Hooray!!! A very exciting day. The new Librarians’ Internet Index database is online today powered, as we first posted on ResourceShelf, by the very cool and even more useful Siderean faceted search technology. More later but mega kudos to Karen and her team. We’re confident that this newly installed tech will make the already invaluable LII even more indispensible. Trust us folks, this is some cool tech.
You’ll notice that the home page has a slightly different look. Each topic lists fewer subtopics but invites you to click for more. For example, here’s the see more subtopics page for media. The number in the parens show how many entries in that topic. For example, Broadcasting has 38 entries. Another click and the real power of Siderean takes over. More about that below. In just a few well-guided and easy-to-understand clicks (granted, there is a learning curve here but not very much of one) we were quickly able to browse to sites about notable people in broadcasting.
That’s browsing. What about starting with a search?
Here are a couple of LII keyword searches and take special note of the “facets” located on the left side of the results page. Click your way through the “facets” of greatest interest.
+ Airports
+ Greece >> Greece History >> Greece, Science: Archaeology.
You’ll also see that you can group results by site, domain, and when added to LII. Also four ways to sort results. You can also subscribe to your search using RSS.
So impressive and even more useful. The best way to learn the technology is to use it. I think end users (once they understand it, our role as trainers) will find it to their liking.
If you want to see other installations of Siderean, see below.
Btw, a note to you who have never visited the LII, this is one of the very best compilations of high quality resources available (IPL, Intute, and Infomine are also in this category) across many subject areas. Run, don’t walk, to check it out.
See Also: Librarians’ Internet Index Will Use Siderean to Provide Faceted Navigation (6/26/2006)
See Also: Other Places to Use Siderean search on the Open Web:
+ Gateway to Educational Materials
+ Indiana’s Educational Clearinghouse
+ Environmental Health News
+ Related (not from Siderean) is the Dewey Browser from OCLC Research.
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on Wednesday, September 27th, 2006 and is filed under Web Search.
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