| Open Web / Google Search | Library Content / Databases | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | everyday questions, navigating daily life "Is Hugo's open tonight?" |
surveying the published record of scholarly inquiry |
| Authority | varies; no editorial review, no quality control | a high proportion of peer-reviewed and fact-checked content |
| Search Technique |
natural language: "What volunteer opportunities are near me?" |
Topic keywords and synonyms with connectors: "college students" and (volunteer* or "service learning") |
| Relevancy and results | Often the first page is highly relevant but lack of filters makes it difficult to focus your results. Advertising and marketing can affect ranking. |
Results can be filtered by type of document, year, subject terms, and more. |
| Selection | Bots and crawlers examine web page content and metadata of websites; not publications. Search engines can be gamed. |
Human editors choose the articles and books as part of the scholarly conversation within academic disciplines. |
| Depth and Breadth | Picks up websites and blogs that search engine bots can crawl. | Databases index articles, books, journals, newspapers, conference proceedings, and even streaming video and music; most of this material is not available through an Internet search. |
| Access | Websites come and go and have paywalls. | The Library pays for your access to hundreds of thousands of ebooks and e-journals. |
With thanks to the Yale University Libraries, University of Maryland, HASTAC, and many other library instruction programs for sharing these concepts.
