How well do you search?

A lecturer came to the Library today looking to improve her web search skills. Like most people nowadays she specified Google skills – as if there is no other search engine. Her basic query was easily answered by referring her to the Google Guide for novices, experienced users or teens.  In addition there is a Cheat Sheet available in pdf which users can print off and keep beside their PCs as a handy reference.

There are of course many other search engine options and you are advised not to rely on the same one all the time. In fact we advise people to use at least three different search engines for each research question. If you want to know more then read the blog post Top 10 Alternative Search Engines of 2008 by Charles Knight. Here are some of the top 10:

1. ChaCha
2. Cooliris
3. Faroo
4. KallOut
5. Kosmix

Virtual World Search

I had a look at the library blog search engine Libworm this morning and did a search for “virtual worlds“. Guess whose blog entry came up at the top of the results?

The news this morning reported that the Australian Police Force is planning to conduct recruitment interviews in Second Life which may make our management think twice about dismissing it as “just a game”. I have read that the British Police ran a similar experiment recently and, although they didn’t actually employ any of the people they interviewed in the virtual world, it certainly raised the level of awareness of their recruitment drive.