530 Exercise 7

17:610:530 Principles of Searching
Tefko Saracevic

Exercise 7

Web sources

This exercise deals with the Web, not Dialog or Nexis as we did in other exercises so far. It concentrates on a variety of sources of use in library reference, searching, and services to users.

I categorized a number of types of Web sources of potential use by librarians and information professionals to search for information to answer user requests in:

the lecture Web sources and library & information services (on course Web site under folder Lectures-current) and
the files 530 digital libraries and 530 Web references (under folder Reference_digital_libraries) and
the file 530 Search engines (under folder Search engines).

For each category I gave a few examples, with URLs. Article by Janes et all. JASIST (citation below) contains further examples of reference sites.

The exercise consists of extending these examples.

Assignment:

Part 1 - General:

Examine the examples in the three files (530 Digital libraries, 530 Web references and 530 Search engines). You do NOT need to summarize anything about these examples, but you should become familiar with the type of content provided that may be searched for users.
For meta search engines (examples given in the lecture and in the file 530 Search engines and/or in the Hock's book "Web search engines") choose one listed or find another one and briefly describe its capabilities and outputs. (few characteristics or comparisons are enough). Hand in your find and description.
For reference sites (examples given in the lecture, the file 530 Web references or the Appendix 2 in Janes et al. included below) choose one listed or find another one and briefly describe. Hand in your find and description.

Part 2 - Your user:

The second and main part of the exercise is connected with your user and his/her information request and need, that is with the user you selected for your semester project. You certainly can use whatever you found in this exercise for real in the project:

In any of the reference sources (from the one listed or the one you found) search for information that may be relevant to your user for the semester project. Briefly describe what information, if any, of relevance may be found. You do not have to be exhaustive. Hand in a brief description and URL.
Is there anything in the digital libraries listed, or in any other similar digital library that you may find, that may provide potentially relevant information to your user? Hand in a brief description and URL.
Can you find any potentially relevant information on the Rutgers Libraries site? If you found it hand in a brief description and path, if not say where you looked and found nothing.
Find one domain site (or if you wish more than one) in the area of your user and briefly describe; include URL. Hand in a brief description and URL.

Part 3- reference question

This is just for a challenge and fun. Below you will find appendices from an article by Janes et al. (yes, the co-author of your favorite W&J book). From Appendix 1 (reproduced below) pick any ONE question, factual or source, and find an expert (reference) service or a search engine or meta-engine where you can find the answer. Note that Appendix 2 gives a list of expert services they evaluated - you can use any of these or any other. For most fact questions they gave the original source for the answer - you are looking if a reference service or search engine will find that source OR the same (or similar) answer from another source.

Print the answer from the expert service or search engine and hand in. However, if this is to much, just say so that you tried and got nothing.

Thus there are three deliverables:

· General: a brief description of a meta search engine and a reference site you found.

· Your user specific: a brief description of and URL or path for a (i) reference source, (ii) a virtual (digital) library source, (iii) a Rutgers Libraries source, and (iv) a domain site that is relevant for searching for your user.

· Janes' question: a site giving the answer. Or just say that you tried a given site and got nothing.

NOTES:

You can check the article Sherman, C. (2000) Reference resources on the Web. Online, 24 (1), 52-56, (at RUL) for a review and very interesting comparative analysis of some Web reference sources from a library point of view. Nothing to summarize.

You can also check the article:

Janes, J., Hill, C., & Rolfe, A. (2001). Ask-an-expert services analysis. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 52, (13) 1106-1121.

The article can be found online in the Rutgers Libraries. The appendices are copied below. Nothing to summarize.

The article evaluates 20 Web expert service sites i.e. sites providing answers to reference-type questions - ten sites were what they classified as commercial type (C) and ten as non-commercial (NC). In the process they used the questions listed in the Appendix 1. There are two types of questions: Fact (looking for a specific fact) and Source (looking for help, guidance and sources). The list of expert service sites they examined (classified by type) is given in Appendix 2. As to results they concluded, among others, "Sites responded to 70% of all questions and gave verifiable answers to 69% of factual questions."] The appendices are copied as is.

APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONS

Classics

Fact

Q: My mom has been reading a book about Egypt to me. I asked her why the sphinx has the head of a human and the body of a lion, but she doesn’t know. Do you know why?

A: When the ancient Egyptians drew pictures of their gods, it was polite to show the gods with a human body and an animal head. But a sphinx built for a king would have a lion’s body and a human head. Many sources are listed, here’s one: [not given in the article]

Source

Q: I was wondering if there is any information written about the Fates in Greek Mythology. If there are any books, can you please recommend them?

