| In the future it
will be even more
difficult to
distinguish between
library databases
and search engines.
Even now, there is
some crossover as
library databases
index Web-based
journals and search
engines include
select library
resources. While it
is not yet possible
to search both the
library and the Web
simultaneously, you
can use
metasearch engines
such as Dogpile or
Metacrawler to
search many
different search
engines at the same
time. These are
helpful if you want
to see a larger
sample of
information
available on the Web
or you are looking
for a unique fact.
Soon you may not
even need to search
for information.
Intelligent agents
will do much of the
work. They will
filter all available
information and
retrieve only the
data that you need.
The information they
find will become
increasingly
tailored to your
interests as they
evolve to match what
is important to you.
For now though,
without intelligent
filtering software,
we must wade through
all available
information to find
those articles and
Web sites that will
be useful for our
research. To do this
successfully, we
must be able to
identify appropriate
databases and search
engines, understand
how they are
organized and search
them effectively. |
