Search engines to search homepages

[John Kupersmith]

I just noticed the thread about using some of the major search engines
to generate results that are restricted to a certain web site.

InfoSeek will do this also.  For example, to find pages on our site
containing the word "magazine" you enter:
+site:www.washoe.lib.nv.us +magazine

InfoSeek also offers a "Web Kit" page with instructions for adding
their search functions and logo:
I just noticed the thread on using the major search engines to 
search a specific web site. 

InfoSeek will do this too; for example, to find pages on our
site that contain the word "magazine," enter:
     +site:www.washoe.lib.nv.us +magazine
In order for this to work, each page you want to search has to be
registered with InfoSeek via their "Add URL" function, if not already 
indexed.  InfoSeek offers a "web kit" page to help people add search
functions to their sites:
     http://guide.infoseek.com/Webkit?pg=webkit_intro.html

Y'all probably know all this already.  I do have a question about it,
though:  what are the ethics of having pages indexed with a major search 
tool like this, as opposed to running local search engine software on 
one's own server?  

In the example above, I assume that people anywhere in the world get 
our "News and Periodicals" page when they search on "magazine" ... 
if so, if this became a common practice, wouldn't it tend to dilute 
the search engine database?  Is it legitimate to add this load to the 
search engine's servers?  Or is it just great?  I'd love to add such 
a function, but am not sure about the environmental impact!  

--jk

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  John Kupersmith                          jkup at washoe.lib.nv.us
  Internet Services Librarian        http://www.washoe.lib.nv.us
  Washoe County Library                     voice:  702-785-4137
  301 South Center St., Reno, NV 89501        fax:  702-785-4087
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