Author Archives: Sarah

Searching for Christmas peace and joy

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Sarah

The set up of my life has changed significantly – disruptively – over the past few years and hasn’t finished doing so yet. This means that this blog may not continue or may change its focus to follow my different … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmental info., Featured sites, Future views, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Searching the deep web

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Sarah

I had the great pleasure yesterday to attend a training course at CILIP HQ on Navigating the Deep Web: Advanced Search Strategies for Researchers, run by search guru, Karen Blakeman. I always come away from Karen’s courses feeling invigorated and … Continue reading →

Posted in Featured sites, Information literacy, Psychology of search, Search engines, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Correction: I exist not solely “to serve”

Posted on July 16, 2019 by Sarah

In reading my previous post, it has been pointed out to me by a fellow information professional that I’m wrong to say that “I exist only to serve”. In fact, says the colleague, you give strategic direction and advice, too. … Continue reading →

Posted in Business and management, Information literacy, Psychology of search, Social networking | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

How can I help you?

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Sarah

I ask this question, not as a random offer of my services as an experienced information professional, but as an open question from a professional searcher in 2019. Seriously, how can I help you? You have Google, you have Siri … Continue reading →

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Too much to pay upfront

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Sarah

In a first for US institutions, the University of California, the USA’s largest public university system, has decided to cancel its expensive subscription licence with Elsevier. The two organisations had evidently been negotiating for months, but talks finally failed over … Continue reading →

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Unpaywall: a site for finding academic papers that are free

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Sarah

The journal Nature recently reported on a website called Unpaywall, developed by computer scientists to help academics demonstrate how much of their work is freely available to download. Launched in 2017, the site has become a really useful place to … Continue reading →

Posted in Featured sites, Latest news, Open access, Scientific sites, Search engines | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

No disruptive searching here

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Sarah

Google’s alleged development of a censored search engine for China has been in the news lately and not least because many Google employees are very unhappy about the prospect of having been kept in the dark about this project, while … Continue reading →

Posted in About Google, Censorship, Featured sites, Future views, Information literacy, Psychology of search, Search engines | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The pleasure of writing: drilling into oil & gas information

Posted on February 21, 2018 by Sarah

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you will know that I’ve contributed articles and reviews to Jinfo (formerly Freepint) quite a number of times over the years. Well, it’s a pleasure to be doing so once again. This time … Continue reading →

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Robots are helping journalists write their articles

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Sarah

The Financial Times reported yesterday (12th Dec.) that the first articles jointly written by robots and humans are being published in the UK. In fact, the robot’s contribution seems to be largely that of fact-finder, providing statistical data for journalists’ articles. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Future views, Information literacy, Latest news, Psychology of search, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

It’s hard to find something, if it’s not there anymore.

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Sarah

It’s also hard to find or recognize something if you don’t know what search terms to use, what it’s called or anything about it. Searching requires curiosity and interest. It’s about an intelligent and planned, strategic and enthusiastic way of … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmental info., Future views, Latest news, People, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment