Keeping up & up & up & up & up & u
Key to you professional success & even
longevity
People
Information
Technology
© Tefko Saracevic
1
Why to keep up?

Imperative for professional performance
– essential part of being a professional

Advancing in your job
– even keeping the job

While principles of searching remain the
same, everything else is changing rapidly
– constantly new sources, ways of searching …

© Tefko Saracevic
remember about seven dog years? Web is the
opposite: in one of your years web jumped seven
years ahead of you & you are risking of being
seven years behind
Principles of Searching
2
Where to find stuff to keep up?
In many places, but web is a goldmine
 We have already covered a number of
them in other lectures
 Some are repeated here to put them all
together & a few more are added
 Browse & get familiar!

© Tefko Saracevic
Principles of Searching
3
Who is responsible?
Primarily you
 But also very much your employer

– providing opportunities to keep up
– making sure that all keep up
If not part of employer’s policy, you
should explain & pressure to make it a
policy – so you can do expected job
 Also part of professional associations
job on local, regional, national levels

© Tefko Saracevic
Principles of Searching
4
How to keep up?

Great many ways – should become a
habit & part of regular job every day
– following relevant literature, news
– attending professional meetings
– being active in professional societies
– taking workshops, tutorials
– talking to colleagues, keeping contacts
– visiting places to pick up best practices
– being creative in ways & means to do it
© Tefko Saracevic
Principles of Searching
5
Keeping up??? They did it too!
This is a Sumerian tablet
2600 BC, considered
among the oldest known
“books”. It provides
commandments …
Can you find the text?
© Tefko Saracevic
Principles of Searching
6
Information industry
Searcher:
The Magazine for Database Professionals
articles on current issues, news, opinions
Information Today
information industry news
Freepint
newsletter, articles, links; nice & sometimes quirky
Ex Libris
a private weekly ezine for librarians
Ariadne
“targeted principally at information science professionals in
academia”
© Tefko Saracevic
7
Internet
Resource Shelf
bloger about internet (and some other stuff) with
archive; it has really good and really bad
exchanges & threads
Internet Resources Newsletter
UK based; monthly newsletter for “academics,
students, engineers, scientists and social scientists”
ResearchBuzz
daily updates; many aspects; “Collection of items on search
engines, online databases, and other information resources”
About.com Web Search
•
© Tefko Saracevic
tools, Web Search Forum
8
Searching
SiteLines
a blog, written by Rita Vine, a professional librarian,
& web search trainer; many evaluations in archive
ResourceShelf
“Resources and News for Information Professionals,”
edited by Gary Price, a librarian & author of
Invisible Web – has extensive archive
WebsearchAbout
not evaluative, but provides news, capabilities,
sources, articles about web searching
© Tefko Saracevic
9
Search engines & internet news
Search Engine Watch
ratings, news, statistics, charts, explanations, tutorials
Search Engine Showdown
“The users’ guide to web searching” - run by a librarian, news
links, ratings
Search engine guide
“the definitive guide to search engine information on the
Internet.” Oh, well…
Phil Bradley's website
“Information on search engines, searching the internet, keeping
up to date on internet events…”
© Tefko Saracevic
10
Web resources
The invisible web directory
Chris Sherman & Gary Price
companion to The Invisible Web: Finding Hidden Internet
Resources Search Engines Can't See by
Extreme Searcher
Randolph Hock
• update of a popular book; links by chapter topics
The web library Nicholas G. Tomaiuolo
spotlights free resources, links by chapter and new topics –done by
a librarian
Internet resources for library science U Delaware
many links to guides, associations, schools, tools, including to list at
other institutions
© Tefko Saracevic
11
Digital libraries
University of California, Berkeley
a most elaborate effort with many guides, tutorials, lists; done
together with Sun Corporation
LibWeb U California, Berkeley
“lists currently over 7200 pages from libraries in over 125
countries”
D-Lib Magazine
“focus on digital library research and development…”
Digital libraries: Resources and projects
IFLANET, considerable resources & links
© Tefko Saracevic
12
Evaluation criteria
Virtual Chase
a site about “Teaching Legal Professionals How To Do Research;,”
this section has very good tips and links for consideration of
quality on the web
MLA user guide
for finding & evaluating health information on the web
Evaluating web pages UC Berkeley
tutorial and guide
Evaluating web sites Cornell U
criteria & tools
© Tefko Saracevic
13
No, you do not want to keep up with
some of these, but others are OK
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
UFO's, Aliens & Abductions
Dark side of the net
Find a grave
The skeptic's dictionary
Cliché finder
How things work explaining the physics of everyday life
The why files science behind the news, includes searching
Political information search engine for politics, policy &
political news
© Tefko Saracevic
14
Welcome to the profession!
© Tefko Saracevic
15
From other lectures …
© Tefko Saracevic
16