Welcome to eTraining!!

eBusiness, eAgriculture, eKnowledge, eCommunity and Podcasting are technology educational programs available statewide to help Nebraskans successfully navigate through the technology available to them.  Advancing information technology use vital to the future of Nebraska is the mission of UNL Extension IT Educational Programming.

To learn more about the technology education programs contact a UNL Extension IT Educator.  Go to About Us for more information.

Go Beyond Search Engines: Directories & the Invisible Web

Many people use search engines without considering the usefulness of subject directories (general or specialized) and not knowing what they are missing by not using the databases of the "Invisible Web." What are these search tools?

Subject directories are built by people and content is organized into categories. Most directory content is carefully evaluated — but not always. There are two basic types of directories. Academic and professional directories are created by librarians or subject experts in order to enhance the research process and help users find high quality sites of interest. Commercial portals are created to make money and serve the general public.

The "Invisible Web" consists of pages that cannot be found in search engines and rarely are in subject directories. It is estimated that the Invisible Web has two to three times as many pages as the visible Web.

The librarians at UC Berkeley - Teaching Library have evaluated many sites and provided an excellent list of directories and databases with comments on each on their Beyond General World Wide Web Searching page. This page also provides information on strategies for finding additional Invisible Web databases, resources for exploring the international Web from within other countries, and more.

Go to these Web pages to link to subject directories and databases that will give you fuller access to all that is available on the Web.

Internet Resources Collection, UNL Libraries - http://www.unl.edu/libr/inet/ircindex.shtml - Collection of Web sites, emphasizing major subject collections rather than individual pages (Agriculture, Arts & Humanities, Business & Economics, and other categories). Descriptive information is provided on each site.

Internet Subject Directories, University at Albany Libraries - http://library.albany.edu/ - List of "Academic & Professional Directories" and "Commercial Directories & Portals" with brief description of each.

AgNIC (Agriculture Network Information Center) - http://www.agnic.org/ - Guide to quality agricultural information on the Internet as selected by librarians at the National Agricultural Library, Land-Grant Universities, and other institutions.

FirstGov - http://www.usa.gov/ - Web portal to all federal government online services. This site also provides links to State, Local, and Tribal websites under the "By Organization" section in the menu on the left side of the page.

The Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/index.html - Materials relating to the history and culture of the United States, International Collections (approximately two-thirds of the Library's books and periodicals are in languages other than English), Congressional & Legislative Information, and more.

Statistical Resources on the Web, Documents Center University of Michigan Library - http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html - The goal is to provide reference and instructional tools for government, political science, statistical data, and news.

Information provided by Pamela Peters, UNL Communications and Information Technology

Submitted by Connie Hancock, Extension Educator

3/21/2008