Online Searching: A Guide to Finding Quality Information Efficiently and Effectively

Due to the importance of information at different levels, whether general or special (scholarly), for people at different levels, whether everyday (public) or expert, referring to the internet as digital revolution’s biggest enabler and meta-information source to find, search and access needed information is inevitable. In such a situation, librarians are especially expected to play influential roles according to their personal, educational and professional goals. Hence, this 14-chapter book aims to teach librarians how to become expert intermediary searchers who find quality information online efficiently and effectively so that they can help library users satisfy their information needs. After a retrospective view of the world of searching from its birth to now, Chapters 1 and 2 discuss the role of libraries’ databases in accessing scholarly, professional and educational information. Chapters 3 and 4 demonstrate how understanding users’ information needs via a reference interview can lead to choosing relevant databases. Chapters 5 to 8 cover some advanced tips for developing search strategies based on various methods from Boolean operators, controlled vocabularies and free text searching to known-item searching. In line with bibliometric concepts such as Lotka’s law (prolific authors) and Bradford’s law (core journals), Chapter 9 teaches readers how useful information concerning authors and journals can be accessed, analysed and mapped through the Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases. Taking an in-depth approach, Chapter 10 examines six search strategies typically applied for almost all of the online searches. To take feedback from our searching attempt(s) and better select desired database(s), Chapters 11 and 12 revolve around the fruit of online searching and retrievals from an evaluative or performance measurement standpoint. Chapter 13 concentrates on one of the main pillars of the online searching process, the users. It highlights that effective searching necessitates a good sustainable interaction with users, which in turn helps librarians understand them better and implement more successful user education programs. Finally, Chapter 14 − “Online searching now and in the future” – takes a current, as well as a prospective, look at some trends and issues surrounding online searching. Moreover, underscoring that “search systems and databases aren’t perfect. They continue to evolve” (p. 262), the author declares her wish list of improvements for future functionality. This is a well-structured and a well-written book which balances theory and practice. Regardless of who you are − student, library and information science faculty, end-user, researcher, search engine optimizer, database manager or practicing librarian – you can learn from reading this informative work.