Internet Power Searching: The Advanced Manual (2nd ed.)

Citation

Parry, F. (2003), "Internet Power Searching: The Advanced Manual (2nd ed.)", Online Information Review, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 212-213. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520310481463

Many information professionals will be familiar with Phil Bradley’s regular Internet question‐and‐answer column in CILIP’s house journal, Update. The same knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject is evident in what looks like becoming a standard work on Internet searching. This new edition has been substantially enlarged with an expanded section on search tips, new screenshots, revised links and whole new chapters on natural language search engines, finding images, sounds and multimedia, and finding people.

The first part offers an introductory look at search engines, concentrating on the three major types of engine: free text searching, indexed‐based engines, virtual libraries and gateways. There is also a short introduction to natural language search engines with an analysis of the very popular Ask Jeeves service. Bradley concentrates on explaining and evaluating the best, or most commonly used, search engines. By being selective Bradley is able to go into more depth about the intricacies and special features of particular search engines and what makes them distinctive. He does this by employing a clear, jargon‐free style that helps to demystify what potentially is a very complex subject. I was particularly pleased to see the importance he attaches to the creation of precise searching strategies, the selection of keywords, use of truncation, proximity operators, parentheses, etc. He notes that many search engines appear at first glance to be a little simplistic and that help features are often not obvious to the untrained eye. At one point he laments the fact that “Internet retrieval engines attempt to give users the impression that searching is a very simple process, when of course we know it’s rather more complex than that”. To which we all say amen!

The second part is entitled “Becoming an expert searcher” and takes a critical look at intelligent agents, Usenet groups and mailing lists. The final part is “The future”, which rather oddly contains just one chapter on this topic together with two other chapters on 40 Internet tips and suggestions for further help and assistance. The first chapter in this section is a bit of a potpourri. It begins by undertaking some sample searches – in fact, exactly the sort of information ferreting that Bradley does so well in Update. The middle section is devoted to incorporating the Internet into an overall information strategy. Finally, we get to the section on future developments which considers the issues of greater commercial use of the Internet by publishers, increasing importance of virtual libraries, improvements in push and communications technology and the further refinement of search engines and intelligent agents.

Each chapter has a summary with a listing of URLs, which is somewhat unnecessarily repeated in the appendices. Also included are interesting “did you know” features which occupy a broad strip next to the main text on the outer edges of each page. The appendices conclude with a useful listing of country codes. Internet Power Searching is a thorough and comprehensive advanced manual that can nonetheless be recommended to both absolute beginner and information professional alike.