The Invisible Web

Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See

By Chris Sherman and Gary Price 

Published by CyberAge Books, 2001
Hardback, 430 pages,
ISBN: 0-910965-51-X

Despite the continuing advances made by search engines, the online community develops at an ever-increasing pace and the authors of this book claim that as much as 80% of the authoritative information accessible over the Internet is invisible to search engines. This 'invisible web' is largely comprised of content-rich databases from the academic world - universities, libraries, associations - and businesses or government agencies around the world.

This book is the first complete reference to the subject and the authors define what the Invisible Web is, offer practical tips to Internet searchers to help find and access such information and lists over 1,000 essential sites and sources.

The first chapters of the book cover the evolution of the web and how search engines and directories index the 'visible' web. The authors also look at various specialised and hybrid search tools and the problems faced with accessing the 'invisible' web. The book then moves on to consider a number of case studies involving accessing such information and then look in details at source within different subject fields, ranging from art and architecture to social sciences and transportation information.

This is a book for serious searchers who want to know about all the possible sources on the web and how to find them. The issues surrounding the effectiveness, or otherwise, of search tools are clearly explained and the reference sections provides a valuable resource to some of the best sites and information hidden from standard search techniques.

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