1. Google TM or PubMed Which is Better for Medical Searching?

2. Denise O'Shea 2 Agenda Introduction Overview of Search Tools: Coverage, Functionality, and Special Features Search Tool Strengths and Limitations Search Examples Recommendations Q&A

3. Denise O'Shea 3 The Author Former Technology Programs Manager for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), Middle Atlantic Region Certified Instructor for web searching courses such as Super Searcher Librarian, experienced in web searching using a myriad of tools including PubMed, Google, Google Scholar, ClinicalTrials.Gov and much more… I use Google often, when appropriate

4. Denise O'Shea 4 Objectives Participants will be able to: Communicate the differences between the various search engines and justify the choice of search engine for a given information need; Evaluate medical research tools; Demonstrate familiarity with resources covered in the course;

5. Denise O'Shea 5 Opening Exercise Compare these search tools and list what you think are the TWO most important search features in each: Google TM Google Scholar TM PubMed

6. Denise O'Shea 6 Search Tools: Overview It’s important to know: How the different search tools work and how they are best utilized The strengths and limitations of different search tools Coverage and Currency: How big is the database being used? What does it contain? How often is it updated or refreshed?

7. Denise O'Shea 7 PubMed vs. Google vs. Google Scholar PubMed: a searchable collection of over 15 million bio-medical journal citations Google: searches over 8 billion web pages for general information Google Scholar: searches the web for scholarly materials from broad areas of research

8. Denise O'Shea 8 Google TM It uses a Boolean (and/or) search engine to find words in web-pages It ranks pages according to the links on the page and the popularity of the pages that link to other pages Automatic spellchecker

9. Denise O'Shea 9 Google Scholar TM Beta Links to local holdings and to OCLC WorldCat with “one click” service Locates chapters within multi- authored books and conference proceedings Cited-by feature

10. Denise O'Shea 10 PubMed Uses MeSH headings to match synonyms Manual indexing by subject experts can include words not contained in the abstract Clipboard, RSS Feeds, e-mailed search results You can customize your results page Growing free content (PubMed Central) Search history Easily link to a vast array of other biomedical databases through global search

11. Denise O'Shea 11 Google: Strengths Simplicity, speed and coverage Searches web pages, images, PDFs, Word documents and much more Easy-to-use search interface

12. Denise O'Shea 12 Google Scholar: Strengths Easy means to access health literature and interdisciplinary topics Useful for citation verification Allows users to search inside the text of an article Provides linking to free materials on the Web Include reports and conferences proceedings from professional societies and associations Access to Grey Literature Backup for when local subscription links are not working

13. Denise O'Shea 13 PubMed: Strengths Updated daily* Sophisticated search tools Related Articles / Abstract Plus Good documentation Links to local holdings Ad free

14. Denise O'Shea 14 Google: Limitations Page ranking based on popular opinion Timeliness Does not suggest alternative search terms or synonyms Limited field searching (can’t search based on age or gender, or search for a research method or publication type) Limited Boolean logic, no truncation No resorting by most current

15. Denise O'Shea 15 Google Scholar: Limitations Software is in Beta Coverage – no definition of ‘scholarly’ Search results may not be as comprehensive or as current as you need Bias towards older literature (due to ranking based on number of citations) Fee-for-service document delivery Sorting features (or lack there-of) Does not always suggest alternative spellings

16. Denise O'Shea 16 PubMed: Limitations Complex interface requires training to use effectively Need to understand the structure & functionality of the database Some features require the use of cookies Some features require a login and password (MyNCBI)

17. Denise O'Shea 17 Search Examples Demo

18. Denise O'Shea 18 To Google…or Not to Google? Google: Simple searches, quick reference tool Not designed for comprehensive research or clinical questions. Google Scholar Known item searching, to learn background info on a topic Not designed for comprehensive research or clinical questions. PubMed: Complex searches Current information Literature reviews (i.e., for grants, clinical trials or evidence based medicine), PICO Ability to save searches, view search history, schedule e- alerts Don’t use to search for general information on the Web

19. Denise O'Shea 19 A Selected List of Other Medical Search Tools Scirus – a search engine for scientific, technical and medical data (http://www.scirus.com). Competitor to Google Scholar.http://www.scirus.com Relamed – searches PubMed and assigns relevance to results (http://www.relemed.com)http://www.relemed.com Hubmed – an alternative interface to PubMed (http://www.hubmed.org/)http://www.hubmed.org/ Science Research Portal – a free, publicly available Internet web portal allowing access to numerous scientific journals and public science databases ( http://www.scienceresearch.com/search/ ) http://www.scienceresearch.com/search/ XplorMed – a word relationship search engine for PubMed (http://www.ogic.ca/projects/xplormed//). It searches for articles based on word semantics and relationships.http://www.ogic.ca/projects/xplormed// Plus bibliographic databases and full-text ejournals subscribed to by your library

20. Denise O'Shea 20 The Future Google Co-op Customized Search Engines http://www.healthfind.com/ Subscribed Links http://google.com/coop/subscribedlinks/directory/H ealthhttp://google.com/coop/subscribedlinks/directory/H ealth Topics http://www.google.com/coop/topics/Health PubMed New/Noteworthy RSS feeds NLM Tech Bulletin

21. Denise O'Shea 21 Q&A

22. Denise O'Shea 22 Reading & Further Resources Giustini, D., & Barsky, E. (2005). A look at Google Scholar, PubMed...a comparison. JCHLA/JABSC, 26. Giustini, D., & Barsky, E. (2005). Using Google Scholar in Health Research: A Comparison with PubMed. Paper presented at the CHLA/ABSC. from http://chla- absc.ca/2005/Presentations/0601/GiustiniBarsky_CHLA2005.pdf.http://chla- absc.ca/2005/Presentations/0601/GiustiniBarsky_CHLA2005.pdf Henderson, J. (2005). Google Scholar: a source for clinicians? CMAJ, 172(12). New Search Engine for Finding Articles in PubMed. (2007). from http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/2007/03/05/new-search-engine- for-finding-articles-in-pubmed http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/2007/03/05/new-search-engine- for-finding-articles-in-pubmed UCLA. (2007). Google Scholar™, Search Engines, Databases, and the Research Process. from http://www2.library.ucla.edu/googlescholar/index.cfm http://www2.library.ucla.edu/googlescholar/index.cfm Vine, R. (2006). Google Scholar: A Source for Technicians. J Med Library Assoc., 94(1), 97-99.

23. Denise O'Shea 23 Contact Info Denise O’Shea Systems Librarian Fairleigh Dickinson University Teaneck and Madison, NJ oshea@fdu.edu