Confirming what you know and finding what you don't
While doing some research for a recent post on alternative search engines, I turned to one of my usual sources for inspiration, search expert Phil Bradley. I found a useful presentation on Slideshare, Alternative search engines; Library 2.014 presentation, and – when I got to slide #34 – I laughed out loud! This slide “says” […]
Us vs. Google. It’s a common theme among info pros, and – frankly – I wish it would go away. Google is one of my favorite tools of the trade, and I can’t imagine not consulting this and other general-purpose search engines before and after heading to more specialized sources. You’ll find lots of sites […]
We’ve all seen it, and – unfortunately – we’ve all contributed to it. TLDR, short for “Too long; didn’t read.” Think about it: Time is at a premium, our attention spans are shrinking, and we’re consuming information on some very small screens. People may not be spending a lot of time with your emails, client […]
When searching online databases for public records or news articles, it’s essential to know how many years the database covers. For example, are you searching from 1982 forward, or does the database only go back as far as 1999? You need this information when you’re trying to be as comprehensive as possible – or to […]
It’s hard to believe that my book, Research on Main Street: Using the Web to Find Local Business and Market Information, was published four years ago last month. As the title suggests it’s about web research tips and techniques, but I emphasize throughout the book that you can’t find everything online. Maybe what you’re looking […]