The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can't See (Paperback)

~ Gary Price (Author), (Author), Danny Sullivan (Preface) "Most people tend to use the words "Internet" and "Web" inter-changeably, but they're not synonyms..." (more)
Key Phrases: crawler encounters, targeted directories, flight arrival information, United States, Library of Congress, Northern Light (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Enormous expanses of the Internet are unreachable with standard Web search engines. This book provides the key to finding these hidden resources by identifying how to uncover and use invisible Web resources. Mapping the invisible Web, when and how to use it, assessing the validity of the information, and the future of Web searching are topics covered in detail. Only 16 percent of Net-based information can be located using a general search engine. The other 84 percent is what is referred to as the invisible Web-made up of information stored in databases. Unlike pages on the visible Web, information in databases is generally inaccessible to the software spiders and crawlers that compile search engine indexes. As Web technology improves, more and more information is being stored in databases that feed into dynamically generated Web pages. The tips provided in this resource will ensure that those databases are exposed and Net-based research will be conducted in the most thorough and effective manner.

About the Author

Gary Price is a reference librarian at George Washington University. He lives in Vienna, Virginia. Chris Sherman is the director of the guide to Web searching on About.com and president of Searchwise, a consulting firm. He is the author of the CD-ROM Handbook and a frequent contributor to Online magazine. He lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 402 pages
• Publisher: Information Today, Inc.; 1 edition (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 091096551X
• ISBN-13: 978-0910965514
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #282,716 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent instruction for librarians . . ., June 11, 2003

By	Michael K. Smith (Gonzales, Louisiana) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I retired five years ago after thirty years in a very large public library system, and recently found it necessary to return to the trenches for awhile, in a rather smaller system. In that half-decade, of course, the Internet changed drastically and, even though I'm constantly online and intimately familiar with the major search engines (and many of the minor ones), there was a large number of new reference information sources with which I was not at all familiar. So I went looking for professional tools to remedy my ignorance. This is the first book I've seen in the publisher's "CyberAge" series, and medthodologically, it's quite good. As others have noted, the static nature of print-on-paper means rapidly outdated material, but Sherman and Price show you how to attack the problem, so, even though I came across several (unfortunately) extinct databases, I was able to locate several new ones, too. This is a terrific instructional work for reference librarians, and the accompanying web site is near the top of my bookmarks at work.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good source, but slowly becoming dated, May 1, 2002

By	Gary Sprandel (Frankfort, Kentucky) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Its always risky to buy a web guide, when by its own omission, half of the web sites will be dead in two years. My own use of the web addresses in the book, found a few dead, but the author's "invisible web" web site had updated links. As search engines get better the current "invisible webs" becomes more visible, and are probably replaced with a new class of invisible webs. My own recent search was able to find many of the "invisible sites" in this book, so perhaps this book is best at giving you ideas of how to search better, for example if your looking for books search for "Library of Congress". In the context of where this review is, Amazon is a great translucent source for info on books.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packs in rich sources, November 11, 2001

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

As much as eighty percent of the authoritative information accessible over the Net doesn't appear on the popular search engines: so how can individuals access databases from universities, libraries, associations, and government agencies? The Invisible Web introduces over 1,000 major information sites and provides tips on how to search them. From vital statistics to public records and academic collections, The Invisible Web packs in rich sources.