Searching 2.0

Citation

Smith, A.G. (2009), "Searching 2.0", The Electronic Library, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 1048-1049. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470911004156

Web 2.0, tagging and folksonomies, are changing the way we search for information. In Searching 2.0, Sauers looks at how Web 2.0 tools affect the way we search.

After an introduction to the concepts underlying Search 2.0, Sauers looks at organising information using Delicious (the website formerly known as http://del.icio.us), common search engines, and Wikipedia. There are chapters on searching for specific types of material: media, information about a particular locality, print materials, and searches for archived web pages. The book concludes with chapters on adding search engines (or your library's OPAC) to the browser using OpenSearch, searching your desktop computer, and graphic search interfaces.

There are quite a lot of screenshots, which has pros and cons: while this makes the ideas that Sauers is discussing clear, they take up a lot of space, and date quickly. In the search engines chapter, Microsoft LiveSearch, which Sauers covers in detail, has now evolved into Bing, with a totally different interface; and Sauers has just missed out on including Wolfram|Alpha as a numeric search tool. A point that could be made more forcefully is that no search engine covers all the Web, and search engines rank sites differently, so that comprehensive searches should be done on several search engines.

Sauers makes a good case for Wikipedia being a significant reference source, while discussing the issues surrounding it. There could have been more on the specifics of using it in reference work: the value of links to external sites; how to check the accuracy of Wikipedia entries, etc.

In the chapter on local search, Sauers has a thorough discussion of online mapping tools such as Google Maps. However there are other tools that could have been discussed here, for example Lonely Planet's Thorntree discussion board, where you can find out, things like the best day of the week to get your car blessed in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Using the exercises at the end of each chapter is a good prompt to apply the skills covered. There is an adequate index. Although there isn't a Web page for updates to the text, although delicious.com has links to sites mentioned in the book, and there is a (empty) errata page on Sauers' blogsite.

Search 2.0 is an engaging read, and any reference librarian will pick up tips. Did you know that entering a flight number, even a New Zealand one, into Google will tell you when it's due to land? In fact I found the major impediment to completing this review was the temptation to experiment with the search tools that Sauers had drawn to my attention.