This handbook provides information on how Internet search engines and related software and utilities work and how to use them in order to improve search techniques. The book begins with an introduction to the Internet. Part 1 contains the following chapters that cover mining the Internet for information: "An Introduction to Search…

Explains intelligent agents, special software tools that help make the Web more interactive by helping with information retrieval. Describes major types of agents, including search agents and agents for specialized tasks including monitors and knowledge management; and lists relevant Web sites. (LRW)

Discusses subject gateway sites and commercial search engines for the Web and presents an explanation of Google's PageRank algorithm. The principle question addressed is the conditions under which a gateway site will increase the likelihood that a target page is found in search engines. (LRW)

Metasearching of online current news services is a potentially useful Web application of distributed information retrieval techniques. Reports experiences in building a metasearcher designed to provide up-to-date searching over a significant number of rapidly changing current news sites, focusing on how to merge results from the search engines at…

Discussion of information literacy and education focuses on a module developed to provide instruction related to Web searching. Highlights include basic Web search strategies; Web search tools, including directories, search engines, specialized search tools, and the use of pathfinder pages; and suggested practice activities. (Author/LRW)

Discusses how to improve the quality of Internet search systems and introduces the Ghosts Consensus Method which is free from the drawbacks of digital democracy algorithms and is based on linear programming tasks. Highlights include vector space models; determining relevant documents; and enriching query terms. (LRW)

Discussion of Web search strategies focuses on a comparative study of textual and graphical summarization mechanisms applied to search engine results. Suggests that thumbnail images (graphical summaries) can increase efficiency in processing results, and that enhanced thumbnails (augmented with readable textual elements) had more consistent…

Presents a query categorization approach to automatically classifying Web query terms into broad subject categories to provide in-depth analysis of users' search interests. Describes a test on search engine logs in Taiwan that shows the approach is efficient in dealing with large numbers of queries. (Author/LRW)

Discusses results of searches using a variety of query formulations with several Internet search engines which show that strategies intended to give narrower and more precise results may not give improvements in precision even though they result in fewer hits. Describes searches that were performed by students in graduate information retrieval…

Describes indexes to Web resources that have been created by librarians to be more discriminating than the usual Web search engines, some of which are organized by standard classification systems. Includes indexes by solo librarians as well as by groups of librarians, some in public libraries and some in higher education. (LRW)

This guide to search engines for the World Wide Web discusses selecting the right search engine; interpreting search results; major search engines; online tutorials and guides; search engines for kids; specialized search tools for various subjects; and other specialized engines and gateways. (LRW)

It is increasingly clear that the Internet will be the defining technology for reading, writing, and communication in the 21st century. But without the ability to locate information in an efficient and effective manner, students' access to information on the Internet is limited. This article introduces SEARCH, a strategy classroom teachers can use…

This guide discusses the use of the World Wide Web for library reference service. Part 1, "Ready Reference on the Web: Resources for Patrons," contains chapters on searching and meta-searching the Internet, using the Web to find people, news on the Internet, quality reference resources on the Web, Internet sites for kids, free full-text…

Compares the implied ontological frameworks of the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting and the World Wide Web Consortium's Semantic Web. Discusses current search engine technology, semantic markup, indexing principles of special libraries and online databases, and componentization and the distinction between data and…

Reports on patterns and sequences of query reformulation based on query logs from a Web search engine. Results show that while most query reformulation involves content changes, about 15% of reformulation is related to format modifications. Six patterns of query reformulation emerged as a result of sequence analysis: specified, parallel,…