the Internet Public Library

Web Searching

Looking for information on the Web? The sites listed below are some of the IPL's favorite general Internet search engines and catalogs. None of them are comprehensive, so it's important to use a variety of tools.

If you're a new searcher, you could try Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves, Google.
If you're an experienced searcher, you could try Google, Altavista, Hotbot, Ixquick.
If you prefer quality over quantity, you could try Google, Selective web guides.
If you're looking for specific and arcane information, you could try Ixquick, Google Groups.

The University at Albany Libraries' Boolean Logic Primer shows you how to use AND, OR, NEAR, and NOT in your search strategies.

To locate additional search engines, see SearchEngineWatch's Search Engines Worldwide page, Yahoo's Searching the Web, and the University at Albany Libraries' How to Choose a Search Engine. Search Engine Watch has search engine news, tips for searching, and comparisons of search engines' capabilities.

Once you've got your search results, how do you know if they're any good? American Library Association shows parents and kids How to Tell if You're Looking at a Great Website. College and Research Libraries News also gives criteria for web evaluation: accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage.

AltaVista has some powerful search options for experienced users: it lets you search for exact phrases, require or prohibit words, search within the title of an HTML document, search for documents that contain a link to a particular URL, use wildcards, and employ case sensitivity. The advanced search allows for the use of Boolean operators (AND, OR, AND NOT, NEAR).
Tip: Use NEAR instead of AND in the advanced search. Results will tend to be more relevant.
Example:
If your question is: Which Dr. Seuss book used a vocabulary of just fifty words?
then try typing this in Advanced Search: +seuss NEAR ("fifty words" OR "50 words")
Pros: Extensive database supports complex Boolean searches. Can search in many languages. The optional Family Filter can screen out some objectionable content.
Cons: Too many hits may overwhelm novice searchers.
Help and/or FAQ Page: Help, FAQ

Ask Jeeves
http://www.aj.com/

Ask Jeeves lets you search the web by typing a simple question in plain English. Ask Jeeves contains links to more than 7 million answers to the most frequently-asked questions on the web. Also check out Ask Jeeves for Kids.
Tip: Phrase your question as simply as possible.
Example:
If your question is: How many countries are in the world?
then try typing: How many countries are in the world?
Pros: Simple and intuitive.
Cons: Uncommon or long questions often return irrelevant results.
Help and/or FAQ Page: Help, About AJ

Google
http://www.google.com/

Google tends to give you the most relevant and high-quality websites near the top of your results list. A site's importance is measured in part by how many other sites link to it -- the more important the site, the higher it ranks in Google's search results.
Example:
If your question is: What was the financial cost of the Vietnam War?
then try typing: "vietnam war" cost billion
Tip: If a web page you want is temporarily down, you can still see a copy stored on Google's server. Click the "cached" link in the search results.
Pros: Fast, relevant, and high-quality search results. Simple and elegant design.
Cons: Ignores many common words and characters, although you can use a "+" sign to force Google to include them (which will significantly slow your search, as well.)
Help and/or FAQ Page: Help, FAQ

Google Groups
http://groups.google.com/

Google Groups lets you search Usenet newsgroups and is a great way to find esoteric information too arcane even for the World Wide Web. Users can search the Usenet as far back as May, 1981 with a simple interface. An Advanced Search page offers more search options. In addition to search capabilities, Google Groups also allows users to browse current messages and post to newsgroups via the web.
Example:
If your question is: How can I learn to juggle five balls?
then try typing: juggle "five balls"
Pros: Powerful, customizable and fast.
Cons: Claims made on newsgroups might not be reliable.
Help and/or FAQ Page: Help, Posting FAQ.

HotBot
http://www.hotbot.com/

HotBot supports searches using Boolean operators with nesting, and searches limited by date, location, domain names, media (image, text, sound, &etc.), or page type. For searches on broad topics (about half of Hotbot searches), the top ten results come from Direct Hit, which ranks sites based on what other users with similar searches have done. The more previous searchers have clicked on a site, and the longer they've stayed there, the higher the site ranks. For more specific topics, Hotbot ranks results based on the frequency and location of your search terms.
Tip: Type the most important search terms first.
Example:

If your question is: What are all the Pokemon names?
then try typing: +pokemon +names

Pros: Supports complex Boolean searching and other powerful search techniques.
Cons: The lime green color can be considered garish. Search results often include irrelevant sites and tend to have many dead links.
Help and/or FAQ Page: Help

Ixquick Metasearch
http://www.ixquick.com/

Ixquick searches 14 search engines at the same time. Ixquick translates your search request so that each search engine will understand it, and doesn't forward your request to engines that can't understand it. Ixquick's results rankings are based on other search engines' rankings: If a site shows up in the top ten results of many different search engines, it will rank very high in Ixquick's search results. Ixquick also weeds duplicates from the results list. You might also check out Search Engine Watch's list of other meta-search engines.
Example:
If your question is: What is the Bayeux Tapestry?
then try typing: "Bayeux Tapestry"
Pros: Fairly comprehensive, and results tend to be relevant.
Cons: Search can be slow. A faster meta-search engine is Metacrawler
Help and/or FAQ: Help, FAQ

Yahoo
http://www.yahoo.com/

Yahoo is, perhaps deservedly, the most widely-used Internet catalog. In contrast to the search engines listed above, which use computer programs to scour the Internet for Web pages, Yahoo catalogs sites manually, depending largely on user submissions. The front page is an alphabetical list of broad subject areas which are then subdivided into smaller categories. Users can browse the hierarchical structure, use a search engine that searches the URLs, titles and comments within Yahoo, or use both features in tandem. Current news, stock quotes, sport scores, yellow pages and city maps are available as well as regional Yahoos and an excellent search site for kids, Yahooligans.
Tip: Use a plus sign to indicate words that must appear in search results.
Example:
If your question is: Where is the website of the Harry S. Truman Presidental Library?
then try typing: harry +truman presidential +library
Pros: Easiest search page for new users. Well-organized.
Cons: Can be hard to differentiate between categories and sites. Site listings are not very up-to-date (i.e. new sites take a long time to get listed.)
Help and/or FAQ: Help, FAQ

Selective web guides: IPL, LII, Scout Report Archives, About.com

Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/col/ -- The IPL's own collections of over 40,000 Internet resources, hand picked, organized and described by librarians and library students.
Librarians' Index to the Internet http://www.lii.org/ -- From the Library of California, the site's motto is "Information You Can Trust." A directory of "Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries."
Scout Report Archives http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/archives/ -- From the editors of the Scout Report at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Librarians and educators have selected more than 10,000 websites for their value to the education community.
About.com http://www.about.com/ -- Offers hundreds of Guides which contain original articles, selected websites, and community features like chat rooms. Each area is overseen by an "expert guide" trained by About.com.

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Revised by IPL Reference Volunteer Angela Napili and IPL Staff
Last Updated Jan 17, 2002