[WEB4LIB] Usability of Search this Site

[Nancy Sosna Bohm]

Re:"...little chatter about the usability of such a function.
... At that the same time, it seems that library web sites are a bit unique
in
that much of our business is searching, and getting people to the right
search utility. ...Interestingly Amazon.com, the 800 pound gorilla, does not
offer a search  this site function, just searches of its 12 or so catalogs.
Perhaps they
want to make sure you search for Michael Crichton in the books catalog.
..."

I had a search engine on at one time. It seemed to pull up a lot of false
drops--almost like uncataloging. I suspect that *if* my library site was
well designed, the search function would be superflous. Perhaps a disclaimer
for the search engine would help, e.g.: 'This search engine can be used to
find any occurrance of a particular word on this site.'