Better Search: Libraries or Engines?

A blog from searchengine watch:

The Engines win by a landslide, at least according to current college students.
They preferred searching on Google or Yahoo versus their college library systems, based on the attributes of: speed (90%); convenience (84%); ease of use (87%); cost-effectiveness (71%); and reliability (63%). Libraries, however, won on more trustworthy measures including credibility (77%) and accuracy (76%).

... ...

Libraries are still filled with treasure troves, holding everything from special collections to rich databases. Years ago, librarians made progress in providing electronic islands for their patrons. Now, their challenge is to make the holdings as searchable as possible -- following their "self-service" patrons into the larger search ecosystems.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/071002-151201

Muse Search and Grokker

1. Web meta search engine Muse:

http://www.musesearch.com/muse/servlet/MusePeer

2. Visualization search tool Grokker:

http://www.grokker.com/

Grokker used by Internet Public Library:

http://ipl.grokker.com/grokker.html

World Wide University

Hi class,

Just thought you may find the following sites to be useful resources:

Universities world wide
http://univ.cc/world.php


Universities of United States Listing
http://univ.cc/states.php

Rong

Yahoo! "Search Assist" Feature

Hi class,

Have you noticed that Yahoo! has recently implemented a new "search assist" feature to give user suggestions on search terms and also show how the concept can be explored.

Rong

Sony's Reader Digital Book

Hi class,

Check out Sony's device titled "The Reader Digital Book:"

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=16184

See you tomorrow,
Rong

LC digitized Children's Literature

Check out the LC digital collection of children's books:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/digitalcoll/digitalcoll-children.html

Rong

The Lazy Library

Hi class,

Check out lazylibrary with its slogan "read less, get more." Retrieval of items is based on the page number info from amazon.com.

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Welcome to the LazyLibrary, where you can find books on any topic without having to worry about high page counts. If it's over 200 pages, you won't even see it. Read all about anything, in less time, for (usually) less money.
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http://lazylibrary.com/

Rong