AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ADVANCES IN SEARCH ENGINE TECHNOLOGY AND THEIR IMPACTS ON LIBRARIES

ABSTRACT: Libraries see themselves as central information providers for their clientele, at universities or research institutions with the development of the World Wide Web, the “information search” has grown to be a significant business sector of a global, competitive and commercial market. Powerful players have entered this market, such as commercial internet search engines, information portals, multinational publishers and online content integrators. If libraries do not want to become marginalized in a key area of their traditional services, they need to acknowledge the challenges that come with the globalization of scholarly information, the existence and further growth of the academic internet.