Making Search Work: Implementing Web, Intranet and Enterprise Search

Citation

Yeates, R. (2007), "Making Search Work: Implementing Web, Intranet and Enterprise Search", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 438-440. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330710831684

Searching for something on the internet seems so simple to most people. In April 2007, over 55 per cent of internet searches were performed using Google, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. If people happily carry out 3.8 billion searches using a single search engine, why do we need a book about search? The foreword of this book from an experienced and respected UK practitioner explains that things are not so simple when it comes to searching more private content, or when seeking to provide a new way of searching the internet content you want people to find easily. The book condenses a wealth of expertise on addressing the challenges “as an ongoing process rather than a discrete technology project”. The issues are not merely technical, but about business options, human nature and its relationship with security and efficiency as well as the need to embed innovation in existing complex work environments.

A book seeking to convince us that life is more complex than it appears may find it hard to attract readers. It is a tribute to Martin White that he manages to establish a level of trust in his arguments through concise, expert analysis of how search engines work as well as the business market for search engine products before making detailed suggestions about tackling real‐world problems. Such clear exposition cannot be found by browsing Google or any of the web sites covering search engines. Technology dates rapidly, of course, but here the arguments are pitched at such a level that they will remain valid, although some of the examples may change over time and a new edition may become desirable.

White suggests quite plausibly that information professionals are missing an opportunity to support the development of search within the organisation, rather than merely managing intranets or specific web sites. He provides a sensible list of roles that should be undertaken by an information discovery manager: this early definition of a separate role from that of the IT department makes many of the following chapters provoke more thought as well as seeming perfectly logical.

For those knowing nothing about search technology, there are introductions to content definition, indexing, query management, results ranking and so on. But these brief summaries are attractively presented with mentions of current specific challenges for managers, and results of a survey of taxonomy development approaches plus selected research project outcomes. These will appeal to more advanced readers looking for evidence and strategy and are presented in a readable way without too much detail, and always focused on the point being made.

A chapter covers the search market, including a couple of pages of comments on Google. Then we move on to making a business case for search, looking at licence fee structures, maintenance and upgrades, training and search analytics. Procurement is related specifically to search, with the author highlighting unusual points rather than trying to address all computer procurement issues. When you have a search system, it needs to be as effective as possible, so another chapter is devoted to tuning, data privacy and feedback issues. Usability is dealt with on its own, with a couple of web site examples from the Royal National Institute of Blind people and the US government included with annotations about good practice. A short chapter on desktop search is here, presumably for comprehensiveness, and there is one presenting a ten‐point procedure for ensuring effective web search implementation, suggesting a professional managerial approach probably rarely found. This is followed by a similar discussion of intranet search implementation, which again tries to focus on practical aspects affecting user experiences – have a fallback strategy is the final recommended step.

Multilingual search is covered extremely briefly, but probably sufficiently for the novice. Finally, future directions are considered, including the convergence of search and business intelligence and the growth of social software and the ways distributed tagging may affect search.

At the end of most chapters there is a short list of references, to both printed and internet resources, dating from the last couple of years. There is an appendix of search software vendors, giving a couple of sentences of personal comment on each. There is also a concluding chapter of further reading to complement the chapter references. This makes it easy to move on to web sites, blogs and conferences for updates and more detailed information.

Overall, this book manages successfully to convey the complexity of ‘search’, especially for any managers responsible for planning or implementing search engines, without being itself too difficult or tiresome to read. It will be no mean feat if, after reading this, an information professional is able to convince a large or small organisation that a new search engine warrants some careful thought and planning before it is implemented, and perhaps obtain an acknowledgement that ongoing active management is necessary. Most organisations will no doubt continue to assume that adding a search engine to some content can be done as a one‐off expense and project. The best, however, will take advantage of the kind of expertise available here as consultancy, or, more cheaply and conveniently, in the form of this useful work. It is applicable in any country, although biased toward English‐language resources, and in organisations with almost any level of digital information management problem. It shouldn't be too difficult to find, but no doubt it will be in too many organisations. Managers, students and information professionals should seek it out.