Another AltaVista oddity I have found is the use of the
title field search - title:
I did a search recently for pages on the philosopher Isaiah
Berlin. A phrase search "isaiah berlin" yielded 1556 hits.
I tried to limit the search by looking for pages that had
isaiah berlin in the title.
+title:isaiah +title:berlin yielded 4 hits
+title:"isaiah" +title:"berlin" yielded 7 hits.
However, some of the pages retrieved on the phrase search
had isaiah berlin in their title tag but were not retrieved
by the title search.
I did email AltaVista asking them for information on how
their database is structured and what the 'title:' search
actually searches on but they have not been forthcoming
with information. If I am missing something obvious I hope
someone will enlighten me.
I think the thing to tell the students is that search
engines are fine for something very specific where there
will not be too many sites or for quick searches for 'some
information on ...', but for more comprehensive searches
they should get in the habit of using quality subject
guides such as are on the Argus Clearinghouse
(http://www.clearinghouse.net) and WWW Virtual Library, or
directory and gateway services such as BUBL and NISS and
SOSIG.
Adrian Hale
----------------------
Adrian Hale
Librarian
Wolfson College
Oxford
OX2 6UD
Tel. :(01865) 274076 College fax: (01865) 274125
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