Web Search Engines "Made Simple"

[Martin Courtois]

Much of the exchange on this topic centers around the fact that we know
very little about how search engines operate.  Compared to our knowledge
of bibliographic database systems, such as DIALOG, OCLC, SilverPlatter,
etc., we are very much in the dark.  We're used to extensive documentation
from and frequent dialogue with bibliographic database vendors, two things
that just haven't happened with search engine producers.

It seems likely that if search engine producers provided more
documentation on their retrieval schemes, it would only be misused by
spammers.  Or, maybe new anti-spamming techniques would be found.  But I
still think we need to push for more exchange with search engine producers
and let them know they have an academic/research market.  I see some
evidence that we're headed in this direction: HotBot's presence at ACRL
and ALA conferences (where are the other producers???), and librarians and
search engine producers on the same program at Internet Librarian.  The
"Authoritative Guide to Web Search Engines" is a terrific guide to the
basic underpinnings of search engines, but we really won't have an
"authoritative" guide until we get more information from the true
"authorities," the search engine producers.

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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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