Search Engines v. Directories: What

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Search Engines v. DirectoriesWhats the
Difference andWhy Should We Care?
Kerry Smith, Library Instruction Services
Coordinator Mississippi State University
Libraries ksmith_at_library.msstate.edu
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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

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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.
  Nature 400 (July 1999) 107-109.

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The Need for Efficient Web Searching

• Were all busy, tired, overworked
• Someone else has already done the work, with us
  in mind
• Take advantage of the fact -- dont
  re-invent the wheel
• Reap the fruits of others labor
• Work smart, live longer
• Use directories (when appropriate)
• But why?

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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

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Directories v. Engines

• Directories
• Pros
• organized and evaluated for quality
• Cons
• limited to whats been deemed worthy
• at the mercy of someone elses standards of
  quality
• not getting everything available (may be a pro,
  actually)

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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

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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

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Internet Library for Librarians
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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

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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)

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Directories v. Engines

• Engines
• Examples of the best
• AltaVista
• Ask Jeeves
• Direct Hit
• FAST Search
• Google
• HotBot
• LookSmart
• Northern Light

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Shakespeares 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

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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 dont 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

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Options

• When search engines are the best choice
• When youre dealing with savvy web researchers
• When you need specific information but dont know
  what subject would subsume it a directory
• Examples
• location of a specific home page whose URL you
  cant remember
• information on a specific company, or its home
  page (directories usually wont list specific
  companies)
• finding old or obscure book reviews or citations
  by using the somebody-has-surely-put-a-bibliograph
  y-on-the-web-somewhere strategy

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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.

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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/

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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?
  titleforLibrariansquerylibrarianssearchtype
  subjects
• Librarians Resource Centre - http//www.sla.org/c
  hapter/ctor/toolbox/resource/
• LibraryLand - http//sunsite.berkeley.edu/LibraryL
  and/
• 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/si
  gnpost/

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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/