SEARCH DEVICES
Search Engine Watch
Web Address: http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
If you are interested in keeping up with the newer devices that become available for research on the web this is a very rich site. The compiler has done extensive research on a wide range of resources, including the best know search engines.
The information under "Search Engine Listings" will provide a useful list of reviewed search mechanisms.
Gabriel
Web Address: portico.bl.uk/gabriel/en/welcome.html
"The mission of Gabriel is to provide information
about Europe's National Libraries, their collections and their services
in order to facilitate access to them, and to foster the development of
new services based on a shared infrastructure."
(Gabriel Mission Statement, http://portico.bl.uk/gabriel/mission/mission-en.html)
This is an enormously valuable site. Gabriel was launched on the Internet in 1995. Since that time it has expanded its services. Today, it provides a gateway to a wide range of information on almost all the national libraries, as can be seen from the home page.
Erik Herron's Guide to Post Communist
States on the Web
Web Address: www.ku.edu/~herron/
This site is sponsored by the University of Kansas Center for Russian and East European Studies. It offers a gateway to information on the politics and governments of the region. The sites also offer some resources on the information policy of the region as it stood in 1999. Both sites are organized by country. Each country page is divided into sections on central government ministries and agencies, institutes and ngos, news and media, politcal parties, regional sites, miscellaneous sites and search engines. The miscellaneous sites vary wildly in content from sites women's issues to sites on the weather. The political sites are very useful and the excellent organization of the site makes it a very useful gateway for political information. The access to a wide range of search engines also makes it a useful site for listings of vernacular language search engines.
This, again, is a site with a broad interdisciplinary usage and can be useful to those simply looking for newspaper resources to those who simply want to find some search engines for a region.
REENIC
Web Address: http://reenic.utexas.edu/
This site has always provided an excellent list of Western sites on the internet. While more limited than the similar site at Pittsburgh it is an excellent source for sites on the media of the region, governments sites and other information.
REESWEB
Web Address: www.ucis.pitt.edu/reesweb
One of the best and most comprehensive sites on Slavic studies the Russian and East European Site at the University of Pittsburgh has recently undergone a facelift. The new site is easier to search than its predecessor. It still remains a central point for the listing of sites in the Slavic field and is an excellent starting point, especially for Western sites on Slavic studies.
Search Engine Colossus
Web Address: www.searchenginecolossus.com
By all accounts, this is one of the most thorough listing of regional search engines. It is arranged by country and will present the user with a simple list of countries. Clicking on a country will provide another list of search engines. It is updated frequently and has one of the largest collections of links for specialized search engines of any site.
Universiteitsbibliotheek: A Collection
of Special Search Engines
Web Address: http://www.leidenuniv.nl/ub/biv/specials.htm
This site has a wonderful collection of links. Many of the sites listed here serve as portals to general subject sites. For everything from the most current information on search devices to internet sites on history, this may be one of the most useful links.
The site is somewhat difficult to use in that it is a simple list with the only navigation being a side bar with a list of topics. Nevertheless, the selection of sites makes it well worth the difficulty. To find the general sites for regional search engines, the user would look under "Databases and bibliographies, special search engines, webrings". It is under the heading "Special search engines that one would find the regional search engines for our area.
While all this may seem more trouble than it is worth it does have one great value. Sites such as these will find the newer and more useful search engines for you. You will not have to try and find them through endless search strategies yourself. This can save a great deal of time. It is important to pay attention to how frequently such a site is updated. If you notice that there are numerous "dead" links and that nothing seems to change it might be worthwhile to check an alternative site for updates.
