Search Techniques in Electronic Databases: Skill for Information Professionals

Abstract

Inf orm ation Technology has created new horizon f or in f orm ation storage and retrieval. It has led to variety of inf orm ation sources like CD‟ s, DVD‟ s, electronic databases etc. Searchin g f or in f orm ation in these resources is really challenging f or th e library prof essionals. Searching can be som etim es a daunting task, how ever if done eff iciently it can enrich as w ell. Conventional search operators lik e Boolean operat ors, truncation searches, w ild cards , citation and proxim ity search can m ake th e search experience easier only if used appropriately . This paper is an attem pt at enhancing th e search skills by discovering usef ul tricks in search strategies. The know ledge of these tricks helps the user to save tim e. Moreover, th e paper gives useful inf orm ation to th e searcher in retrieving relevant inf orm ation at the right time f rom various databases.