The Invisible Web: Searching the Hidden Parts of the Internet

Citation

Meaden, K. (2003), "The Invisible Web: Searching the Hidden Parts of the Internet", New Library World, Vol. 104 No. 3, pp. 119-119. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800310467025

If I was looking for a book that spoke authoritatively about the Invisible Web I would choose one that was written by either Gary Price, Chris Sherman or Paul Pedley as, in the last couple of years, these three authors have become respected experts on the subject. How nice (and how rare) it is to review a book that you know you can trust before you have even opened its cover!

The Invisible Web or Deep Web is the name given to the parts of the Internet that are not indexed by conventional search engines and which, therefore, cannot be found by using them. For example, a search engine can index the URL for the home page of a searchable database but it cannot index the actual contents of that database if the results are dynamically generated. The size of the “Invisible Web” is growing faster than the “Visible Web” (the parts of the Internet the search engines can reach!) and often contains higher quality resources. Consequently, if you wish to exploit the Internet effectively, you need to know how to find these “hidden” resources.

This, almost pocket‐sized, book contains an excellent overview of what the Invisible Web is, what types of resources it contains, how it works and how to infiltrate it when you are searching. Two chapters are of particular interest; one lists search tools that are specifically designed to search the Invisible Web, and the other highlights individual resources which Pedley considers to be useful and of a high quality that are within the Invisible Web itself, arranged by subject.

The book is written specifically for library and information professionals and is intended to enable them to get the most out of the Internet, either in the course of their own work or while helping their customers. To this end, it also contains sample enquiries that were answered using the Invisible Web and these explain when this type of search is particularly useful and what the strengths of it are.

Pedley provides an excellent overview of what the Invisible Web is and when to use it, but the true benefits of the book lie in its usefulness as a reference guide to resources that will enable you to find that previously “hidden” information. I would love to provide a balanced view and offer at least a small criticism of the book … but I could not find one!