As a random and completely unscientific experiment I asked my two teenage daughters what they knew about the invisible web. The answer was a blank stare. Not an unusual reaction, you may think, but I took it as a sign that they hadn’t heard of the phenomenon. Even information professionals don’t seem to be 100% clued up on the subject. Halfway through reading the book I had the pleasure of attending a City Information Group (CIG) meeting where discussion of the invisible web surfaced, so to speak. It emerged that the surface web was 177 terabytes while the total web was 91,000 terabytes: yes, more than 500 times greater, an estimate that appears to be widely accepted.

So if those figures are any where near accurate it is clear that information professionals have a key role in diving deep into the web to help their colleagues make the invisible visible. According to the authors of this book, the search skills needed to plumb its depths should be a part of every information literacy and research skills course. The book itself is admirably clear and brief. Divided into three parts (and seven chapters) the book examines how to understand the division between the visible and invisible web, finding and using the contents of the invisible bit, and finally narrowing the gap between the two. The chapter on the characteristics of the invisible web was fascinating and well worth reading. But short of time information professionals may be tempted to skip this and head straight for the second part, which looks in detail about searching for the invisible.

The authors stress that invisible web research is a form of advanced searching. Most searches will still start with a general-purpose search engine and may well turn up acceptable results. But what is fine for satisfying mundane inquiry – weather, sports scores, or settling disputes about long finished TV programmes – may not work for students. The authors – who both hold information positions at LaGuardia Community College, New York – put it like this: “The invisible web offers rich material that can expand on general search engine findings, but it may not necessarily be the first place to look, nor, perhaps, even the second… The invisible web is not in competition with the general-purpose search engine trawling the surface web… but given some extra effort by the researcher, the invisible web can augment general search engine results and may be the difference between successful research and incomplete results.” And it may also encourage students beyond just looking at the first 10 results provided by Google.

This book aims to teach information professionals offering practical examples of how to do it which are clearly explained. Chapter 5 – Internet research strategies: an example – looks at the hypothetical student, Amanda, who must write an in-depth analysis of international development and the recent concept of microfinance. From the visible web we see how Amanda can be helped through the visible door using the library subscription database, or if that is not available sources such Infomine, and how Amanda’s research requirements are finally met. And it wasn’t even that cheesy.

This book is a timely and enjoyable to read and should help to combat such myths as searching is easy, or everything important is free. It is also a useful source of information on how deep web search tools, including CompletePlanet, Closer Look, and the Librarians’ Internet Index, are evolving and what that means for libraries’ electronic collection development plans.

Going beyond Google: The invisible web in learning and teaching

By Jane Devine and Francine Egger-Sider

Facet Publishing

March 2009; 162pp; paperback

ISBN 978-1-85604-658-9

Price: £44.95