Canadian public libraries and search engines: barriers to visibility
| Date | 19 September 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-09-2015-0147 |
| Published date | 19 September 2016 |
| Pages | 589-606 |
| Author | Zoe Dickinson,Michael Smit |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
Canadian public libraries
and search engines: barriers
to visibility
Zoe Dickinson and Michael Smit
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges presented by search engine
visibility for public libraries. The paper outlines the results of a pilot study investigating search
engine visibility in two Canadian public libraries.
Design/methodology/approach –The study consists of semi-structured interviews with librarians
from two multi-branch Canadian public library systems, combined with quantitative data provided by
each library, as well as data obtained through site-specific searches in Google and Bing. Possible
barriers to visibility are identified through thematic analysis of the interviews.
Findings –The initial findings of this pilot study identify a complex combination of barriers to
visibility on search engines, in the form of attitudes, policies, organizational structures, and
technological difficulties.
Research limitations/implications –This paper describes a small, preliminary pilot study. More
research is needed before any firm conclusions can be reached.
Practical implications –A review of the literature shows the increasing importance of
search engine visibility for public libraries. By delving into the underlying issues which may be
affecting libraries’progress on the issue, this paper may help inform libraries’decision-making
processes and practices.
Originality/value –There has been little original research investigating the reasons behind libraries’
lack of visibility in search engine results pages. This paper provides insight into a previously
unexplored area by exploring public libraries’relationships with search engines.
Keywords Optimization, Libraries, Visibility, Discoverability, Google, Search engine
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Libraries and search engines
As the online and offline realms become more and more interconnected, online
information increasingly supports offline accessibility. This changes the way people
expect to locate and access resources. Memory institutions such as libraries remain
importantsources of information, but theyare rarely the starting pointfor an information
search. Instead, the vast majority of searches begin with online search engines.
According to a 2010 Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) survey, 84 per cent of
online information seekers began their search using a search engine; 0 per cent began
with a library website (DeRosa et al., 2011). In a 2012 PEW internet study, 91 per cent of
adult search engine users reported that they “always”or “almost always”found the
information they were looking for using search engines; only 9 per cent combined
reported “only sometimes”or “hardly ever”(Purcell et al., 2012, p. 14). This shows not
only widespread use, but widespread confidence in search engines as an information
source. As Halavais (2013) puts it, “The modern search engine has taken on the mantle
of what the ancients of many cultures thought of as an oracle: a source of knowledge
about our world and who we are”; or, more bluntly, “they have become an object of
faith”(p. 1).
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 68 No. 5, 2016
pp. 589-606
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-09-2015-0147
Received 16 September 2015
Revised 31 May 2016
Accepted 23 June 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
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Canadian
public
libraries and
search engines
The deep web
Despite these positive public perceptions, search engines barely begin to encompass all
the information available online. As of 2009, 95 per cent of the web, representing over
220 billion pages, was not indexed by search engines (Scheeren, 2012). This is the
deep web. The resources listed in libraries’online public access catalogues (OPACs)
used to inhabit the deep web due to technical limitations, but as databases evolve and
search engine crawlers improve, this hidden state is no longer a technological necessity.
Nevertheless, the contents of most Canadian public libraries’OPACs remain hidden in
the deep web (Blandford, 2015). While most libraries have an online presence, few are
visible online unless a user is specifically searching for a library. If a user simply
searches for an information resource, the library remains invisible even if it offers the
resource in question.
Whether or not search engines are the best possible source for any given piece of
information, they are almost always the starting place for identifying the best sources.
By failing to integrate their information resources with search engines, libraries risk
being invisible to the people who need their services. This endangers not only the
perceived relevance of libraries (Blandford, 2015), but also the average person’s ability
to access quality information. If public libraries, as champions for public information
access, allow themselves to drop out of sight in today’s most popular information
forum, people may not be aware of the essential services they offer.
There has been discussion of the relationship between libraries and search engines
in library and information science (LIS) literature, but less has been done to address
the question of why most libraries’resources remain invisible to search engine users.
If search engine visibility is technically possible, why it is not happening?
Throughout this paper, the term “search engine visibility”is used specifically in
relation to the visibility of the resources listed in libraries’OPACs; the visibility of
libraries’main websites and other online activities is outside the scope of this study.
“Visibility”is used to describe both the extent to which an OPAC’scontentsarebeing
indexed by search engines (and thus, have the possibility of being visible in search
engine results pages (SERP)), and the extent to which an OPAC’s contents are rising
high enough in SERP to be realistically visible to an average searcher.
This paper outlines the findings of an exploratory pilot study investigating the
search engine visibility of two Canadian public library systems. Potential barriers to
visibility were identified through qualitative analysis of interviews with a library staff
member from each institution, while the actual visibility of each institution’s resources
was assessed through analysis of website traffic statistics and site-specific searches on
Google and Bing. These findings are detailed further in the following sections:
literature review, methodology, limitations, results, discussion, and conclusion.
Literature review
Search engines as the competition
One possible explanation for libraries’continued invisibility on search engines can be
found in a review of LIS literature. As Blandford (2015) notes, many LIS scholars
approach search engines as a threat. Some argue that the limitations of search engines
make librarians more necessary than ever as champions of information literacy (e.g.
Norris, 2006; Herring, 2005; Cahill and Chalut, 2009; Egger-Sider and Devine, 2005).
Although these authors emphasize search engines’limited results, and discuss the deep
web, there is no mention of the fact that this group of hidden resources often includes
the library’s own holdings. Others suggest that libraries should compete by emulating
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