Uncovering the Web

Can your favorite search engine find all there is to find on the Web?

It finds all we need to find, right guys?

Think again. Search engines access a relatively small part of the Web, known as the “free Web” A large portion of the Web, inaccessible to the search engines, is known as the “Invisible Web”

What’s not on the free Web? Around 90% of the books on our library’s shelves, still under the protection of copyright The full-text of many magazine and newspaper articles Expensive reference and nonfiction books, like literary criticism, and in- depth biographical and historical works

And why can’t we get this stuff for free? Isn’t the free stuff on the Web just as good?

Publishing is a business! Serious authors are in the business of earning money for their hard work Publishers also expect a return on their work and investment Copyright laws protect “intellectual property” from theft

Your teachers expect quality! Material from the subscription services is likely to be viewed by your teachers as more authoritative You may have to defend some of the sources you find on the free Web You may want to dig deep on the free Web for some harder to find sources.

I’d like to see an example of that!

Free Web databases! For example: Say you are looking for photographs of the Battle of Gettysburg You may find some good ones through an image search on your favorite search engine But did you know there is a database DEVOTED to Civil War photographs?

Search engines cannot pick up those photos of Gettysburg in that rich database because the database content is not searchable until you are actually in the database.

Try this database! Selected Civil War Photographs

But how do you find a database like that? Use the word database with your search terms. Use a tool like Librarian’s Internet Index (lii.org) to identify specialized databases Use a search tool specifically designed to pick up items the other search engines miss- a search tool for the Invisible Web Look for portals, or gateway sites, relating to your subject area

Other Web content may be invisible to your search engine: Files not written in html (some search engines can locate alternate formats) Sites requiring a login, like the free New York Times Book Review Longer files with content beyond the reach of robots or spiders Pages created by a search Private information owned by a company or organization Pages that are new or not frequently linked to

Some search tools for the Invisible Web Invisible Web Directory CompletePlanet Incy Wincy OAIster Search Interface Pinakes Subject Launchpad

And... The Invisible Web also includes subscription, or proprietary databases!

Presenting: Redwood High School subscription databases

EBSCO Databases I Magazines (MAS Ultra – Student Ed.) Newspaper Source Science Reference Center History Reference Center TOPICsearch Health Source Columbia Encyclopedia Middle Search Plus MagillOnLiterature Plus MagillOnHistory

EBSCO Databases II Advanced Placement Source ERIC Professional Development Collection

This is the good stuff Ignoring these databases is like asking your folks to get premium cable and watching basic cable stations all the time. It’s a real waste!

Any questions?