The Invisible Web

A Central Florida Library Cooperative Workshop

Background
Invisible Web Portals
Search Engines with Special Features

Specialized Subject Portals
Specialized Search Engines by Subject
Ready Reference Collections

Keeping Up With New Sites
Recent & Upcoming Projects

Background

ALA | Tool Kit for the Expert Web Searcher (wiki): Invisible Web: http://wikis.ala.org/lita/index.php/The_Invisible_Web; From ALA's Library and Information Technology Association's Top Technology Trends Committee, this is a current wiki listing Web searching tools, including a section on the Invisible Web.
The Deep Web: http://www.internettutorials.net/deepweb.html; From the same site, see also:; How to Choose a Search Engine or Research Database; http://www.internettutorials.net/choose.html; Not about the deep Web per se, this nonetheless includes lists of deep Web sources in an excellent "if you want..." chart format.
The Deep Web: http://websearch.about.com/od/invisibleweb/
The_Deep_Web_Find_Out_More_About_The_Deep_Web_Deep_Web_Search.htm
The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value (White Paper): http://www.brightplanet.com/technology/deepweb.asp
DeepWeb.com Articles: http://www.deepweb.com/articles.htm
Free Pint Feature Article: The Invisible Web: http://www.freepint.com/issues/080600.htm#feature
How to Find and Search the Invisible Web: http://websearch.about.com/od/invisibleweb/a/invisible_web.htm
Invisible Web: What it is, Why it exists, How to find it, and Its inherent ambiguity: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/InvisibleWeb.html
The Invisible Web: Where Search Engines Fear to Go: http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol25/invisible.htm
LLRX: Mining Deeper Into the Invisible Web: http://www.llrx.com/features/mining.htm
Medical Information on the Invisible Web: http://websearch.about.com/od/invisibleweb/a/medical.htm
Research Beyond Google: 119 Authoritative, Invisible, and Comprehensive Resources: http://oedb.org/library/college-basics/research-beyond-google

Those Dark Hiding Places: The Invisible Web Revealed: http://library.rider.edu/scholarly/rlackie/Invisible/Inv_Web.html

Invisible Web Portals: Databases of Search Sites

CompletePlanet - discover and search 103,000 databases and specialty search engines: http://www.completeplanet.com/; From BrightPlanet, author of the white paper linked above, this is "...the largest compilation of searchable databases and engines on the Internet...[103,000 databases] and growing placed in a 7,000 category directory structure." These sources are NOT queried simultaneously and are " currently focused on only public, text-based content, whether surface or deep."
Direct Search: http://www.freepint.com/gary/direct.htm; Extensive list of Invisible Web resources, mostly databases, with a somewhat difficult organization, as there are various pages and collections all contained within this single title. Nonetheless, has a single search interface to a number of different Invisible Web resources along with access in various subject areas: Archives & Major Library Catalogs; Bibliographies & Bibliographic Aids; Books (Full-Text); Business/Economics; Fast Facts (Almanacs/Factbooks/Handbooks & Related Reference Resources); Government (U.S. and International); Government (U.S. State and City); Humanities; Legal; News Sources & Serials; Ready Reference; Recent Additions; Science/Engineering; Social Sciences; and Additional Subject Specific Resources.
INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections: http://infomine.ucr.edu/; In its own words, "INFOMINE is intended for the introduction and use of Internet/Web resources of relevance to faculty, students, and research staff at the university level." It categorizes 115,550-plus "Academically Valuable Resources" and provides indexing and annotations about the sites listed. Begun in 1994 at the University of California (UC), Riverside, it is now maintained by librarians at all nine UC campuses plus several other U.S. universities. A few links are limited to UC patrons, but subscriptions to the same sources may be available at other university libraries.
Invisible-web.net - Searchable databases and specialized search engines: http://www.invisible-web.net/; Excellent and extensive companion Web site to The Invisible Web book by Chris Sherman and Gary Price.
Librarians' Internet Index: http://lii.org; Begun as one librarian's bookmark file to sites useful in a public library setting, this is now an organization employing over 100 librarian-indexers. An extremely well-organized and well-annotated site searchable in various ways and including many Invisible Web sites.
Intute: http://www.intute.ac.uk/; (Was: Resource Discovery Network.) Eight "hubs" of academic interest (international, but with a slight UK bias; listed here with their "old" names): ALTIS - Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism; Artifact - Arts and Creative Industries; BIOME - Health and Life Sciences; EEVL - Engineering, Mathematics and Computing; GEsource - Geography and Environment; Humbul - Humanities; PSIgate - Physical Sciences; SOSIG - Social Sciences, Business and Law. Abstracts and subject indexing are keyword searchable. [Note: also included in the Florida Electronic Library.]
Pinakes: http://www.hw.ac.uk/libWWW/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html; Lists major subject gateways and subject-based guides to resources available on the Internet; slight UK bias. Has a subject list page with drop-down menu, as well.
Turbo10: http://turbo10.com/; Search engine format simultaneously searches some 800 "deep net" databases and sources, a list of which can be found on this page.

