To be very honest I am quite comfortable typing in google for a quick answer to a question, in a time pressed world it is just so easy. However it does make sense to also remember there are many search engines out there to help us find and source information more accurately and to stop that time wasting -"Surfing"of the net that a lot of us do when we don't get the answer to our question.
So- "Surfs Up" - As a Library Technician I would happily show users of the Internet especially in Public Libraries how to search efficiently and yes in schools I show High School students as well. Over the years a lot of the sites I used have now completely gone, however there are still a few old favourites such as Dog Pile www.dogpile.com that I still use.
While looking at Dewey Digger www.deweydigger.com I have to say I saved this to my Face book page as I know a lot of my fellow library workers use Linked In and perhaps have not see their front page- Great to use on an Interactive white board for a visual display to remind students what the Dewey Classifications are!
I have used Wolfram Mathematica - wolfram mathematica.com on many occasions for that difficult mathematical problem - great for High school and University students doing calculus etc.
I enjoy surfing the web looking for that great site and while each site has their strengths not all of them answer that difficult question you are looking for. I also use the Ask.com site but for even greater help Librarians can be contacted through Ask a Librarian sites in Public, State and National Libraries.www.sl.nsw.gov.au/services/ask/
We seem to have come full circle, using our computers we go online and ask our professionals such as our Librarians and Library Technicians in Libraries all over the world. For personal help in answering our questions and happily waiting for an answer, there is a certain amount of irony to that. .
Well as a library technician I'm not surprised you're up with all the tricks! Dogpile is a great search engine and DeweyDigger is certainly a lot of fun :) There is an irony in the way librarians use computers isn't there? But I love that we use our curiosity to discover new pathways to knowledge and then show others how to apply these pathways when seeking answers. Thank you so much Kathy for all your efforts! i have really enjoyed reading all your posts and been thoroughly impressed that despite the fact that you have powered through a ten week course in three each and everyone has been considered, comprehensive and interesting:D Well done and thank you once again!
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