THINK LIKE A LIBRARIANELM databases for beginners

MILI 2010-2011LeAnn Suchy, Metronetleann@metronet.lib.mn

.us http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabi_k/3546466770/

Visible versus Invisible Web “Visible Web” (often called

“Surface Web”)Stuff you find via search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.

“Invisible Web” (often called “Hidden Web” or “Deep Web”)

Things not searchable by regular search engines

Think subscription databases

Visible Web Last year Google indexed its

trillionth webpage (1 trillion unique URLs)

This is only half of the Visible Web

Results are relevancy rankedOver 200 factors determine relevancyPopularity is a large factorRelevancy rankings aren’t always credible

http://www.ipl.org/

Invisible Web Invisible Web is anywhere from

100 to 500 times bigger than the Visible Web (or even bigger?)

Includes more credible sources

Search engines like Google can’t index the Invisible Web because:

Items found via a queryPasswords

How do I find Invisible Web? Think DATABASES

Database through the government, libraries and state of MN

Databases through your school

Today we’re focusing on: ELM databases (ELM = Electronic Library for Minnesota

ELM http://www.elm4you.org/

Searchasaurus

Kids Search

Academic Search Premier

InfoTrac Junior Edition

InfoTrac Student Edition

¡Informe!

Britannica Online

ProQuest Newsstand Complete

Student Resources in Context

CAMIO

Many more

Almost 50 ELM databases

More databases available through your school, so talk to your media specialist

And now, think like a librarian…

Before recommending, explore Ask these questions of the

database: What type of content is provided? How many publications are included? Years? How frequently is it updated? What navigational tools are provided? Are there tutorials? A help section? Search tips? How are search results displayed? Can I save, email or print articles? RSS feeds? Which students would best be served by this?

These questions and more are on Database Exploration Checklist

Database Exploration Checklist

Detailed Search

Search like a librarian

Between now and our meeting Check out the Database

Exploration Checklist worksheet Go into the ELM databases (or

databases linked from your school library) and use the worksheet to analyze a couple databases

Blog about your experiences When we meet in-person: Bring

an assignment with you where you had to have students research something