Search Engines with Special Features

Fazzle: http://www.fazzle.com/; This calls itself a "second generation meta-search engine...that searches all the major search engines, as well as over 120+ invisible web resources." The 120+ resources are not listed any one place, but resources are grouped into some broad searchable subject categories, e.g., health, sports, U.S. government, entertainment, etc., and the sources searched for each channel are listed through the "advanced search" link at the top of the page.
Google: http://www.google.com/; There are a number of lesser-known special features available from Google's search box that access Invisible Web information: Calculator; Definitions; File Types; PhoneBook; Stock Quotes; and Street Maps. In addition to the tabs on the main Google page (Web; Images; Groups; Directory; and News), it also offers some specialized search sites: Froogle (products); Catalogs; U.S. Government; Universities; Answers; Wireless; Scholarly Information; Video; Maps; and others. There are also language tools, ways to see who links to what page, and a cache feature.
HighBeam Research: http://highbeam.com/web/index; "HighBeam™ Research provides one place where you can access the free Web, online services to which you subscribe (both for-pay services and free services requiring registration) and our proprietary Library archive of 32 million articles from 2,800 respected publishers." The library of HighBeam resources may be found here. Note: not all are searched simultaneously.
InfoGrid: http://www.infogrid.com/; "InfoGrid consolidates popular news and information from over 3000 news sources, 12 top internet search engines, 16,000 direct-links, 4.0 million Open Directory links, 35,000 usenet news forums, top internet auctions and vendors without advertising."
Ithaki: http://www.ithaki.net/indexu.htm; A metasearch site that includes search engines, directories, and some "deep" Web sites. Includes specific channels for news, newsgroups, images, MP3, MIDI, Webcams, Webradios, books, WAP, and more -- plus a channel for kids and a multiplicity of choices regarding language and geography.
The Wayback Machine: http://www.archive.org/; A project archiving the Web, this provides a way to search for "old" pages by URL or by browsing.

