Sources of
information
March 23, 2009
IST 561
Denise A. Garofalo

Overview
Discuss lab 6
Online research
Tools
Strategies
Information resource sources

Lab experiences

Online Research Tools
Search Engines
Web-based program that allows users to submit key term
requests to an online database
Ex: www.altavista.com, www.google.com www.yahoo.com
Click “search” or “submit” or hit “enter”
Results listed in decreasing relevance
Choosing Keywords
phrases need double quotes (“)
to refine search combine multiple keywords
Advanced Search Features
help refine searches by file type, Boolean operations, file
creation date etc

Online Research Tools (cont’d…)
Search Engines misc. (cont’d…)
.
Customizable Web pages consolidating features
portals such as: email, news, calendar etc.
Computer programs used by search engines
knowbots and designed to crawl from one Web page to
another through links on each Web page,
gathering keywords or whole pages as they go.
site notification
A method of submitting your Web site or Web page to
a search engine so that it will be recorded in its
database

Online Research Tools (cont’d…)
Search Engines (cont’d…)
Pros and Cons
searches a large number of sites, sometimes too many
web designers must identify their own data
keywords and description metatags
HTML/XHTML tags used to identify the potential contents of a
page for search engines
http://www.submitcorner.com/Guide/Meta/keywords.shtml

Online Research Tools (cont’d…)
A search tool that contains a list of topics that can
Directory Outlines be browsed and searched ranging from general
to specific
Web pages are indexed by humans
Bibliographic Databases
Reference collections to research materials such as journals and books
Often a fee involved, but libraries pay for access
Pros – give quality academic resources, can be full text
Cons-- rely on humans for indexing, may be out of date
Site-Specific Search Engines and Site-Maps
Search only the data on a Web site Outlines of a site’s layout
Pros and Cons
results are limited but specific

Online Research Tools (cont’d…)
Subject-Specific Search Engines & Directory Outlines
Search interface that emerged in 1996 that seek out the data stored
on many different Web sites about a particular topic or theme
Pros good for specific data
Cons may not be as comprehensive as advertised
Metasearch Engines
Meta-engines, search engines that submit a key-term to several search
engines, consolidating the results.
Pros and Cons
simple searches are effective, complicated ones may not be
only produces the top 5% to 15% from each search engine
can be untimely but are good for preliminary searches
Topic Rings
Webring. One in a series of Web sites with a common theme
Generally are not searchable but helpful for browsing
http://dir.webring.com/rw

Online Research Tools (cont’d…)
Searching for Jobs
Job boards and job search engines
Examples: http://www.jobbankinfo.org/,
http://www.jobs.com, http://www.dice.com
Searching for People
Email addresses http://www.emailfinder.com
Mailing addresses / white pages
http://www.whitepages.com/
Personal Information pay services that give more
personal information
Reverse telephone number lookup
http://www.reversephonedirectory.com/

General Reference List of…

Searching Strategies
Initiating a search
Pick the right tool for the job
Pick good keywords--don’t be lazy
Phrase your questions precisely
Refining a search
Use Boolean operators and wildcard characters
Boolean operators Terms used to manage the logical operations of
the search engine
AND, OR, NOT, NEAR, *, ?, #, !

Finding Software
Software Review Sites <reviews.cnet.com/software/>
Sites detailing how specific software functions
Freeware <www.tucows.com>
Free software programs
Shareware <www.shareware.com/>
Titles that allow you limited usage or usability until you
purchase the full version

Open Source Licensing
Programs are written in code such as C++ or Java
Open Source
Source code is available and can be modified and improved
File Compression
Reducing the size of a file or combining several files into
one
.zip or .exe
WinZip http://www.winzip.com/

Watching search engines
SearchEngineWatch
http://searchenginewatch.com
Search Engine Showdown
http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/
Web Search Guide
http://www.websearchguide.ca/
WebSerch
http://www.clubi.ie/webserch/

Searching
Guide to effective searching of the
Internet
http://brightplanet.com/component/content/article/1
12.html
Better Googling
http://www.sreetips.com/google.html
Soople http://soople.com/
Internet Searching Tools
http://hanlib.sou.edu/searchtools/

Questions?

General Reference Sources
Almanacs
Dictionaries
Encyclopedias

General Reference Sites
Infoplease
http://www.infoplease.com/
FactMonster
http://www.factmonster.com/
American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed)
http://www.bartleby.com/61/
Merriam-Webster collegiate dictionary
http://www.m-w.com/
Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.)
http://www.bartleby.com/65/

Other general resources
Homework
News
Quotations
Writing papers
Telephone directories

Other general resource sites
KidInfo
http://www.kidinfo.com/SchoolSubjects.html
HeadlineSpot
http://headlinespot.com/
Quotations page
http://www.theotherpages.org/quote.html
A+
http://www.ipl.org/div/aplus/
411.com
http://www.411.com

More specialty resources
Cars
Home repair
Sports
Travel
Entertainment

Specialty resource examples
Kelley Blue Book
http://www.kbb.com/
Handyman USA
http://www.handymanusa.com/
Yahoo sports
http://dir.yahoo.com/recreation/sports/
Lonely Planet
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
Yahoo entertainment
http://entertainment.yahoo.com/

Other Resource Examples
Find-a-Grave
TerraServer
LifeLines
HomeTownFreePress

More Specific Examples
Sports Network
Weather Underground
Parenting
Instrument Encyclopedia

Specific topical resources
Law
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/fun19.htm
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/fun12.htm
http://overlawyered.com/archives/cat_tech.
html
http://www.stellaawards.com/
http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Law/Legal_In
formation/
http://lii.org/pub/htdocs/search?search=law
;action=show;searchtype=keywords

Specific Topical Resources
Job and Career Information
!
http://www.volunteer.gov/gov/

Consumer Medical Sources
As with legal topics
Provide patron the resource not advice
Librarians aren’t doctors; don’t diagnose
Abundant sources, both good and not-
so-good

Sources for Consumer Health
Health A to Z
http://www.healthatoz.com/
Consumer health
http://www.consumer.gov/health.ht
Drug Info
http://druginfo.nlm.nih.gov/drugportal/d
rugportal.jsp

Business Resources
For public libraries, highlighting these
can help bring support from business
community
For academic and special libraries,
supports the broader user community
For school libraries, can help high school
students and staff

Sources for Business Resources
SBA
http://app1.sba.gov/hotlist/default.cfm
Business Resources
http://www.educationindex.com/bus/

Other resources
Many other subject areas
What a library needs to gather
depends on users’ needs
Can organize with
bookmarks/favorites or…
http://www.mybookmarks.com/
http://www.ikeepbookmarks.com/
http://delicious.com/

Sources for Other Resources
InfoMine
http://infomine.ucr.edu/
Intute
http://www.intute.ac.uk/
Direct Search
http://www.freepint.com/gary/direct.htm

Other Sources
Best Info on the Net
http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/
Newsroom Navigator
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/technology/
cybertimesnavigator/index.html
Librarians’ Internet Index
http://lii.org/

Questions?

Lab