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Search Engines, Search Aids or Search Whatever!

By Lark Birdsong
Birdsong Research

November/December, 2008

Overview
Lately, I have been doing training with individuals and employees in companies helping them “unload” information overload and find online information efficiently and effectively. There is usually a question and some confusion on what is a search engine. Here is what I am telling folks in case you have the same question.

When I run a quick search on definitions for search engines I find a wide variety of meanings and listed just a few definitions. A co-ordinated set of programs…, a directory of Internet content…, a server (computer) or commonly a collection of servers dedicated to indexing internet web pages…, an computerized index of the web pages…, a tool for searching information on the Internet by topic…, the software used to retrieve information from a database…, a service which lets users view and search websites or databases by searching…and more. As you can see, it can be a bit confusing.

IMHO, the bottom line on search engines is to choose the best search engine, tool, aid or whatever the name is used for a source that helps you find information based upon your information need and purpose. Plan what you need first then go directly to that engine, aid or tool to save time and retrieve relevant results.

I am including a few examples of search engines, aids, and tools based upon a specific information need. There are many good sources that I am not including and from time to time I will add some of these in my newsletter.

I am listing 8 ways to think about your search before your start searching. For example, if I need information that is very current, and follows world events with a snapshot visual look of the world, my key need is around the timeliness of information (#5). I would look at 10x10 before I would use keywords in Google or Yahoo.

If this organization of information works for you it might be helpful to setup folders with these topics on your computer and save bookmarks (favorites) of the search tools, aids and engines useful to your needs.

Organization of Search Engines, Aids, Tools

  1. Overview or Topical Key Information Need (use when it is necessary to define a topic, gain more keywords, understand the scope of a topic, investigate alternative or related topics or refine and narrow a topic)
    1. Google.com (like the Wal-Mart of Searches) not always the best place to start
    2. Yahoo! (another big player, usually different results from Google, good to compare both results)
    3. Use Mozilla Firefox Search Engine pull down menu and run your search on multiple sites without changing search terms
    4. Clusty http://clusty.com/ clusters topics together
    5. Directories have subjects already categorized for user and multiple sources of information can be gained in a subject matter:
      1. Google Directory http://www.google.com/dirhp?hl=en
      2. Yahoo Directory http://dir.yahoo.com/
      3. ODP http://www.dmoz.org/ (“The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.”)
    6. Surfwax to broaden or narrow search. http://www.surfwax.com/then click on focus your search
    7. Grokker views can narrow, broaden or map results http://www.grokker.com/
  2. Quality Search Key Info Need (use when scholarly research needed, expert opinions on sensitive topics needed, authoritative information required)
    1. Library (online, telephone or in person)
    2. Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com/
    3. Librarians’ Internet Index http://www.lii.org/pub/topic/cancer
    4. Virtual Learning Resource Center http://www.virtuallrc.com/
  3. Specific Subject Search Key Info Need (government, business, education, science, engineering, information, technology, careers, health, law, sports, entertainment, travel, arts and humanities, and others)
    1. American Fact Finder http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
    2. National Bureau of Economic Research http://www.nber.org/
    3. USA Gov “Government made easy.” Federal, State & Local http://www.usa.gov/
    4. Google Uncle Sam. http://www.google.com/unclesam
    5. “Scirus is the most comprehensive scientific research tool on the web.” http://www.scirus.com/
    6. Fealth. “Say fealth like health. It's all about health.” http://www.fealth.com/
    7. Business. “Quickly find anything for your business.” http://www.business.com/
  4. Opinions and Perspectives Key Info Need (opinions on current issues, news from other countries' perspectives on hot social and political topics)
    1. Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/
    2. AllTheWeb News http://www.alltheweb.com/?cat=news
    3. World News Network http://www.wn.com/
    4. Opinions & Editorials http://www.headlinespot.com/opinion/oped/
    5. Blogs for information http://technorati.com/
    6. Mahalo's “directory employs human editors to review websites… that include text listings, as well as other media, such as photos and video.” http://mahalo.com/Historical_Maps
  5. Timeliness of Information Key Info Need (today, recent, historical)
    1. Google News generates new stories every 15 minutes http://news.google.com/
    2. 10x10. provides images of news within the hour. http://tenbyten.org/10x10.html
    3. News Now provides world wide news every 5 minutes http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/
    4. American Memory from the Library of Congress can search by time frame. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
    5. Yahoo! News Full coverage.. http://news.yahoo.com/fc
  6. Facts Key Info Need (a person, a place, a company, a thing, general reference answers)
    1. A Person http://www.biography.com/
    2. A Place CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
    3. A Company New York Public Library/Local Library http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/company/c2index.htm or Local Library. NYPL has good resource/research guides. These can be used to find sources in local library
    4. Ask a Librarian. http://www.askalibrarian.org/
  7. Specific Type of Media Key Info Need (Maps, images, fine art, videos, radio, music, sounds, speeches, TV)
    1. Videos http://www.videosurf.com/ aggregates videos from several sources
    2. Radio http://www.iheard.com/ internet radio stations around the world
    3. Maps http://maps.google.com/ http://maps.live.com/
    4. Images http://images.google.com/ http://images.search.yahoo.com/
    5. Audio http://audio.search.yahoo.com/
  8. Special Search Requirements Key Info Need (run search periodically, another country, another language, Library of Congress Classification, locate resources by file type, date, specific university, inside book search, social networking).
    1. Library Congress http://www.loc.gov/index.html “The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.”
    2. Search Engines in countries other than United States http://www.philb.com/countryse.htm

    3. LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/ use to network, find people

    4. List social  networking sites by purpose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
    5. Google Book Search allows search inside some books   http://books.google.com/books
    6. File type, date, title search, language and more. Review advance search/features in each engine/aid/tool to refine results; search each result to see if PDF, similar pages, related articles, and cached results are appropriate.

    Happy Holidays to everyone, everywhere. Here is to a great 2009 to all of you and to our ability to keep hope in our own lives when it is rough out there.

    Should you need assistance with information
    or research please contact me at

    or 303-884-8666