Search Engines on the Internet, Highland Park Public Library, Highland Park, Illinois

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search tools on the internet

So, the pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow. But, how many of us have ever been successful in finding it? Internet treasure hunts appear as fruitless until you've experienced the benefits of the constantly expanding and improving suite of Internet Search Engines.

Subject Directories | Search Engines | Meta Search Sites
Browsable Collections | Z39.50 Gateways |
Miscellaneous Directory Services
Articles and Information on Robots/Search Engines

Subject Directories

Directories provide lists of resources organized by category. Subject Directories add the capability of searching these lists which allows searching for specific keywords and phases, or browsing for content. If you know the general area of your intended search (e.g. History), Subject Directories provide an excellent starting point.

Non-Commercial Directories:
Compiled by information professionals, these subject directories are crucial to effective use of the web as a research and reference tool. The value comes from several factors including, the selection and evaluation criteria of entries, enhanced indexing, and the lack of advertising (pop-ups) and other potential advertiser influence.

Illinois Clicks!: Illinois CLICKS! is a searchable subject directory with quality internet resources, reviewed and selected by Illinois librarians, well-organized for easy access by all Illinois citizens. Resources are chosen for their specific interest to Illinois residents.

Librarians' Index to the Internet: The Librarians' Index to the Internet is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 6,500 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. It's meant to be used by both librarians and non-librarians as a reliable and efficient guide to described and evaluated Internet resources.
The Webrary, Morton Grove Public Library: Reference and informational web sites organized according to Dewey Decimal System call numbers.

Virtual Reference Desk: Developed and maintained by Bob Drudge, this site has received several awards and honors for comprehensive reference desk support for professionals.

Infomine: From the libraries of the University of California, a searchable virtual library of Internet resources relevant for college-level research. Includes databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards and more.

Internet Public Library: From the University of Michigan School of Library and Information Sciences, a collection of online resources and tools, including some great Special Collections and help doing online research.

AcademicInfo.Net: An educational gateway to online high school, college and research level Internet resources.

Resource Discovery Network (Home To Many Subject Specific Directories): A collaboration of over 60 educational and research organizations in Great Britain, including the Natural History Museum and the British Library which provides rich entry points to a full range of Internet, bibliographic, documentary and data resources.

Commercial Directories:

Many of the commercial directories maintain search engine sites in addition to the directories.

YAHOO!	Open Directory Project	Webbrain
About.com	JoeAnt.com	Google's Open Directory
	LookSmart

Directories for Kids

Yahooligans: Yahoo's famous directory service has developed a directory just for kids. Join the Yahooligans gang for fun, education, and collaboration with other online kids.
KidsClick!: Developed and maintained by librarians, this site has links to over 5,000 web sites organized by category.
Apple Learning Interchange, Learning Resources: Formerly called EdView Smart Zone, the Apple Learning Interchange, has indexed over 7 million web pages that are kid-safe, organized by subject and grade level.

Search Engines

Search Engines expand the depth of indexed information to include millions of Web pages, as well as, other Internet resources including Usenet News, ftp, telnet, and gopher resources. These databases are constantly updated and expanded by processes called robots, spiders, crawlers, ants, and fish which follow links throughout hyperspace bringing information back to be analyzed, indexed, and added to the appropriate catalogs. Search Engines are essential for conducting an exhaustive search based on keyword and phrases.

Google!	Windows Live Search	Ask.com	Alta Vista
Yahoo search	Hotbot	Lycos, Inc.	All the Web (formerly Fast.com)
Search Catalogs Providing Auto-Classification and clustering of Results
Wisenut	Clusty	Teoma, originally from Rutgers (acquired by AskJeeves)	Infonetware RealTerm Search
Other Google Search Services:
Google Image search	Google Scholar search scholarly information sources	Usenet Groups, by Google (formerly deja.com)	Google News Search
Semantic Web Searches/Browsers
KartOO,	SemanticWeb.org Portal to projects and progress on the next generation web	Interesting New Browser for Searching Google results in a semantic web: TouchGraph GoogleBrowser
Paid Placement Search Catalogs
overture.com (formerly GoTo.com)		FindWhat.com	Kanoodle.com

Meta Search Sites/Integrated Search Sites

Integrated Search Sites include Simultaneous Search Engines, Configurable Search Engines and sites which support multiple search engine entry forms. Simultaneous Search Engines send your query to more than one search engine at a time and presents a unified output. Configurable Search Engines support a common search form interface to many search engines, yet searches only one engine at a time. While these resources are valuable for saving time, an exhaustive search should include direct queries to the major Search Engines.

