Cuill – a new search engine to consider!

 I read about Cuil in other blogs I browse fairly regularly and was curious, so I investigated and so far I like it!  It is an excellent competitor to Google, and since I recently returned from a wonderful and too short visit to Ireland, the name sounded quite Gaelic, also peaking my curiosity.  Here is some content from their about and philosophy pages:

Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. When we find a page with your keywords, we stay on that page and analyze the rest of its content, its concepts, their inter-relationships and the page’s coherency.

Then we offer you helpful choices and suggestions until you find the page you want and that you know is out there. We believe that analyzing the Web rather than our users is a more useful approach, so we don’t collect data about you and your habits, lest we are tempted to peek. With Cuil, your search history is always private.

Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge. For knowledge, ask Cuil.

Cuil’s founders worked with other search engines and knew that tinkering with old systems wouldn’t work. A fundamentally different approach was needed. So we’ve developed new architecture and algorithms that can handle the exponential growth of the Internet and organize results that reflect its enormous complexity.

Cuil believes that:

Size matters

Size matters because many people use the Internet to find information that is of interest to them, even if it’s not popular. Existing technology can’t keep up with the increasing volume of Web pages. If a search engine is incapable of indexing the Internet properly how can it hope to provide accurate search results? Imagine if the phone company decided to stop listing infrequently called numbers in the phone book. Maybe no one phones your grandmother much, but if her friend from the old neighborhood wants to get in touch, shouldn’t her number be in the book? Cuil lists all the numbers, even the ones that aren’t called much. Because one day someone will need that number.

Popularity is useful, but not always important

Popularity is useful, but has dominated search results so heavily that it gets harder and harder to find the page you want, especially if your search is a complex one. Cuil respects popular pages and recognizes that for many simple searches, popularity is an easy answer to your question. But for a deeper search, establishing relevancy is more than a numbers game. Cuil prefers to find all the pages with your keyword or phrase and then analyze the rest of the content on those pages. During this analysis we discover that your keywords have different meanings in different contexts. Once we’ve established the context of the pages, we’re in a much better position to help you in your search.

Organization is fundamental

The Internet is information; usually too much. Ten blue links is a simple concept which fails to reflect the huge diversity and variety of information available to you on the Web. Cuil organizes the Internet so you can find the information you want. We separate different ideas from each other so you can choose the one that interests you. We pick images to illustrate the idea behind each page to aid you in your choice. We include roll-over definitions and offer you ideas to refine your search. We can do all this because we believe that information is only useful when it’s sorted. Cuil’s goal is to guide you towards answers to the questions you’re not even sure how to ask.

Cuil analyzes the Web, not its users

Privacy is a hot topic these days, and we want you to feel totally comfortable using our service. Because Cuil analyzes Web pages and not click-throughs, we don’t need to know your search history and habits. So our privacy policy is very simple: when you search with Cuil, we do not collect any personally identifiable information, period. We have no idea who sends queries: not by name, not by IP address, and not by cookie. Your search history is your business, not ours. We don’t need to keep logs of our users’ search activity, so we don’t. For further details, read our Privacy Policy. Don’t worry, it’s short and to the point. No legal mumbo-jumbo….

More, and to give it a trial run, visit http://www.cuil.com

At Libraries, Taking the (Really) Long View (from “Inside Higher Education”)

One of the benefits of digitally encoded content is that it can’t deteriorate. With files that consist of 1’s and 0’s, there are no pages to turn yellow or brittle, tape to demagnetize or bindings to snap. In theory, that would be a boon to libraries that devote boundless resources to preserving old documents, ancient texts and even videos recorded in Betamax.

But as libraries shift more of their resources to holdings that either originate as digital or become digital through scanning, it’s become clear that just because something lives in the virtual stacks doesn’t mean it will be around forever. Anyone who’s ever suffered through a hard drive crash (or tried futilely to save a scratched DVD) has faced the inherent physical limitations of digital storage. Now librarians are having to do the same as they determine how digital holdings fit into their central mission: preserving works so that they can be accessed not just today, not just tomorrow, but indefinitely.

And for anyone who’s also worked through a mere “upgrade” in file formats or e-mail clients, it’s probably not a stretch to assert that in computer time, 10 years might as well be infinity. What does that make 100?

So, in a literal race against time — but one with a perpetually receding deadline — librarians from research universities and other institutions around the world are collaborating to tackle a whole host of problems that so far have no satisfactory solution…

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Conclusions and goals based on survey results…

Okay, I have some direction and ideas. What I am concluding you would like is:

1. Email communication, but not TOO often, and including links to the blog.
2. Meetings held not too early in the evening, but early enough to not make it a long night and drive home, say, 6:30 or so.
3. Occasional meetings over a meal or snacks
4. Meetings held at rotating locations around the valley and/or in central or downtown Phoenix.
5. Informal presentations and facilitated networking sessions.
6. Desired topics are wide-spread but to include choosing a library setting and developing a career path.

