[WEB4LIB] Re: metasearch engines

[Jean Hewlett]

I do not agree with the original poster's assertion that it is necessary to
use several search engines in order to get good search results. My experience
is that the normal problem with web searching is getting too much that's not
relevant, not needing to find more.  I am very much in agreement with Ward
Price's remarks that are quoted below.

Twenty hours a week I do second-level reference for a regional multi-type
library consortium. Much of it is done over the web, using Alta Vista, Yahoo,
Michigan Electronic Library, and various proprietary indexes such as WorldCat,
Search Bank, Proquest, and Gale Net. About 80% of my web searching is done
with Alta Vista--I almost never use metasearch engines, because they rarely
turn up anything I can't find with a well-constructed search query on Alta
Vista. If I get too much on Alta Vista, I generally move to a categorized list
of sites such as Yahoo or MEL. (To be fair, I need to say that my boss
definitely does not agree with me. He uses several metasearch engines
regularly.)

The rest of the week, I run a small academic library at a sattelite campus,
where nearly all of our resources are accessed via the net. Most of the
students have some idea how to search the web (not always very effectively).
My main challenges are to convince them that our online periodical indexes are
better tools for their academic research, to teach them how to select the most
appropriate databases, and to train them how to use the databases' often
contradictory and confusing search interfaces.

Jean Hewlett
North Bay Cooperative Library System & University of San Francisco
hewlett at usfca.edu

Ward Price wrote:

> At 07:28 AM 10/23/1998 -0700, you wrote:
> >Dear Colleagues,
> >Having used many search engines over a long time period, I am becoming
> >more interested in metasearch engines (i.e., Dogpile, Metacrawler,
> >Inference Find).  Because we possibly all agree that it is necessary to
> >search more than one engine for the most comprehensive results, I am
> >wondering why metasearch tools aren't used exclusively.
> >
>
> Metasearch engines are slow, time consuming, etc.  Search engines are
> imperfect at best.  If you use a metasearch engine, are you improving the
> system, or just multiplying the imperfection?  IF you can find what you
> need with one search engine, why search others.  (Sure you can't always
> find what you need, and perhaps more important, you might think you find
> what you need, when really you don't.)
>
> We're always fighting the battle against search engines.  We have 35 search
> engines/catalogs listed on our Web site, but we also have over 30 web
> indexes the students can, and usually should search when they're doing
> their research.  I'm worried about teaching them to use  Contemporary
> Literary Criticism Select, Biological Abstracts, IDEAL Journals, Nursing
> Collection, or Periodical Abstracts on the web, not Metacrawler.
>
> Ward Price
> C. Ward Price    wprice at panam.edu
>  Instruction/Reference/Web Librarian
>   University of Texas-Pan American
>          Edinburg, Texas  78539
>         http://www.lib.panam.edu/