This article features the University of Liverpool's arts and humanities library, which applies a new search tool to improve the user experience. In nearly every way imaginable, the Sydney Jones Library and the Harold Cohen Library--the university's two libraries that serve science, engineering, and medical students--support the lives of their…

Libraries are not so unlike market giants Netflix, Amazon, and Pandora. Despite their significantly different business models and missions, they share an interest in facilitating the search for information, including what to read, view, and listen to next. Librarians, too, want their patrons to be able to use their tools to make connections among…

Exploring resources in order to determine their full potential in information-seeking is a necessary part of the ongoing education and training of information professionals. One should explore every resource available in order to make the best judgments when relevant queries are introduced. In this article, the author stresses that one key to…

For years, patrons have been able to access library services from home and in the library building, but in the world of Google, Yahoo, YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook, library web sites and catalogs are too often not the first place people go to look for information. The innovative use of toolbars could change this. Toolbars have been popular for…

Discusses the portions of the World Wide Web that cannot be accessed via directories or search engines, explains why they can't be accessed, and offers suggestions for reference librarians to find these sites. Lists helpful resources and gives examples of invisible Web sites which are often databases. (LRW)

This article provides realities in reaction to myths that have developed around online searching based on experience at Northbrook Public Library (Illinois). Discussion covers experience needed by online searcher, use of the multitude of databases, retrieval of relevant material, and cost. Two reference situations utilizing online searching…

As public and academic librarians rely more heavily on electronic resources to satisfy patrons' information needs, seamless searching across print and electronic holdings gets more and more essential. Enter the integrated library system (ILS)-independent electronic resource management system (ERMS), which promises to integrate, search, and expose…

Discusses online searching and the characteristics that make librarians good searchers. Topics include curiosity; creativity; enjoying the research process; research methodology to help in decision making; information sources other than the Web, including print sources and commercial databases; Boolean logic; and job opportunities for searchers.…