Teaching Web Search Skills: Techniques and Strategies of Top Trainers

Citation

Secker, J. (2007), "Teaching Web Search Skills: Techniques and Strategies of Top Trainers", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 41 No. 3, pp. 315-317. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330710774200

I've been teaching web searching skills to staff at the London School of Economics (LSE) for a number of years now, despite claims that “everyone just uses Google” and that “only librarians like to search, everyone else just wants to find information”. Most of the tips and tricks I teach people are largely things I have picked up on the job, or from other information professionals. So I knew as soon as I read the title that this book would be useful, but I just hoped it didn't tell me too much that is new, otherwise I would be rewriting most of my training materials!

The book's author is an experienced trainer. However, what I really liked about the book is the fact that he went out and interviewed many other top trainers before writing the book; he includes anecdotes and quotations from these trainers throughout the book. So it really is a consolidation of immense experience from across the library and information profession. I particularly liked the fact that two UK professionals were included, namely Phil Bradley and Sheila Webber. For anyone who isn't familiar with the book's contributors, Notess usefully includes, in Appendix A, a profile of each person. In some ways I was surprised that this wasn't included earlier in the book, rather than as an appendix, as I found it really helpful checking our differing opinions and seeing who was saying what. I also particularly liked the fact that the book does not “set in stone” a strategy for teaching web searching, but includes, sometimes contradictory, opinions on topics such as whether to teach Boolean searching or not, which search engines to recommend, etc.

Chapter 1 begins by setting the scene, explaining how librarians have come to regard teaching web searching as one of their roles, and in particular how this built on our knowledge of early specialist online search databases and services, such as DIALOG and Lexis Nexis, and the need to support users when searching CD‐ROMs. I always like some context in a book, and being reminded of how we got where we are and how far we've come is helpful. Notess explains how early internet training often focused on the basics of what is e‐mail, understanding addresses and netiquette. He also tackles the issue of why we still need to teach people to use search engines even if they are supposed to be so easy to use. However, as many trainers, myself included, agree the speed and efficiency of these search engines and the vast number of results they find has led to a resurgence in the need for training. Many people use just one search engine and are unaware of the limitations, what it doesn't find or how to manage and evaluate the results it does find. Going “beyond Google”, as we've found at LSE, is something many people are just starting to realise is crucial.

In Chapter 2, Notess sets out the importance of understanding the audience. He explains how teaching web searching skills now has a very broad interest and that the potential market has opened up significantly. However, how we pitch a session will depend very much on who we are teaching – which can be school children, retired people, researchers or experienced web users. I also like his categorisation of people into beginners, the “know‐it‐all” and the “keen‐to‐learn”. I've certainly had all three of those types in my sessions and nothing gives me greater satisfaction than proving, early on in a session, that there is something the know‐it‐all can learn! Notess then goes on to consider different types of training sessions, including hands‐on sessions in computer labs as well as lecture‐type approaches. Chapter 4 specifically considers online tutorials, their value and includes lots of useful examples. Chapter 5 looks in more detail at the organisation of training sessions, their focus, length and the different topics to include. He looks at the goals of various trainers and sets out what they expect their participants to achieve from a training session. Again he presents a variety of opinions from different trainers but the overwhelming consensus seems to be that we want people to leave a session thinking a bit more about what and how they are searching, and what information the web does and does not contain.

Chapter 6 is a useful look at web terminology, and why it is important to have clear, consistent terminology and definitions, in order not to baffle people during training. Notess provides definitions of terms such as “search engine”, “portal”, “directory”, “database” and “index”. He also includes a useful definition of the invisible web, with clear examples of information that search engines can't find. Chapters 7, 8 and 9 look in detail at the content of web searching sessions. I found these chapters particularly helpful and they gave me plenty of ideas of topics to cover in both beginners and more advanced sessions. More obvious concepts such as whether to teach Boolean searching, truncation, limiting search results, are covered and include good examples from different search engines. Notess also believes that as well as teaching specific search techniques, users should be taught more basic primary concepts in sessions, such as using more than one search engine, evaluating the results they find and comparing search engines with directories such as the Resource Discovery Network (RDN) gateway (and now known as Intute; see www.intute.ac.uk/), which I was pleased to find was recommended by many US librarians. Chapter 9 looks specifically at finding different types of content on the web, such as images, video, opinions, phone numbers etc. It also considers the “invisible web” in more detail.

I particularly liked Chapter 10, which includes a definitive guide to search engines. Whilst I do teach my staff and students to try out more than one search engine, this chapter inspired me to include more detail about the strengths of lesser‐known search engines such as Exalead (see www.exalead.com) and Gigablast (see www.gigablast.com/). Chapter 11 is highly practical, explaining how to create a web page for use during a training session based on frames, which means the user can easily return to the instructions after following web links. It actually reminded me a little of the INFORMS tutorials (see www.informs.intute.ac.uk), which I know many UK librarians use. It includes HTML and Javascript code so that you can create your own pages from scratch. I also liked Chapter 12 which included lots of presentation tips and tricks and plenty of useful things for trainers such as keyboard shortcuts and how to block pop‐ups. Finally I also enjoyed Chapter 13, called “Tales from the Trenches”, with lots of real life examples from our training gurus, including some tips on what to do when facilities fail. Personally, the idea of teaching a web searching course with no access to the internet fills me with horror and sometimes I think it is best to know when to cut your losses! However this chapter is nicely backed up with sample handouts and other training materials given in an appendix from many of the trainers listed in Appendix A.

Overall I found this book hugely interesting, with lots of ideas for spicing up my web searching classes. My only criticism, which is very small, is that less than a year after publication the book has dated a little. There is only brief mention of blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 tools, services and content that people are increasingly finding and wanting to use. The problem of links going out of date is addressed at the outset of the book, where the author points you to his companion website (see http://notess.com/teaching/). This only includes URLs from each chapter and the content hasn't been updated. However, it is a useful point of reference for anyone marginally interested in the topic and unlikely to buy the book. I shall certainly be modifying my training sessions after reading this book and agree with the strap line wholeheartedly – that “if you teach Web searching you need this book”.