The Advanced Internet Searcher's Handbook

By Phil Bradley

Published by Library Association Publishing, 2001
Hardback, 272 pages,
ISBN: 1-85604-380-0

Published by the Library Association in the , this book is designed to help information professionals and researchers find information on the Internet more effectively, but it is also a valuable guide for anyone who wants to get the most out of the web and use the various search engines to their best effect. So if you often come across the situation when you need to find some specific information on the Internet but get frustrated by the results you come up with, the tips and advice packed into this book may well prove useful.

In the first part of the book, Phil Bradley presents an introduction to the various search tools on the Internet and describes how they work and the different searching techniques required. Some of these techniques focus on particular search tools, such as AltaVista or Yahoo, but the methods described can mostly be used across other search tools and so if you want to know more about such techniques as Boolean operators or truncation, it’s all here.

In the second half of the book the focus moves to more advanced searching techniques, including the use of intelligent agents and Usenet newsgroups. There is also a bit of crystal-ball gazing into the future of Internet searching, although in the time since this book was published some forecasts, not surprisingly, now look a bit dated!

Finally there is an excellent section with 30 tips for better/faster searching and some useful web sources for further information. Throughout the book the text is peppered with weblinks and the sidebars are used to provide occasional ‘Hints & Tips’ or ‘Did You Know?’ panels. So although parts of this book have now dated and it sometimes leans towards academic research, the issues and techniques covered here will be extremely valuable to help serious web searchers work more efficiently and with a greater understanding of the tools available.