Advanced searching skills workshop

Central TAFE 1 May 2004

On the first of May the WA Library Technician Group hosted an Advanced Internet Searching Skills Workshop at Central TAFE. The presenter was Judy Clayden from Edith Cowan University. The twenty-four participants came from several sectors of the library world including schools, academic and special/government libraries.

A handout was provided which gave an introduction and review of basic searching techniques. The participants were encouraged to consider:

The type of information required i.e. general or specific information.
Document type ie web page, technical report or news item.
Selection of appropriate Internet mediums ie search engine, database vendor or reference tool.

Other areas covered included advanced searching options in standard search engines, meta-search engines, specialised search engines, directories (general and specialised subject), portals, vortals, gateways and the Invisible Web.

Resources provided included the addresses of web based tutorials, popular search engines and a list of references for further reading.

Exercises were provided to give 'hands on experience', some of which were very challenging and funny.

The workshop proved to be so popular that the places were soon filled and we are planning a repeat later in the year.

Topics suggested for a future workshop included:

A repeat of the same workshop [hoping to manage more second time around]
Web authoring
Web page designing
Searching for government reports, legislation and law reports

Our grateful thanks to Judy Clayden for the immense amount of time and effort she put into preparing such an excellent workshop.

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