Matching search engine/tools with a type of library

[Martin Courtois]

Welcome to the list, Allison, and thanks for bringing up such an
important issue.  

In selecting a search engine, I think it might be more appropriate to
consider the type of question, rather than the type of library.  For a
fairly broad search, for example, "what are some good sites on ecology?",
a search engine that offers a browsable list and/or selects the "best" 
sites might be the best starting point.  Searching the single term
"ecology" on a more comprehensive search engine like Alta Vista or HotBot,
or on a multiple search service like Dogpile will simply produce too many
hits. 

On the other hand, Yahoo will not perform well on a very specific search,
for example, "where can I see an exhibit of works by the artist Nancy
Sutor?" (not a well-known artist).  In this case, Dogpile or one of the
comprehensive search engines is more likely to turn up the one page from
the little gallery in Santa Fe, NM that shows her work. 

Any type of library is likely to have a range of broad and specific
questions from its users, so I think the best approach is to have a range
of search engines at your disposal.  I think the most important thing for
us to do is to get to know details of specific search engines'
operations--how their spider works, how the database is assembled, how
often it's updated, how sites are selected (if done manually), etc.  Given
the competition among search engine providers, it's understandable that
much of this information is not readily available, at least not in any
detailed way.  Compare our knowledge about _bibliographic_ databases, how
much we know about SilverPlatter and OCLC and DIALOG, with how much we
know about Yahoo and HotBot and Lycos...we've got a long way to go!  

I think it's way too early and too volative a market to select a "best" 
search engine, but we can start to talk to producers and let them know
we're interested in and use their products.  I was pleased to see HotBot
exhibit at the recent ACRL conference and join in a roundtable discussion
on search engines and hope that more of this type of exhange will occur.

Marty

*********************************************************
Martin Courtois
Biological Sciences Reference Librarian
Hodges Library
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-1000
423-974-8693
mcourtois at utk.edu
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