Web Search Strategy/Behavior

Abstract

“A library is a place where the right information is provided at right time, at right place and in a right personal way” by Dr. Ranganathan still holds true with the coming of new technology. The resources are shifting from print to electronic forms and the horizons of information age have expanded considerably than ever before, thanks to Internet and World wide web making the whole world a global village, thereby leading to such huge information maze which is beyond imagination. But, in order to make effective use of this mine of information, it becomes equally important to understand it and devise tools and techniques to utilize it effectively. Besides the analytical skills to identify the needs of users, knowledge of search tools has started becoming a speciality. Where search engines, subject’s guides and meta search engines help identify and locate the information, search logic helps to conceptualize the queries. However, the librarians who are excited to use wonderful web resources are digging out and mastering techniques to understand it’s behavior keeping in mind the fact that the value of a resource, and its ability to satisfy the information requirements, will vary for different audiences. However, as the Internet resources are dynamic and keep on changing, so resource evaluation has becomes more difficult than ever before leading to non-credibility of the results. This magnificent tool for librarians and informational professionals if properly understood and utilized can drastically change the frame of the today’s libraries and librarians building new relationships with the users, satisfying their information needs in a way they could never have anticipated.