Finding finding Aids on the World Wide Web
(2001) Finding finding Aids on the World Wide Web. American Archivist 64(1):pp. 61-77.
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Abstract
Reports results of a study to explore how well six popular Web search engines performed in retrieving specific electronic finding aids mounted on the World Wide Web. A random sample of online finding aids was selected and then searched using AltaVista, Excite, Fast Search, Google, Hotbot and Northern Light, employing both word and phrase searching. As of February 2000, approximately 8 percent of repositories listed at the 'Repositories of Primary Resources' Web site had mounted at least four full finding aids on the Web. The most striking finding of this study was the importance of using phrase searches whenever possible, rather than word searches. Also of significance was the fact that if a finding aid were to be found using any search engine, it was generally found in the first ten or twenty items at most. The study identifies the best performers among the six chosen search engines. Combinations of search engines often produced much better results than did the search engines individually, evidence that there may be little overlap among the top hits provided by individual engines.
| Keywords: | finding aids, Google, search engines |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | L. Information technology and library technology. > LS. Search engines. L. Information technology and library technology. > LC. Internet, including WWW. H. Information sources, supports, channels. > HC. Archival materials. |
| ID Code: | 7348 |
| Deposited By: | Meho, Lokman I. |
| Deposited On: | 07 October 2006 |
| All fields: | Show all fields |
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