Online Searching: A Guide to Finding Quality Information Efficiently and Effectively

Online Searching puts aspiring librarians on the fast track to becoming expert searchers who unite users with trusted sources of information that satisfy their information needs. To unite users with such sources, master this seven-step online searching process:

1. Determining what the user really wants in the reference interview 2. Identifying sources that are likely to produce relevant information for the user’s query 3. Determining whether the user seeks a known item or subject 4. Dividing the query into big ideas and combining them logically 5. Representing the query as input to the search system 6. Conducting the search and responding strategically 7. Displaying retrievals, assessing them, and responding tactically

This second edition addresses the implications of new technical advances that affect expert intermediary searchers such as the library’s everything search, the choice between classic and discovery OPACs, and the role of digital object identifiers (DOIs) and Open Researcher and Contributor IDs (ORCIDs) in known-item searching. It also advises expert searchers about how today’s hot-button issues such as social media, fake news, and truth in the post-truth area figure into the searches they conduct for others and what they teach library users about online searching.

Online Searching contains numerous figures and sample searches to illustrate complex concepts, questions and answers to reinforce key ideas, a sample database to show how online searching works, a technical reading to familiarize yourself with new search systems and databases, and a glossary to facilitate quick look-ups. The e-book features enhanced video content. Online Searching is your go-to guidebook for becoming an expert searcher.