Library - Search the Internet

Internet Subject Directories - When should I use a Subject Directory? Internet Search Engines - When should I use a Search Engine? Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages ACA 115 Page

Internet Subject Directories

Librarians' Internet Index - http://www.lii.org/   [open window]

"The mission of Librarians' Internet Index is to provide a well-organized point of access for reliable, trustworthy, librarian-selected websites, serving California, the nation, and the world."  Their motto is: "Websites You Can Trust."

BUBL LINK - http://bubl.ac.uk/   [open window]

BUBL (BUlletin Board for Libraries) is an Internet-based information service for the United Kingdom higher education community, and is based in the Centre for Digital Library Research, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.  BUBL LINK provides links to authoritative sites, and provides numerous ways to access the directory, depending on user needs and search strategy.

INFOMINE - http://infomine.ucr.edu/   [open window]

INFOMINE has a unique place in the world of information retrieval.  Many of the listings are robot/crawler created, like a traditional search engine, but with an unusually high amoumt of metadata analysis.  About 25% of the total listings are created by human indexers.  "Substantive databases, electronic journals, guides to the Internet for most disciplines, textbooks and conference proceedings are among the many types of resources included.  The life sciences INFOMINE alone, for example, provides interactive access to several hundred databases."  INFOMINE provides multiple access methods including searches by Keyword, Author, Title, & Subject (Library of Congress Subject Headings), and browsing options for each of those indexes plus Library of Congress Classification (LC Call Number).  Like LII and BUBL LINK, INFOMINE "is librarian built.  Librarians from the University of California, Wake Forest University, California State University, the University of Detroit - Mercy, and other universities and colleges have contributed to building INFOMINE."

FirstGov - http://www.firstgov.gov/   [open window]

FirstGov is the United States Government's official search site.  The U.S. government is the biggest publisher in the world, covering topics like art, medicine, astronomy, business, geography, weather, law, travel, census data, and tax information.  There are four main gateways for frequent visitors: Citizens, Businesses & Nonprofits, Federal Employees, and Goverment-to-Government.  There are alternative directories for Federal, State, Local, and Tribal Agencies, or a Topical Directory.  Or, you may choose to use the FirstGov search engine.

UNCG Government Information - http://library.uncg.edu/depts/docs/   [open window]

This site, built and maintained by UNCG Government Documents staff, provides a helpful index to U.S., North Carolina, and International Government Web sites.  More government publications are becoming available via the Web every day; the problem is locating them.  This index will help immensely by providing simple logical structures and subject indexing to follow.

About - http://www.about.com/   [open window]

About is commercially supported Internet Directory that uses screened volunteers, called Guides, to evaluate and list Web Sites that fall within their area of expertise.  About reaches into many areas that most academic directories do not, such as automobiles and hobbies.  Warning: Be prepared to see banner ads and fight with pop-up windows.

BRCC Library - Internet Directory

This list provides links to Web Sites that do not necessarily fall within the realm of "academics" but still may be of interest to our employees and students.

Internet Subject Directories - When should I use a Subject Directory? Internet Search Engines - When should I use a Search Engine? Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages ACA 115 Page

When should I use a Subject Directory?

• When you have a broad idea or topic to research.
• When you want to see a list of sites on your topic that are recommended and annotated by experts.
• When you want to retrieve a list of sites relevant to your topic, rather than numerous individual pages contained within these sites.
• When you want to search for a site by title, annotation, and (if available) assigned keywords (subjects) to retrieve relevant material.
• When you want to avoid viewing low-content (or irrelevant) documents that often turn up on search engines. ‡

Internet Subject Directories - When should I use a Subject Directory? Internet Search Engines - When should I use a Search Engine? Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages ACA 115 Page

Internet Search Engines

Google - http://www.google.com/   [open window]

Google ranks pages based on how many of their top rated sites link to that page, providing somewhat of a "peer-review." Google has a number of special searches and features available including an Image Search, a Government Search (Unclesam), a Phonebook, and more.
Boolean: assumes AND, OR must be in capitals, use minus (-) for NOT
Phrase: double quotes ("rules of the game")
Truncation or Wildcard: automatic stemming, use tilde (~) to also search related words (~food = food, restaurant, nutrition, cooking, etc.)
See the Google Help: Cheat Sheet for more tricks and tools.

Ask.com - http://www.ask.com/   [open window]

Ask.com began as the metasearch engine Ask Jeeves, but was more recently reborn when it merged with Teoma, which it purchased in 2001. "Teoma was the first, and is still the only, major search technology based upon the clustering concept of subject-specific popularity: ExpertRank. In fact, Teoma means 'expert' in Gaelic." Using this subject specific ranking technology, Ask.com can "cluster" results into topic areas. Like Google, Ask.com provides many specialized searches: Image, Local, Maps & Directions, News, Stocks, Movies, Weather, Encyclopedia, etc.
Boolean: assumes AND (use plus [+] to absolutely require), use minus (-) for NOT. OR must be capitalized.  The advanced search uses the filters, "Must have", "Must Not Have", and "Should Have".
Phrase: double quotes ("rules of the game")
Truncation or Wildcard: none; makes exact matches only

Internet Subject Directories - When should I use a Subject Directory? Internet Search Engines - When should I use a Search Engine? Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages ACA 115 Page

When should I use a Search Engine?

• When you have a narrow or obscure topic or idea to research.
• When you are looking for a specific site.
• When you want to search the full text of millions of Web pages.
• When you want to retrieve a large number of documents on your topic.
• When you want to search for particular types of documents, file types, source locations, languages, dates last modified, etc.
• When you want to take advantage of newer retrieval technologies such as concept clustering, ranking, by popularity, link ranking, etc. ‡

Internet Subject Directories - When should I use a Subject Directory? Internet Search Engines - When should I use a Search Engine? Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages ACA 115 Page

‡ Adapted from: Cohen, Laura B. "The Web as a Research Tool: Teaching Strategies for Instructors." Choice. Vol. 36, 5/1999, 27.