Specialized Subject Portals

BusinessResearch.com: http://business.exploritnow.com/; "Deep Web Technologies is proud to present BusinessResearch - a free, publicly available web portal allowing access to numerous business databases. It allows researchers, business professionals, and the general public to access pertinent business information quickly and easily."
FirstGov, the official site for U.S. Government information, services, transactions, and forms: http://www.firstgov.gov/; Begun in September 2000, this is self-described as "the only official U.S. Government portal to 30 million pages of government information, services, and online transactions." Excellent, award-winning site.
Florida on Florida: http://bibt10f-8.fcla.edu/cgi/b/bib/bib-idx; "Florida On Florida is a catalog of digital materials related to Florida...including maps, photographs, postcards, books, and manuscripts."
GPO Access: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html; With an A-Z resource list, a companion kid's site by various grade levels, and a way to search or browse by topic area (in the tool bar), by multiple databases, or by branch of government, this is an extremely useful gateway to the enormous collection of U.S. government publications and (primarily) databases.
News and Information via streaming audio & video: http://www.freepint.com/gary/audio.htm; Another of the excellent pages from Direct Search's Gary Price, this links to international news feeds available over the Web.
News Center: http://www.freepint.com/gary/newscenter.htm; Another of the excellent pages from Direct Search's Gary Price, this links to "constantly updated news resources."
OAIster: http://oaister.org; Specialized union catalog of digital resources. "OAIster currently provides access to 13,943,670 records from 902 contributors," including items from the Central Florida Memory Project.
Price's List of Lists: http://www.specialissues.com/lol; Another of the excellent pages from Direct Search's Gary Price, "The List of Lists is a database of ranked listings of companies, people and resources freely available on the Internet...organized by subject headings based on the two-digit 1997 U.S. NAICS Codes."
Research Guides & Databases from the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/spguides.html; "Search country studies, foreign law materials, specialized catalogs, digitized books and journals."
Science.gov: http://www.science.gov/; "Science.gov is a gateway to over 50 million pages of authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. government agencies, including research and development results."
ScienceResearch.com: http://www.scienceresearch.com/search/; "Deep Web Technologies is proud to present ScienceResearch.com™ - a free, publicly available web portal allowing access to numerous scientific journals and public science databases. It allows students, teachers, professors, researchers, and the general public to access pertinent science information quickly and easily. "
Search Engine Colossus: http://www.searchenginecolossus.com/; From Canada, this is a list of more than 1,500 search engines and subject directories from 176 countries, organized by country or broad category. Indicates the language of the source and includes a brief summary of the resource.
Virtual Gumshoe-Investigative Resources Available on the Web: http://www.virtualgumshoe.com/; Investigative and legal categories predominate, but there are also entries for cults, directories of all sorts, high schools, unclaimed property, vital statistics, etc. Coverage is unequal and a few short categories appear to promote only one or two fee-based services, but are still not paid inclusion.

