“What is News archive search?

News archive search provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. Users can search for events, people, ideas and see how they have been described over time.

In addition to searching for the most relevant articles for their query, users can get an historical overview of the results by browsing an automatically created timeline.

Search results include both content that is accessible to all users and content that requires a fee. Articles related to a single story within a given time period are grouped together to allow users to see a broad perspective on the events.

So with this typical computer world hype surrounding this new feature, I did a couple searches to see how well it worked.

I went to the google archive search page archivesearch and typed in “Titanic sinking”

You can click on regular search archives – or show timeline. Regular brings up all hits like a normal google search, where timeline shows hits by date or timeline.

The timeline search worked best for the Titanic sinking, and I saw hits starting in 1912 up to a present day article in the newspaper Baltimore Sun saying that the last survivor of the Titanic sinking died a few months ago. But when I clicked on the article, it was a bad link.

Another thing that seemed odd to me was that when I first clicked on the timeline search, the articles were dated from 1912 on, but in subsequent timeline searches the 1912 article wasn’t found. Not sure if this is google fine-tuning their search algorhythyms or websites pulling their material offline.

But the most common thing I did find was disturbing. On the majority of searches you see dollar sign icons in the search results. This means that the actual search will show you a “tease” of the information, but to see the full article you’ll have to pay to view, just like cable tv !! And the fees are from $ 2.95 and up.

So thinking maybe my topic was too sophisticated I decided to search for a much more common topic “Avalon Mississippi” the home of Mississippi John Hurt, a town of less than 100 people today.

There were less dollar sign icons in the search results, but some were more expensive than the Titanic searches.

The Albuquerque NM journal wanted $ 6.95 as a search fee, but interestingly it said that I might be able to access this information for free through my local library.

I followed that choice and was asked for a zip code for my local library – which then showed me Spokane Public Library.

Then it asked me to type in my library card number, and then it showed me the full article.

I called our library and they said this was a legitimate information source that they subscribed to, the Thompson Gale Databases.

So on the New google archives search feature, you might avoid paying a information search fee by becoming a member of our library system, and if you’re already a member – hey – “Free Lunch” !

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This is Frank Delaney

http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html

PO Box 31522 Spokane, Wa 99223-1522

(509)624-7230

mailto:frank@mtamicro.com