"'This house believes librarians cannot any longer offer more than Google'.".

My premise:

• “Google” is used as a synonym for all the internet search engines that are available for public use and which index publicly available information.

• And I was a librarian. Until I discovered the Internet.

What can search engines offer (that librarians can’t)?

24/7 access

Geographically independent

Currency

Speed

An independent source

Data

• Library of Congress: 20 terabytes• Amazon: 42 terabytes• YouTube: 45 terabytes• Google: 100s of terabytes• World Data Centre for Climate: 330

terabytes, 6 petabytes of additional data = 3 times the amount of ALL the U.S. academic research libraries contents combined.

Accuracy?

So…

RSS feeds and alerts

Data gathering

Complexity?

What else can Google do?

• Web, Images, News, Blogs, Products, Books, Maps, Scholar, Video, Music, Reader, Base, Directory, Finance, Catalogs, Bookmarks, Linux, Apple, Macintosh, Trends, Notebook, Accessible, Code, Patents, Timeline, Maps, Movies, Definitions, Weather, Sites, Calculator, Flights, Shakespeare, Health, Docs, Email, RSS, Gadgets, Music trends, Mars, Ride Finder, Suggest, Sets, Alerts, etc etc

But the real reason?

• LIBRARIANS ARE SLEEPWALKING!

• “Our summer break” Friday, June 29, 2007 11:23 AM Posted By Pam Saenger, Associate Marketing Manager

How many engines do YOU use?

Do you ever:

• Say “Google it” or “Let me just check Google”

• Think of Google as the first search engine to use when you go on the net?

• Use ‘Google’ as a synonym for ‘search engine’?

• Think you’d be lost without Google?

•Google has 87.3% of the UK search engine market.

87.3%

Do you…

• Know your search engines as well as you do your reference collections?

• Know the strengths and weaknesses of the GYMA resources in the same detail you do your subscription databases?

• Know which engine is best for images, people, blogs, specific countries, re-ranking results, for children, sounds, etc?

Now, of course…

• It’s not ‘just’ Google• It’s not ‘just’ librarians• It’s not ‘just’ information• A combination of a skilled librarian, a

powerful computer, basic technical abilities, and a host of search resources is… well…

In summary

• A librarian can add a depth of understanding

• The ability to manipulate data across a range of resources

• Work with an enquirer• …. and leave the rest up to