Saturday, May 13, 2006

Google creates too many Googlings?

Again The Krafty Librarian puts into word the opinion of many librarians in her post about Google Dilution? There are so many "Googlettes" or Googlings available that we start to loose the overview, and we don't like that. "The big thing many of our users want right now are meta search engines that will search the library catalog, MEDLINE, other databases, online journals, open access respositories, and their high school locker from 1973, all in one fell swoop" No, that not what they want, it's what they expect! (It is what we -librarians want -;) Théy want to be told that the search they did in .... was efficient and covering all their possibly relevant resources. If somebody does not tell them otherwise, they assume it was. I see comparable developments with PubMed, developments that are happening now with Google. Pubmed is seen as THE resourse for biomedical literature worldwide and was in it's first design with search aids like "mapping" the easy way to search. Just type in a few words et voila .... results! Now after years and years with lots of improvements, adjustments, add-on's it is become more and more complicated. It is not that simple layout, straightforward searchengine anymore. The same is happening with Google, but they make the mistake to offer their special design stuff, improvements and so on ... in separate modules and portals, disconnected from the original Google, while PubMed keeps their users in one place, for the overview. Now i am going to have a look at Google Co-Op.... or is it Google Health?

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