Advances in Search Engine Technology and Their Impacts on Libraries

Advances in Search Engine Technology and Their Impacts on Libraries

Chapter One

Objectives of the Study:

The broad objective of the study is to examine the advances and impact of search engine technology on use of libraries. The specific objectives are:

To determine the existing computer networks available in NOUN Library.
To determine the Rationale for adopting search engine by students.
To determine the Information services provided using search engine.
To proffer solutions to the impacts of search engine technology on library usage.

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Conceptual framework

Yahoo Dictionary Define

“A software program that searches a database and gather and reports information that contains or is related to specified terms.”
“A website whose primary function is providing a search engine for gathering and reporting information available on the internet or a portion of the internet.”

Wikipedia:

“A web search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. The search results are generally presented in a line of results often referred to as search engine results pages (SERPs). The information may be a mix of web pages, images, and other types of files. Some search engines also data available in databases or open directories. Unlike web directories, which are maintained only by human editors, search engines also maintain real-time information by running an algorithm on a web crawler.”

Work of Search Engine

Content development and optimization– Backed with skilled and talented content developers,Search Engine Optimization companies are responsible for creating rich and quality content and its optimization. The content written is grounded on the keywords suitable for that website. The content optimization is done by placing relevant keywords in the search engines, so that when anyone searches your company with the help of those keywords, he/she can reach your website through search engine results.
Link building– Directed in the form of extra information in several websites, search engine optimization companies build links for a particular website. The links can be reciprocal or non reciprocal in nature.
Directory submission– Directory submission is quite an innovative and different approach used by search engine optimization companies to create online presence and high visibility of websites amongst directories.

POPULAR SEARCH ENGINE:

A very important point to keep in mind is that there are in actuality; very few search engines that are worth bothering with. There are dozens of laser search engines out there that you might consider submitting to but usually they aren’t worth your time. Submitting to a search engine is easy- simply find their ‘Add URL’ link, and you have land on their site submission page.

Google (www.google.com)

Universal search was launched by Google on May 16, 2007. It was an idea which merged the results from different searches into one. Prior to Universal search, a standard Google search would consist of links to different websites. Google quickly become the most used search engine on the web due to its accurate result and a massive index. Some of its features include a definition link for most searches including dictionary words, the number of results you got on your search, links to other searches (e.g. for words that Google believes to be misspelled, it provides a link to the search results using its proposed spelling), and many more.

Yahoo (www.yahoo.com)

Yahoo Search also provided their search interface in at least 38 international markets and a variety of available languages. Yahoo has a presence in Europe, Asia and across the Emerging Markets. Yahoo Search indexed and cached the common HTML page formats, as well as several of the more popular file-types, such as PDF, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint, Word documents, RSS/XML and plain text files. For some of these supported file-types, Yahoo Search provided cached links on their search results allowing for viewing of these file-types in standard HTML. Yahoo search result pages also include WebPages from a search engine’s index.

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

This chapter is presented in the following sub-headings: research method adopted population of the study, sampled population and sampling procedures, research instrument, procedures for data collection and analysis.

Research Method Adopted for the study

This study adopted the qualitative methodology approach. Qualitative research is defined as “any kind of research that produces findings not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of quantification” (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). According to Creswell (2003), qualitative research takes place in the natural setting. He states that the qualitative researcher often goes to the site (office) of the participants to conduct the research. This enables the researcher to develop a level of detail about the individual or place and to be highly involved in actual experiences of the participants.

According to Denzin and Lincoln (1994), qualitative methodologies include “interviewing; observing; artifacts, documents, and records; visual methods; personal experience methods; data management methods; computer-assisted analysis; and textual analysis”. All of these methods may be useful in gaining an insight into the adoption of search engine technology for library services.

Population of the Study

The population of this study consists of five (5) members of National Open University of Nigeria Library. The target population of the study includes the University Librarian and the (4) staff of the Information Technology (IT) unit of the National Open University of Nigeria Library who are responsible for the administration of search engine technology.

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Introduction

This chapter is presented in the following sub- headings: Response rate of the respondents in the IT unit of the National Open University of Nigeria library and the University Librarian; Data Presentation, Analysis and Discussion.

Response Rate

The entire five (100%) target respondent in the Information Technology unit and the University Librarian of NOUN library participated in the semi-structured and structured interviews. (Table 4.1).

