1. Searching, Finding, and the Information Professional Marydee Ojala Editor, ONLINE: The Leading Magazine for Information Professionals

2. Computers in Libraries, 20072 Agenda Searching Finding/Findability Search Techniques New Search Technologies Nontextual information The Future

3. Computers in Libraries, 20073 Searching Information professionals enjoy the “thrill of the chase” They understand how information is structured and where it is likely to be They know the intricacies of search engines, often exchanging tips on what has suddenly stopped working (~synonym on Google)

4. Computers in Libraries, 20074 Searching Information professionals sometimes forget when to stop They have problems with information overload: It makes them overlook things With more sources, more search engines, more searching possibilities, the process paradoxically takes longer

5. Computers in Libraries, 20075 Finding This is what clients want A quick answer, no clue about sources Find me the data Why can’t I put one word in a search box and find what I want Non-Boolean mindset That’s why they’re not info pros

6. Computers in Libraries, 20076 Finding Information professionals want to find answers as well They care about finding the correct, accurate, and timely answer They think about external sources before internal ones, which can be a mistake

7. Computers in Libraries, 20077 Findability The flip side of finding Webmasters wanting their sites to be found How a site is architected Optimization, for good or ill The race to show up at the top of Web search engine results

8. Computers in Libraries, 20078 Premium Content Findability Expand to other markets (reputation monitoring, sales, back office management) Integrate with workflow New pricing models (pay per view) Become more intuitive, build search strategies behind the scenes Look more like Web search

9. Computers in Libraries, 20079 Web Findability Search is pervasive Search is unstable Gaming the system Quality issues Education issues

10. Computers in Libraries, 200710 Search Techniques Traditional –Boolean –Pearl growing –Building blocks –Successive fractions Web –Squishy Boolean –Algorithms taking over

11. Computers in Libraries, 200711 Web Search Technologies Personalization Optimization Semantic clustering Automatic indexing Metadata Different databases Invisible, hidden web

12. Computers in Libraries, 200712 Personalization Web search engines know who you are and what you want Which is great for individuals But not so great for information professionals who want non-biased, non- personalized results

13. Computers in Libraries, 200713 Optimization Web search optimizer (SEO) community White hat; black hat Information professionals can learn a lot from them A good reason to set preferences to 50 or 100 rather than be satisfied with first 10

14. Computers in Libraries, 200714 Semantic Clustering Contextual search Words that are searched frequently retrieve related words Visible clustering –Clusty –Factiva

15. Computers in Libraries, 200715 Automatic Indexing Trying to automate the indexing process Identify company name Context plays a role here as well Works best with human oversight

16. Computers in Libraries, 200716 Metadata Discredited as means to drive traffic to web site Highly useful in controlled environments

17. Computers in Libraries, 200717 Different Databases Each search engine has a different database In premium search, is it a database producer or an aggregator How does this affect indexing

18. Computers in Libraries, 200718 Invisible, Hidden Web Isn’t this rather quaint? Much more is no longer hidden –Formats –Older stuff Some, however, is purposefully gone

19. Computers in Libraries, 200719 Nontextual, Nontraditional Information Audio files Video clips Images Blogs Groups Second Life

20. Computers in Libraries, 200720 Searching Nontextual An imprecise science, to say the least Precision/recall dubious Hum a few bars Describe your image You want a video with that? Viral marketing

21. Computers in Libraries, 200721 Displaying Nontextual Information Search versus display Delisting of results Graphic depictions of results Grokker at EBSCO, Gale Tag clouds at Factiva

22. Computers in Libraries, 200722

23. Computers in Libraries, 200723

24. Computers in Libraries, 200724

25. Computers in Libraries, 200725 Worst Case Scenario A controlled information environment High price doesn’t guarantee quality data Industry consolidation diminishes available information Consumerism and entertainment trump research

26. Computers in Libraries, 200726 Best Case Scenario Intuitive interfaces No licensing wars Information is accessible, available Producers are profitable Searchers are satisfied Searching and finding coalesce

27. Computers in Libraries, 200727 Contact Information Marydee Ojala Editor, ONLINE: The Leading Magazine for Information Professionals www.onlinemag.net marydee@xmission.com