Google Search Secrets, the Book -- Web intelligence demystified?

Q. Is Web intelligence demystified in this book, Google Search Secrets?
Ans. Not really. This book has very less semantic and much of it is presentational, helping you as 'What you see is what you get' (WYSIWYG). In short, this is another Library Guide (not to be confused with LibGuides by Springshare), also telling you 'What You Get Is What You See.'

Google Search Secrets  by Michael P. Sauers and Christa Burns 

Paperback: 224 pages; ALA Neal-Schuman (October 28, 2013); ISBN-13: 978-1555709235

Table of Contents:

Welcome to Google; Google Web Search; Google Images; Google News; Google Videos; Google Maps; Google Blog Search; Google Scholar; Google Patents; Google Books; Google Alerts; Google Search Tips and Tricks

Extract:

Google can be an incredibly powerful tool for research, but the top-of-the-page results are seldom the most beneficial to library users and students, and many of the search engine's most useful features are hidden behind its famously simple interface. Burns and Sauers reveal the secrets of effective Google searches in this invaluable resource showing how to get the most out of the service, with

• An overview of all the tool's search services, including Image, Maps, News, Blogs, Discussions, Scholar, Patents, and Books
• Ready-to-use instructions on how to go beyond the simple search box and top results to get library users the answers they need, fast
• Straightforward guidance on using filters to refine search results, with examples of common searches like images with Creative Commons licenses, news searches set for a date range or into an archive, and videos with closed captioning
• An explanation of the bibliography manager feature of Google Scholar, which allows students and researchers to build bibliographies with ease
• Tips for configuring Safe Search on workstations in children's departments and schools

Reading now: The Generation X Librarian

The Generation X Librarian: Essays on Leadership, Technology, Pop Culture, Social Responsibility and Professional Identity, by Martin K. Wallace, Rebecca Tolley-Stokes and Erik Sean Estep, McFarland, 2011.



Extract:

Generation X includes those individuals born roughly between the years 1961 and 1981. This generation has faced unique advances in technology, environmental degradation, and widening economic injustice, all of which affect libraries and librarians. This collection of critical essays showcases the unique qualities and challenges that face Generation X librarians. Topics covered include management and leadership, rapidly changing technology, social attitudes and stereotypes within popular culture, and how Generation X librarians have responded to or developed upon those themes. This book fills many of the gaps present in the professional literature on librarianship and our younger generations.

What to reviewers say:
This is a fine collection that represents a good diversity of perspectives on Generation X in the library. It's a good read, no matter what your age, and I highly recommend it. -- By Kerol Harrod

A Universal / Global Search Engine Remains an Elusive Target

Terminology, with a uniform and consistent meaning of any word, where is it???? 'Universal search' for instance, as a key word means different to different people, so also for the geeks. Ideally speaking, universal / global search, refers to searching deep, searching far, and searching wide--i.e., searching all databases, all formats, and all possible corners. A single company that declares has an audacious plan to organize everything we know is, Google. How complex and how difficult, semantically, it is to organize everything we know, is now a common sense--ORGANIZE in order to identify, store, retrieve, administer, and facilitate the use of local, remote, and networked databases.

Mighty Google (the world's most popular Internet search engine) does not display a uniform, consistent and systematic approach (in all domains that it owns). See an example of search results (number of search results look alike, but see the preferences for text, videos, Sponsored Links / ads, etc.) in google.co. in / google.ca / google.co.uk / google.com--additionally, each site has much more (to add whatever you like): Images Maps News Shopping Gmail more ▼. [Note: To avoid any error in search results, the above sample does not use the alternate button: pages from the ...]

And, this pattern is precisely revealed by Randall Stross, in Planet Google:

"Not only did Google fail to give consistent attention to products after they had been released, it also neglected work on bringing its disparate collections of new types of information--such as books, scholarly journals, maps, videos--together so that a single search could rummage through all of its new information silos, in addition to its database of Web pages.
Users could, of course, go to the various Google sites and do separate searches, but the sites had been developed separately, in haste, before Google could figure out how to make all of them accessible in a single search..."
"Between 2001 and 2006, several Google engineers briefly took on universal search as a project. But they lost interest before making progress." (p. 182). "In May 2007, Google was ready to announce a limited version of Universal Search.
The search results that users now saw were changed only subtly--only a few non-Web items were added to the first page of search results...." (p. 183).

Some other quotes on Universal / Global approaches:

"Universal Search is still one of those buzz words that keeps coming up within the world of search. By now, many of you probably know that Universal Search refers to search results that blend videos, images, news, local listings and more. Each of the major search engines are taking a stab at their own interpretation of Universal Search. From an online marketing perspective, Universal Search presents many new opportunities to explore and learn what works best in each platform for a site..." continue reading: Ask universal search • Google universal search • MSN universal search • universal search • Yahoo universal search

"Just so I'm clear, I don't care if Google automatically skews the results on google.co.uk even if I do NOT change to see "pages from the UK."
I'm in the UK. I know most people will automatically be redirected to co.uk, and many won't change to .com. I also know many will benefit from having the results be skewed, since they won't do it themselves.
But if I tune into Google.com, that's where I find it strange to have the skewing happen anyway. As far as I'm concerned, Google.com is the international channel that many people all tune into from various locations. Having it broadcast different results is inconsistent, I feel. But that's my take, of course" @ What Do You Hate About Google? - Search Engine Watch Forums

See also:

Google Universal Search vs Yahoo and Microsoft Live - Part 1 » SEO ...

Whaddya Call It? All-a-do-about terminology management   

Google in Jeopardy: What If IBM’s Watson Dethroned the King of Search?  By Vasant Dhar, 10.05.13 Wired Opinion