching Use the web in conjunction with library catalogs and databases. Search the Web for titles of articles. Locate more bibliographies that can be incorporated into new searches for books, journal articles, etc. Search for authors from books and articles.

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Horizontal Searching: Search a Library Database

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Horizontal Searching: Search title of article on the Web

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Horizontal Searching: Follow citations from Web site

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Horizontal Searching: Search Book Title in the Library Catalog

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Horizontal Searching: Follow subject headings from article

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Horizontal Searching: Follow cited references / and search

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Horizontal Searching: Organization Web sites and Official Reports

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Horizontal Searching: Contact actual researchers on the topic

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Wrap Up: Know how the web is indexed and collected. Choose the correct tool for your question. Realize more than one tool may be needed. Carefully evaluate whatever you find on the Web. Think horizontally in searching: library databases, Web, bibliography, Web, library catalog, Web, reference book, Web…

Bill G. Kelm - July 21, 2006 Bibliography Cohen Laura (2001) 10 tips for teaching how to surf the Web. American Libraries, 32, Sherman, C., Price, G. (2001). The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See. Medford, N.J.: Information Today, Inc. Dale Vidmar’s: Horizontal SearchingHorizontal Searching Linda Goff’s: Googling to the MaxGoogling to the Max