Christianity

Fact

Q: I am looking for the lyrics to the Christian song In the Cross for my boyfriend’s 80-year-old uncle. I have tried several different avenues and cannot find it. Could you, please, send the lyrics to me? I appreciate your help! Thank you!

A: The lyrics are located here: http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh295.sht

Source

Q: Is there a concise comparison of the many different branches and denominations within Christianity. I am interested in differences of belief and theology as well as basic historical development of the denominations (how and why did this group begin?)

Shakespeare

Fact

Q: Which play of Shakespeare’s has the moving call to battle that refers to “heroes of crispin day”? Thanks for your help.

A: Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3. http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/

Source

Q: I’m studying Romeo and Juliet, and am curious if anyone knows what was in Juliet’s potion that she drank. What was in it? I’ve not been able to find that on the Internet. Thank you.

Science

Fact

Q: Is there a particular name for a baby bat? I’ve heard that they may be called “bitterns” or “bittens,” but I’m not sure about this.

A: The term used to describe baby bats is “pups.”

Source

Q: I am in the fourth grade and I am doing a science project on which shave cream is the foamiest the longest. Can you help me with the history of shaving cream? I’ve looked all over the Internet.

Art

Fact

Q: Please help me find birth and death years and bio-sketch source for artist-engraver Jules Arnout, active 1860s, London. I think he has six engravings of London scenes showing in the London Guildhall. Thank you for your help.

A: He lived 1814–1868. Bio is not available on the Web, only in print.

Source

Q: I am interested in biographical information about William Mercer, an artist from the revolutionary time period who studied or apprenticed under an artist by the name of Charles Peale in the Philadelphia area. I do know that William Peal was deaf and he may have done most of his work in miniature form. Thank you for any assistance you can give on this. I am especially interested in the names of his pieces of art.

Health

Fact

Q: What is the nutritional value in Moose Meat? A: The U.S. Dept of Agriculture Web site Nutritional Analysis db, located at http://www.cyberdiet.com/ni/htdocs/index.html the nutritional value of moose meat is available for both raw and cooked meat.

Source

Q: Can you help me find information about various doc-tors? I would like to know where they received their degrees, and any other information. I live in Florida, but also want information about Alabama doctors as well. Thank you.

Law

Fact

Q:What is the U.S. Code title and section numbers for a 1996 law called the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act? Thank you.

A: Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996-COD-Pub. L. 104-132, Apr. 24, 1996, 110 Stat. 1214 Pub. L. 104-208, div. A, title I, Sec. 101(a) (title I, Sec. 113), div. C, title III, Sec. 306(d), 308(d)(5), (g)(10)(H), title VI, Sec. 671©(2), (4)-(6), Sept. 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009-21, 3009-612, 3009-619, 3009-625, 3009-722, 3009-723. Pub. L. 104-294, title VI, Sec. 605(j)-(m), Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3510 Pub. L. 105-119, title I, Sec. 120, Nov. 26, 1997, 111 Stat. 2468.

Source

Q: What was the Engel v. Vitale case about? Any sources you could point me to would be great.

Dinosaurs

Fact

Q: I need to find out approximately how many teeth did an Edmontosaurus have?

A: About 1,000. Here’s one source that says so, there are others [I checked that one and could not find the information they claimed to be there]:

http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/martin-noble/lworld2.htm

Source

Q: My son is a grade 5 student and he is preparing a science paper. He has a choice of reporting on Dinosaur Extinction or researching any two dinosaurs. He prefers the former. Can you tell us where to get that information? Thank you.

Education

Fact

Q: I am looking for a college that is teaching textile chemistry in Southern Carolina. I will be a freshman in the fall of 2001.

A: IPL recommends

http://www.ces.clemson.edu/textiles/ and http://www.furman.edu/plan/design4/academ-ics/engin.htm

and suggests going to Open Directory Project

Source

Q: I am writing my dissertation on the creation of wealth through the creating of community—based centers where people can learn life skills and practice skills sharing inSouth Africa. Can you help me begin to collect literature on skills sharing and life skills training? I am currently in Namibia, but any types of sources are fine.

Math

Fact

Q: Could you please send me the formula for computing compound interest? Thank you.

A: This is an IPL FARQ:

http://www.cs.unb.ca/;alopez-o/math-faq/mathtext/node42.html#SECTION00114000000-00000000000

Source

Q: I am trying to find information about the math theory CHAOS for a school project.

APPENDIX 2: SITES

(NC = Non-commercial; C = commercial)

NAME TYPE URL

The Oracle NC www.classicspage.com

Saint Nick NC http://members.truepath.com/StNick/nicholsworth.html