I will work to set up some gatherings. It appears that days and times should vary as well, as it will be impossible to get everyone what is good for everyone all the time!

So, please don’t wait for me to survey you again. If you:

1. would like to speak on a topic that interests you,
2. would like to facilitate a discussion on such a topic
3. have a guest you would like to bring or suggest, or
4. have a specific discussion topic or speaker to suggest…

Call or email me when the spirit moves you! I am at 602-827-2031 and email: jddoyle@email.arizona.edu

Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize (From Roy Tenant’s blog in LJ)

Downloaded 7/22/08 – something for us all to think about!

As I often do, I’m working on a presentation I must give tomorrow morning. Actually, I’m a bit ahead of myself. I mean, I like have hours left. But anyway, that isn’t my point. My point is taken straight from my presentation:

Why do we try to differentiate on stuff that doesn’t matter… in ways users find annoying?

Let me explain. No one in their right mind wants to use a library catalog. Yes, you read that right. No one wants to use a library catalog. They want to find a book. Or an article or whatever. They only use a library catalog because they have to. And actually, they often just use it to find out a) if you have a particular book they’ve already discovered elsewhere, and b) whether it’s on the shelf.

From a library user’s perspective, then, library catalogs don’t matter — they would prefer to have other ways of doing what they need to do if we could possibly understand their pain enough to alleviate it. Frankly, a great deal of library user pain could be avoided simply by decent signage. It works fairly well in a bookstore, why not a small library? That would take care of the “I want books on this subject” and “I want a good mystery” purposes for most users…

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Thanks for your survey responses!

SIRLS Mini Survey Graphs - July, 2008 (n=30)

While I am still making meaning out of the 30 responses I have received, I wanted to share at least preliminary results. Will work on these and will get in touch with the Maricopa Library Council as well. Thanks very much! JDD

Information People Are Library Associates Business

Library Associate Companies, founded in 1986 in Los Angeles, provides consulting and staffing services in 50 locations across the US. They are ranked as a top temporary agency…

Recruiting: we place qualified candidates into organizations ranging from libraries to software vendors to new technology companies. We are not limited to jobs in libraries, as we actively work with our clients to place information professionals in areas such as competitive intelligence, primary research, journalism, records and knowledge management positions.

Consulting: we help companies solve problems and manage projects, from data analysis to strategic planning, from contract evaluation to marketing and promotion.

Projects: we expertly and efficiently manage information projects, working at the client site, or offer innovative but realistic solutions for off-site or virtual project management and staff.

From libraries to digital asset management, we bring the experience, knowledge and expertise to manage operations and staff experts in both the private sector and government agencies. (Click here for our Corporate Capabilities Statement.)

We recruit and employ management and information professionals to work on challenging and exciting projects and assignments involving information – libraries, archives, research, procurement and negotiation of electronic products and technologies, competitive intelligence and content management…

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What does an ‘Information Professional’ do?

An Information Professional (“IP”) strategically uses information in his/her job to advance the mission of the organization. The IP accomplishes this through the development, deployment, and management of information resources and services. The IP harnesses technology as a critical tool to accomplish goals. IPs include, but are not limited to librarians, knowledge managers, chief information officers, web developers, information brokers, and consultants…

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Value of the Information Professional (from SLA)

In today’s fast-paced world of business, the need for information is an international commodity. Information, both internally and externally produced, is the lifeblood of an organization and essential for innovation and continuous learning. Information sharing is also essential for any organization that is attempting to understand and manage its intellectual capital, often in a global context.

Information professionals play a unique role in gathering, organizing, and coordinating access to the best available information sources for the organization, understanding the critical need of turning that information into usable knowledge…

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Finding a Library Job (from LJ)

This exciting job market can be tough to break into, but these steps to success should help along the way

By Rachel Singer Gordon — Library Journal, 6/1/2005

When hunting for a library job, you will have better odds of success if you both understand what employers are looking for and have a realistic picture of the market. A successful job hunt involves gaining the skills libraries are looking for, getting yourself out there and known, connecting with opportunities, and putting your best foot forward in all of your interactions with potential employers.

The job market more

From Google: oops…we forgot librarians!

From Google:

Endless summer

Friday, July 11, 2008 9:28 AM

As you may have noticed, we’ve taken a somewhat leisurely summer break here at Librarian Central. We’ve been thinking about how to best communicate with you, our audience, and as a result, we’ve decided to close this blog in order to focus on our newsletter.

We began our outreach to the librarian community with the intention of sharing information with you about Google. This includes information about our library partnerships, products that you might find useful and details about Google Book Search. We’re still committed to these goals.  See http://librariancentral.blogspot.com/2008/07/endless-summer.html for more.

From another angle, from the Googlization of everything blog:

Whoops! Google realizes it has been ignoring librarians.

See http://www.googlizationofeverything.com/2008/07/whoops_google_realizes_it_has.php for more!