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Introduction

This chapter is presented in the following sub-headings: summary, summary of major findings, conclusion and recommendation.

Summary of the Study

This chapter is presented in the following sub-heading: summary of the findings, summary of the major findings conclusion and recommendation.

The study investigated the adoption of search engine technology for library services in the National Open University of Nigeria library. It investigated the existing computer network available in NOUN library. It also identified the rationales for adopting search engine in NOUN library, it also attempted to ascertain the information services provided using search engine in NOUN library. The study has identified the implications of search engine in terms of cost, staff and maintenance in the National Open University of Nigeria library.

In order to achieve the objectives of the study, four research questions were formulated and tested. The review of relevant literature revealed that libraries can benefit from using search engine technology by increasing computing performance, storage, capacity, universal accessibility and cost reduction.

The instruments used to collect data were unstructured and semi-structured interviews, direct observation and the use of digital recorder. A semi-structured interview covered all the research questions which sought to find out the adoption of search engine technology for library services in NOUN Library.

The data collected for the study were organized for analyzed and transcribed into different types. The data were then tabulated and discussed descriptively.

Summary of Major Findings

The major findings of the study include the following:

The study discovered that Local Area Network, Wide Area Network, Internet, Campus Area Network, and Networks were the existing computer networks available in NOUN library.
The rationales for the adoption of search engine in NOUN library is to provide information to its students who are spread across the country and to equally make the information accessible and not location specific.
The information services provided using search engine in NOUN Library are- digital library/ repositories, searching library data, searching scholarly content, file storage, building community power and library Automation.
The implication in terms of cost, staff, and maintenance of the adoption of search engine technology in NOUN Library was mainly subjected to budgetary issues which lead to inadequate training of staff and the issue of recruiting the right staff to do the job.

Conclusions

Google, Yahoo or Microsoft is the only portals to global knowledge in 2010. The library community to pick up state-of-the-art search technology and build reliable, high quality search services for the research and teaching community. This effort is not intended as competition to other commercial services, but it represents a natural continuation of traditional library services in a globalised academic information environment. An academic internet index network, driven by the library community as sketched out before, can best meet the specific requirements of the scholarly clientele by providing comfortable, reliable and integrated access to high quality content. But in order to realize this new service libraries are required to look beyond their current information infrastructure to learn from mainstream internet index providers who have become so popular through innovative technology and a dedicated end-user driven approach.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of this study the following recommendations are hereby made:

The National Open University of Nigeria in collaboration with the University Librarian should provide WAN in each Study Centre’s with fast internet connection which will connect multiple locations to NOUN Headquarter Library and equally use it to control its services and data.
National Open University of Nigeria Library should incorporate community and hybrid cloud deployment model to its library services in order to benefit from all that search engine deployment models offers and to eradicate the fear that usually associated with sensitive file leakage, lost or crash of software, malfunction or malware associated with laptop or desktops.
The University Librarian in collaboration with NOUN Information Technology staff should introduce the cloud-based video service, and cloud-based software such as Ning, Survey Monkey, Wufoo, Stumbleupon, My goya and Ms online to its information services as these will equally boost the library services delivery.
In the case of cost, staff and maintenance implication, the Federal Government should increase budget allocation (TETfund) to the libraries. Meanwhile, NOUN Library should avoid overdependence on the government to fund their cloud application project. They need to solicit for grants from financial institutions like banks, NGOs and other foundations. Regular training and retraining of staff is equally needed to have a positive outlook of the provision of relevant library services. This approach towards search engine will equally help NOUN Library save time and cost while simplifying workflows. More so, due to the fact that the cloud services are usage based or pay as-you-go pricing, NOUN Library can initially adjust the usage and cost of its IT-related services in an efficient way. This idea is similar to the pricing of public utility such as water, electricity, and gas in which the user only pays for the usage and there is no need for investment in the infrastructure or specific equipment, which may account for a lot of money. Therefore, NOUN Library can experience the cost reduction at the beginning and the flexibility of cost management.

Suggestions for further Studies

Adoption of Search engine Technology in all the First and Second Generation University Libraries in Nigeria.
Adoption of Search engine Technology in all the First Second Generation Polytechnics and College of Education Libraries in Nigeria.

REFERENCES

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