🚀 go-pugleaf

I'm glad you asked this question, because it provides an opportunity to
ask if we should revise our thinking about teaching boolean searching in
search engines. If you read the article from SEARCHER (Nov./Dec. 1998)
<http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/nov/feldman.htm>, Susan Feldman
suggests using the "flexibility and fuzziness" of search engines to help
locate relevant information for basic searches.

Most students don't want to fuss with Boolean and normally enter 1-2
words before they hit the search button. They have found from experience
that the search engine usually displays enough relevant information for
their tastes. If they can get something easy they're not going to spend
the time to learn truncation, +, -, or Boolean searching.

I think it's still valuable to tell them that advanced searching is
available but with a search engine like Google, you don't need to use
it. I still use Boolean searching myself to get better results, but I'm
wondering if we should spend the time teaching it to students who have
basic subject requests for information. I don't think they use it much
if at all.

What do you think of the SEARCHER article? Do you think it's still
valuable to teach Boolean logic to students who aren't likely to use it?
Since Boolean searching is still necessary in most periodical databases,
should it only be taught in relation to those search tools and not
Internet search engines?

Monica Norem
North Harris College Library
Houston, TX
noremm@nhmccd.edu