IRIS 42: Information and Research Instruction Suite for two-year colleges

Google the Library

See the difference between a web page and a database

Start with any search engine. As an example, we'll use Google to look for the Cannell Library at Clark College web site. Google shows the library's web site because it has "crawled" the web, found the link to Cannell Library web site, and added the link to its own database.

Search for "clark college" "cannell library" in google ; the library's web page shows up as the first item in the list.

Now use Google to find a book in Cannell Library:

In Gogle, search for "clark college" "cannell library" "the design of everyday things"

Zero hits. A search engine cannot "crawl" the library's database of books (book catalog). The library's web site is part of the open Web. The library's catalog is in the deep Web. Next >>