Specialized Search Engines by Subject or Format--VERY Selective

BlogStreet: http://www.blogstreet.com/; Allows searching for blogs (some 150,000 of them) as well as for entries in them.
Congressional Research Service Reports, UNT Library: http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/; Hosted by the University of North Texas Library, "this site aims to provide integrated, searchable access to many of the full-text CRS reports that have been available at a variety of different Web sites since 1990."
CyberFiber: http://www.cyberfiber.com/; Similar to Google Groups, in that it indexes Usenet postings; browseable by subject and keyword searchable. Requires registration.
Daypop: http://www.daypop.com; A current events/weblog/news search engine; updated each hour from over 59,000 of the best sites of the "living Web."
E-print Network: Research Communications for Scientists and Engineers: http://www.osti.gov/eprints/; Included here are "pre-publication drafts of journal articles (preprints), scholarly papers, technical communications, or similar documents...intended for use by other scientists, engineers, and students at advanced levels."
Earthcam: http://www.earthcam.com/; A categorized and searchable listing of live cameras on the Web. Includes some material unsuitable for children, but has a companion site, Earthcam for Kids, as well.
electronic Environmental Resources Library: http://www.eerl.org/; "eERL's mission is to be the best possible online collection of environmental and sustainability resources for community college educators and for their students. The [mostly full-text] resources are also available for practitioners and the public."
FindArticles: http://www.findarticles.com/PI/index.jhtml; According to Chris Sherman, "FindArticles is a partnership between LookSmart, which provides the search infrastructure, and the Gale Group, which provides the published editorial content. It contains articles dating back to 1998 from more than 300 magazines and journals." It is a self-contained archive of articles and does not rely on outside linking to show content.
FindSounds: http://www.findsounds.com/types.html; Allows searching the Web for sound effects and musical instrument samples; contains "more than one million sounds."
GlobalSpec: http://www.globalspec.com/; Focuses on engineering and technical information, including part numbers, standards, patents, manufacturers, catalogs, and much more.
KeepMedia: http://www.keepmedia.com/HomePage.do; Searchable and browseable index of (currently) 12 years' worth of "170 leading publications." Results show brief portions of articles; complete articles are via subscription, but free trial available.
LawKT.com: Search Publications from Leading Law Firms: http://law.surfwax.com/; From the metasearch site Surfwax, this links to over 60,000 law firm publications, keyword searchable and browseable by topic.
MagPortal: Magazine Article Search Engine, Directory, and Data Feeds: http://magportal.com/; MagPortal.com indexes articles from almost 200 magazines, divided into 12 browseable subject categories or searchable by keyword. Results may be displayed in date order. Most back coverage is less than two years.
Midomi: http://www.midomi.com/; A singing social engine. You sing; it searches.
Multimedia Search Engines: Image, Audio & Video Searching: http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156251; Article by Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch detailing multimedia search engines that search for sound, image, and video files plus radio and television programs.
Open CRS Network - CRS Reports for the People [Congressional Research Service]: http://www.opencrs.com/; One of the best of several relatively new gateways providing access to research reports and briefs from the Congressional Research Service. There is no single source that does so and the reports cannot be "crawled" by major engines.
Oyez: http://www.oyez.org/oyez/frontpage; "The OYEZ Project provides access to more than 2000 hours of Supreme Court audio. All audio in the Court recorded since 1995 is included in the project. Before 1995, the audio collection is selective. It remains our aim to create a complete and authoritative archive of Supreme Court audio covering the entire span from October 1955 through the most recent release."
Pretrieve: Public Record Search Engine: http://www.pretrieve.com/; Allows searching on large numbers of public records sites by person, business, address, or phone number.
PublicRadioFan.com: http://www.publicradiofan.com/; This site "...features schedule listings for thousands of public radio stations and programs around the world. Follow the audio links to hear your favorite programs and discover new ones." Also includes public radio podcasts.
RedLightGreen.com: http://www.redlightgreen.com/; Noting the capital letters of the title gives a hint...this is the Web-based version of the Research Libraries Group (RLG) Union Catalog, formerly available only through subscription, which provides access to records for books, serials, maps, films, recordings, archives, manuscripts, computer files, and more, from 300 countries in over 370 languages. Also allows users to format results according to different standards, e.g., APA, MLA, etc.; allows users to link to purchase some materials, to locate the nearest library owning the title, and when available, to find online versions.
SearchLight: Public Version: http://searchlight.cdlib.org/cgi-bin/searchlight; From the California Digital Library, this tool offers "one-stop searching" of 100+ resources, including among others, abstracting and indexing databases, library catalogs, and Web sites. Results are organized by resource type: books; journal indexes; electronic journals; electronic texts and documents; reference resources; Web directories. Those not connecting from within the University of California system will not see results for licensed databases.
Singingfish: Find Audio and Video: http://singingfish.com/; "Singingfish offers audio/video search services that help people easily find mp3s, movie trailers, sports highlights, newscasts, and other streaming files." NOTE: Slow to load.