Recommended - Many feature leading Search Catalogs in mix of resources searched
Surfwax.com	Ithaki 4 Kids	ixquick

Results Dominated by Paid Placements
Dogpile (now owned by Go2Net}	Metacrawler (InfoSpace)	Go2Net - MetaCrawler
Excite (recently changed to a metacrawler, dominated by paid-placement - Overture/Infospace)	Search.com	Mamma

Browsable Collections

Some of these services provide search capabilities for their collections. All have a critical component in common - they have been developed and are supported by information professionals. Librarians bring an element of knowledge and expertise which far outreaches the ability of computer robots!

AskScott
BUBL Information Service Web Server
NISS Directory of Network Resources
Argus Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented Internet Resource Guide

Z39.50 Gateways

Library of Congress WWW/Z39.50 Gateway
Virtual Illinois Catalog

Miscellaneous Directory Services

Most of the major search engines provide specialized information searching tools for headlines, stock quotes, geographic maps, white pages and yellow pages. Look for these popular items as icons along the top or border of the major search engines (e.g. AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, InfoSeek, Yahoo).

Computer Journals/Magazines on the Web -- CMU Libraries
Directory of Scholarly & Professional E-conferences (mailing lists, newsgroups, etc) aka "The Kovacs List"

Articles and Information on Robots/Search Engines

The following links provide additional information and evaluations related to Web searching and robot technologies.

Yahoo's Directory Listing - Searching the Web

This link goes directly to the hierarchical Yahoo tree for: Computers and Internet:Internet:World Wide Web:Searching the Web which provides a comprehensive list of searching tools and technical information for search engine and robot design.

Search Engine Showdown (http://www.notess.com/search)

This site, developed and maintained by Greg R. Notess, summarizes, reviews, and compares the search features and database scope of the Internet search engines and finding aids. Excellent graphs of statistical information association with search engines.

Search Engine Watch (http://www.searchenginewatch.com)

The best spot for updates, news, trends, and analysis of how search engines work and where the industry is moving. Acquired by Mecklermedia, this resource is the brainchild of Danny Sullivan. The site also supports memberships where additional information is posted for a reasonable and worthwhile fee.

Mining Company's Web Search Guide (http://websearch.miningco.com)

The Mining Company's (now About.com) guide to web searches engines, reviews, and collection of NetLinks organized by topic and reference area.

SearchIQ (http://www.zdnet.com/searchiq)

SearchIQ is now part of the ZDNet. The site provides a comprehensive list of resources, online tutorials, search tool comparisons, and latest news in the Search Engine Industry. A great teaching resource.

Library of Congress' Internet Search Tools Page

The Library of Congress' Internet Search Tools Page keeps track of search tools and provides information and links to articles and reviews.

Evaluating Quality on the Net by Hope N. Tillman (http://www.hopetillman.com/findqual.html)

May 30, 2000 version. It was originally presented at Computer in Libraries delivered at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 6, 1995. EXCELLENT - MUST READ!

Site Reviews from Experts

The following experts provide mailing lists, online newsletter and excellent websites sharing their expertise. These sites provide links to quality resources organized by discipline.

Tara Calishain's Research Buzz (http://www.researchbuzz.com) The Scout Report Archives (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/archives/) Gleason Sackmann's Net-Happenings (http://listserv.classroom.com/archives/net-happenings.html)
Gary Price's Resource Shelf (http://resourceshelf.blogspot.com/)
Marylaine Block's Neat New Stuff on the Net (http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html)

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