Transcript Which Search Tool?

TM
Google
or
PubMed
Which is
Better for
Medical
Searching?
Agenda
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Introduction
Overview of Search Tools: Coverage,
Functionality, and Special Features
Search Tool Strengths and Limitations
Search Examples
Recommendations
Q&A
Denise O'Shea
The Author
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Former Technology Programs Manager for
the National Network of Libraries of
Medicine (NN/LM), Middle Atlantic Region
Certified Instructor for web searching
courses such as Super Searcher
Librarian, experienced in web searching
using a myriad of tools including PubMed,
Google, Google Scholar, ClinicalTrials.Gov
and much more…
I use Google often, when appropriate
Denise O'Shea
Objectives
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Participants will be able to:
Communicate the differences between
the various search engines and justify
the choice of search engine for a
given information need;
 Evaluate medical research tools;
 Demonstrate familiarity with resources
covered in the course;
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Denise O'Shea
Opening Exercise
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Compare these search tools and list
what you think are the TWO most
important search features in each:
GoogleTM
 Google ScholarTM
 PubMed
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Denise O'Shea
Search Tools: Overview
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It’s important to know:
How the different search tools work
and how they are best utilized
 The strengths and limitations of
different search tools
 Coverage and Currency:
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• How big is the database being used?
• What does it contain?
• How often is it updated or refreshed?
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Denise O'Shea
PubMed vs. Google vs.
Google Scholar
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PubMed: a searchable collection of
over 15 million bio-medical journal
citations
Google: searches over 8 billion web
pages for general information
Google Scholar: searches the web
for scholarly materials from broad
areas of research
Denise O'Shea
GoogleTM
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It uses a Boolean (and/or) search
engine to find words in web-pages
It ranks pages according to the links
on the page and the popularity of the
pages that link to other pages
Automatic spellchecker
Denise O'Shea
Google ScholarTM Beta
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Links to local holdings and to OCLC
WorldCat with “one click” service
Locates chapters within multiauthored books and conference
proceedings
Cited-by feature
Denise O'Shea
PubMed
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Uses MeSH headings to match synonyms
Manual indexing by subject experts can
include words not contained in the abstract
Clipboard, RSS Feeds, e-mailed search
results
You can customize your results page
Growing free content (PubMed Central)
Search history
Easily link to a vast array of other
biomedical databases through global search
Denise O'Shea
Google: Strengths
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Simplicity, speed and coverage
Searches web pages, images, PDFs,
Word documents and much more
Easy-to-use search interface
Denise O'Shea
Google Scholar: Strengths
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Easy means to access health literature and
interdisciplinary topics
Useful for citation verification
Allows users to search inside the text of an
article
Provides linking to free materials on the Web
Include reports and conferences proceedings
from professional societies and associations
Access to Grey Literature
Backup for when local subscription links are
not working
Denise O'Shea
PubMed: Strengths
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Updated daily*
Sophisticated search tools
Related Articles / Abstract Plus
Good documentation
Links to local holdings
Ad free
Denise O'Shea
Google: Limitations
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Page ranking based on popular opinion
Timeliness
Does not suggest alternative search
terms or synonyms
Limited field searching (can’t search
based on age or gender, or search for a
research method or publication type)
Limited Boolean logic, no truncation
No resorting by most current
Denise O'Shea
Google Scholar: Limitations
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Software is in Beta
Coverage – no definition of ‘scholarly’
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Search results may not be as comprehensive or
as current as you need
Bias towards older literature (due to ranking
based on number of citations)
Fee-for-service document delivery
Sorting features (or lack there-of)
Does not always suggest alternative spellings
Denise O'Shea
PubMed: Limitations
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Complex interface requires training to
use effectively
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Need to understand the structure &
functionality of the database
Some features require the use of
cookies
Some features require a login and
password (MyNCBI)
Denise O'Shea
Search Examples
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Demo
Denise O'Shea
To Google…or Not to
Google?
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Google:
 Simple searches, quick reference tool
 Not designed for comprehensive research or clinical
questions.
Google Scholar
 Known item searching, to learn background info on a topic
 Not designed for comprehensive research or clinical
questions.
PubMed:
 Complex searches
 Current information
 Literature reviews (i.e., for grants, clinical trials or evidence
based medicine), PICO
 Ability to save searches, view search history, schedule ealerts
 Don’t use to search for general information on the Web
Denise O'Shea
A Selected List of Other
Medical Search Tools
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Scirus – a search engine for scientific, technical and medical
data (http://www.scirus.com). Competitor to Google Scholar.
Relamed – searches PubMed and assigns relevance to results
(http://www.relemed.com)
Hubmed – an alternative interface to PubMed
(http://www.hubmed.org/)
Science Research Portal – a free, publicly available Internet
web portal allowing access to numerous scientific journals and
public science databases
(http://www.scienceresearch.com/search/)
XplorMed – a word relationship search engine for PubMed
(http://www.ogic.ca/projects/xplormed//). It searches for
articles based on word semantics and relationships.
Plus bibliographic databases and full-text ejournals subscribed
to by your library
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Denise O'Shea
The Future
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Google Co-op
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Customized Search Engines
• http://www.healthfind.com/
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Subscribed Links
• http://google.com/coop/subscribedlinks/directory/H
ealth
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Topics
• http://www.google.com/coop/topics/Health
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PubMed
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New/Noteworthy RSS feeds
NLM Tech Bulletin
Denise O'Shea
Q&A
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Denise O'Shea
Reading & Further
Resources
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Giustini, D., & Barsky, E. (2005). A look at Google Scholar,
PubMed...a comparison. JCHLA/JABSC, 26.
Giustini, D., & Barsky, E. (2005). Using Google Scholar in Health
Research: A Comparison with PubMed. Paper presented at the
CHLA/ABSC. from http://chlaabsc.ca/2005/Presentations/0601/GiustiniBarsky_CHLA2005.pdf.
Henderson, J. (2005). Google Scholar: a source for clinicians?
CMAJ, 172(12).
New Search Engine for Finding Articles in PubMed. (2007). from
http://www.researchbuzz.org/wp/2007/03/05/new-search-enginefor-finding-articles-in-pubmed
UCLA. (2007). Google Scholar™, Search Engines, Databases, and
the Research Process. from
http://www2.library.ucla.edu/googlescholar/index.cfm
Vine, R. (2006). Google Scholar: A Source for Technicians. J Med
Library Assoc., 94(1), 97-99.
Denise O'Shea
Contact Info
Denise O’Shea
Systems Librarian
Fairleigh Dickinson
University
Teaneck and
Madison, NJ
[email protected]
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Denise O'Shea