Moving Beyond Wikipedia and Google

Yesterday, I spoke to librarian Gary Price from ResourceShelf.com and I learned about a plethora of online sources that could  provide you with a wealth of information that take you way beyond what you would ever hope to find by searching Google or Wikipedia. The problem is, Price says, most people don't even know the resources are out there.

For instance, go to your local public library web site, and chances are you'll find a treasure trove of trusted database sources that you will never find if you're entering a simple search query in Google (or Yahoo! or MSN or Ask).

To show me, Price lead me on a virtual trip to my local library. I clicked the Databases link and there in front of me was a world of valuable information including Gale Info Trac with business information, health information and biographies and much more. All I need is my library card number. I can access a searchable index of  of 400 periodicals, legal forms, car information. There's so much here in this one place just for my library card that it's truly mind boggling, but what's more so is that almost none of us know this information is there.

So here's what I recommend you do. Find your local library's web site and take a look around. You won't believe what you can access, and the next time your kids are doing research for school, direct them to the online library. It's all waiting there just for the searching.

Comments

[Wayne Smallman]

"Find your local library's web site and take a look around."

Presumably, using Google?

I thought Google were trying to index all of this stuff?

If this is a question of promotional activities, who's responsible, and what can be done to raise the profile of these forgotten archives?

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Hey Wayne:

Thanks for the note. Always good to hear from you.

These are materials not freely available on the web, what is sometimes referred to as the hidden web. If you go have a conversation with a reference librarian, I'm sure s/he will be happy to discuss the databases you can access from your library system.

If you go to my local library web site: http://www.joneslibrary.org/ref/databases.html, you'll see a list of databases I can access with my library card.

We are trained to use the web by entering a couple of words in Google and taking what we get, but librarians can teach you how to use the free web more effectively and what you can find in subscriber-only databases and search tools.

RM

[Wayne Smallman]

As I often do, I browse around at night, find stuff to read and then leave it for the next day.

And just look at what I found, go to: http://www.macnewsworld.com/rsstory/56327.html

Topical, or what?

Enjoy...

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Sounds more like a job for Google, but that's a scary thought. Thanks for the link. Very interesting.

Ron