We’ve got a bunch of specialized search engines:
In Yahoo! we can search Creative Commons content here. We can do the same in Google here.
We can search U.S. government sites here.
I can search university and college sites alone here.
I can search a lot of public blogs here.
I can limit by domain and country. Some topical searches are possible, but I am always getting questions like:
1. What public libraries have cool audiobook/talking book sites?
2. What are the interesting kids’ sites? Anyone doing online story hours?
3. What are the best ideas in teen sites?
4. What’s working for seniors now?
5. Who’s doing innovative stuff in virtual book clubs?
etc. etc.
I see lots of cool stuff but my brain’s Rolodex is weak. Meat cleaver searches on library stuff in generic Google is very unsatisfactory and still mixes wheat and chaff. I want just the public library context and searches just don’t satisfice me right now.
I know about Peter Scott’s great LibDex: The Library Index here. It only finds libraries – try searching ‘teen’ and get null results.
Soooo – Why can’t I search the content of all North American (or international) public library sites in one place? I’m not talking about their catalogues or OpenWorldCat. I mean their pages. How do we easily find all the cool stuff that public libraries have done?
Am I missing something somewhere? Does this exist already? It seems like such a useful thing for library website developers, owners and strategists to have. Right now searching for innovation in the public librarysphere just feels so hunt and peck. Could someone create a targeted harvest using a list of URL’s? Then we could share best practices, get better more quickly, allow innovation to diffuse more quickly, build on success… seems like a no-brainer.
At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31st, that magical time, I think I’ll wish for this in 2006 (right after peace, health and happiness).
Just a thought.
Happy New Year!
Stephen
Please Take My Latest Survey
Are you a technophile or a technophobe?
Click here to take a quick 3-question survey.
Thank you!
Recent Comments
- @Johnson_KM on Infographic: Decoding Google Analytics
- @jnykol on How Do You Keep People Engaged?
- @SoloSLA on Infographic: Decoding Google Analytics
- Carol Smith on How Do You Keep People Engaged?
- @calundrigan on New Research Article From Project Info Literacy: “What Information Competencies Matter in Today’s Workplace?
Categories
Archives
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
We used to have it by embeding metatags on the page headers, but the technology got so much over used by spammers and so much underrated by the search engines (the Search Engine Optimization industry was born to tweak metatags) that we lost that possibility. Nowdays, with the loss of authority the social web envisages ( everybody can be an authority on anything ) we are even more lost.
In my country, usually a Public Library will be adressed on the internet by http://www.bm-TownNameGoesHere.pt but it does not solve anything.
A new 2nd level domain notation could do the trick: *.lib.us, *.lib.pt, etc … but that’s a political decision at the IETF level (I think)… after all the universities filter is acomplished by the .edu ( and .ac.uk, etc ) tricks.
I also came up with a blank when trying to think of innovative Canadian library web sites.
http://scilib.typepad.com/science_library_pad/2005/12/innovative_cana.html
I think the best current option available is to ask innovators to list themselves in LibSuccess wiki
http://www.libsuccess.org/
It won’t cover all of North America — nor even most of Illinois — but I’m working on a project (funded by a grant of LSTA funds awarded by the Illinois State Library) that will include a search engine for several hundred library websites in the northern part of the state (members of the Prairie Area Library System). Should be live in 6 months or so.
Meanwhile, I encourage anyone who finds or knows about the kinds of “cool stuff” Stephen mentions to say something about it — even if you’re just adding a link — on the Library Success wiki at libsuccess.org. It’s gotten off to a nice start as an international best-practices-sharing tool, but most of the site is still undeveloped or severely underdeveloped.