What libraries can do to help

[Danny Sullivan]

I've posted some tips on news search engines, to help you find the latest
information online, as well as how NOT to go searching via the major search
engines. The full article, with analysis, is online:

Finding Disaster Coverage At Search Engines
http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/09-wtc.html

Following the unprecedented terrorist attacks on the United States today,
web users turned en masse to search engines for information. It took those
services some time to adjust to the demand, but as the day progressed, many
came up to speed.

The tips portion of the article is below:

Disaster Search Tips

If you are seeking coverage of the terrorist attacks, you are best directed
to use special news search engines. A link to a list of them is below, and
they are listed roughly in order of most usefulness.

If you are seeking web sites related to the attacks, such as special
survivor or assistance sites, general purpose search engines probably won't
get you to them. This is because it takes time for them to update their
listings, anywhere from days to weeks, depending on the search engine.

Instead, depend on news sites to get you to disaster web sites. They will
all have articles and resource lists that are constantly being updated.
And, to find news sites and news articles, use the news search engines.

For example, going to AltaVista's news site, a search for "blood donations"
brings up 12 different articles about blood donation requests related to
the bombings. In contrast, the same search against AltaVista's regular
results -- or at Google -- brings up relevant sites about blood donations
in general but not relevant to the current disaster.

For finding web sites -- such as the Red Cross or CNN -- using a "regular"
search engine is just fine. Most will direct you to these, though you may
find actually connecting to your destination site may be difficult due to
the high traffic they are receiving.

Do keep in mind that how these sites are described -- and other sites --
may seem odd or completely ignorant of the disaster. This is again because
it takes time for the search engines to update their information and
because it also generally depends on the sites themselves to make updates.

Because of this, searches for things like "world trade center" will
probably still reflect web sites that talk about tourism or perhaps the
bombing from 1993, rather than today's attacks. That will change over the
coming weeks, as the search engines get updated.

News Search Engines
http://searchenginewatch.com/links/News_Search_Engines/Major_News_Search_Eng
ines/

Regular search engines are no good when you need breaking news. Instead,
news search engines offer far more current information. The resources
listed bring back headlines from a wide range of sources and are updated
many times throughout the day.

Major Search Engines
http://searchenginewatch.com/links/Major_Search_Engines/The_Major_Search_Eng
ines/

These are major "general purpose" search engines, many of which were
mentioned above. If you use them to seek news, look closely at their home
pages for guidance. Don't just head straight to the search box. However,
you should really use the news search engines above, for the best coverage.

Where to Find Current Disaster Information
About.com Web Search Guide, Sept. 11, 2001
http://websearch.about.com/library/searchtips/bltotd010911.htm

Guide to many resources, especially disaster relief ones, related to the
terrorist attacks.

Tragedy Results in Web News Gridlock
InternetNews.com, Sept. 11, 2001
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article/0,,12_882061,00.html

Explains the difficulties in reaching many major news sites. Because of
this, consider using a news search engine to find relevant articles at
smaller news services. Many of them will have high quality coverage just
like the major sites, due to wire service distribution -- and you'll be
able to reach them.

Web acts as hub for info on attacks
News.com, Sept. 11, 2001
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-7129241.html

More about how the web is providing information to those seeking it about
the attacks and disaster relief. Lots of links to chat areas and important
web sites.

cheers,
danny

------------------------
Danny Sullivan
Editor, SearchEngineWatch.com
http://searchenginewatch.com