Ready Reference Collections

Best Online Reference Sites (formerly DeskRef): http://ansernet.rcls.org/deskref/; This site from the Ramapo Catskill Library System, is an excellent list of some 500 frequently accessed reference materials.
Finding Data on the Internet: http://www.robertniles.com/data/; From a journalist, aimed at journalists, this presents some "bare bones" essentials for checking facts and finding essential statistics.
IPL Ready Reference Collection: http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/ref00.00.00; From the Internet Public Library, this is an extensive annotated list of sites found to be useful in answering online reference questions. One of 11 major subject categories, this also lists 18 sub-categories under Reference.
LibrarySpot: http://www.libraryspot.com/; A commercial site aimed at pulling together much ready reference information, this is not comprehensive in scope, but is quick and easy to use.
MCLS Reference Center: http://www.mcls.org/webpublic/refcenter/index.cfm; From the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System, an association of public libraries in the greater Los Angeles area, contains "webliographies" and other items of interest.
Michigan Electronic Library Reference Desk: http://mel.org/viewtopic.jsp?id=53; From the Library of Michigan, this offers sources that provide short, concise answers to queries from public library patrons and "works of interest primarily to scientists, academic researchers, and technicians are not included."
Ready Reference Using the Internet (Ellen Berne): http://www.winsor.edu/pages/sitepage.cfm?id=426; Aimed principally at a high school audience and arranged by modified Library of Congress subject headings, this tool is selective and specific about sources (e.g., abortion, blind, figure skating).
Ready Reference Web Sites: Lakewood (OH) Public Library: http://www.lkwdpl.org/readref.htm; Arranged in Dewey order.
Reference Facts -- refdesk.com: http://www.refdesk.com/; Billing itself as "the single best source for facts on the Net," this busy and difficult site is, indeed, useful--particularly so are the sections Fast Facts 2000 (375+ Sources of Facts); Essential Reference Tools (Editor's Picks, 13 Topics); and Quick Research (300+ Research Sites).
Webrary Links: http://www.webrary.org/ref/weblinksmenu.html; From the Morton Grove (IL) Public Library, Webrary Links pages consists of highly selective links "to the most useful reference and informational web sites, organized by subject according to Dewey Decimal System call numbers." Searchable and browseable.
Yahoo! Reference: http://dir.yahoo.com/reference/index.html

Keeping Up With New Sites & Developments (most have electronic newsletters)

About.com Guide to Web Search: http://websearch.about.com/
Bazac Weblog, Blog about the Search Engines (Daniel Bazac): http://www.bazac.blogspot.com/
FreePint: http://www.freepint.co.uk/
Internet Resources Newsletter: http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/
Librarian's Index to the Internet: New This Week (Karen Schneider et al): http://lii.org/search/ntw
Pandia Search World: http://www.pandia.com/searchworld/index.html
ResearchBuzz (Tara Calishain) [NOTE: free and fee versions]: http://www.researchbuzz.com/
ResourceShelf (Gary Price): http://www.resourceshelf.com/
Scout Report: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/Reports/ScoutReport/
Search Engine News (Search Engine Guide): http://www.searchengineguide.com/searchenginenews.html
Search Engine Showdown (Greg Notess): http://searchengineshowdown.com/
Search Engine Watch (Danny Sullivan) [NOTE: free and fee versions]: http://searchenginewatch.com/
SearchDay (Chris Sherman): http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/

Recent and Upcoming Projects

Amazon.com's Search Inside the Book: http://www.amazon.com/; A new feature introduced in late October 2003 on Amazon featuring a database over 120,000 books that can be searched by keyword. Information about the program is found at How It Works and the Frequently Asked Questions page and the database is searched simply by typing the keywords into the search box and searching the books collections or by using the Power Search feature. [NOTE: Use the link above for purchases and generate credits for CFLC.] Concerns about the program are expressed here by The Authors Guild.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/; "Collections of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly... for educational use." Includes ancient, medieval, and modern collections. Searching is possible here, but not particularly easy.
OCLC Project Opens WorldCat Records to Google: http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb031027-2.shtml
Yahoo! Search Joins OCLC Open WorldCat Project: http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb040706-2.shtml; Articles by Barbara Quint describing an OCLC Project where OCLC records (complete with links to local libraries) show up on Google and Yahoo!, with details about library participation from OCLC itself. Also discusses ongoing projects where OCLC results are linked to online book vendors (try a search on BookPage.com to see results offering a WorldCat search). To see how the records look, search "da vinci code" "find in a library" on Google.
Treasures in Turning the Pages: http://www.bl.uk/collections/treasures/digitisation.html; "Turning the Pages is an award-winning interactive display system [for library visitors] developed by the British Library to increase public access and enjoyment of its treasures...Now you can 'Turn the Pages' of [then] four priceless manuscripts online with our new web versions..." Includes the Leonardo da Vinci notebooks, Sultan Baybars' Qur'an, the Sherborne Missal, the Lindisfarne Gospels, plus more titles regularly added.

Created 11/15/2003; last revised 3/13/2008

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