Using Traditional Advanced Search

Traditional Advanced Search finds links in the IPL. Most of these links are to websites outside of the IPL.

You can search by title and/or description. You can add a search for the URL to the title and/or description search if you want. Below is an example using "dog".

Title	Digital Dog
URL	http://www.digitaldog.com/
Description	"Digital Dog's Mission is to provide the public with HONEST observations about each dog breed's temperament and the possible physical or behavioral flaws found in every dog breed. We hope our site will be used to evaluate which dog is best for you."

Traditional Advanced Search Tips

• You can search by words or phrases.
• To search for an exact phrase, put quotes (") around the phrase.
  • Example: "science fiction"
• A plus sign ( + ) in front of a word indicates that a word is important (raises its relevancy ranking). Leave a space in front of the plus sign.
  • Example: science +fiction
• A minus sign ( - ) in front of a word indicates that a word is not important at all (reduces its relevancy ranking). Leave a space in front of the minus sign.
  • Example: science -fiction
• Try a more general term if your search does not return the results you want.
  • Example: Search on snake rather than boa constrictor.
• Try a synonym (a word that means the same) or a similar, related term if your search does not return the results you want.
  • Example: Search on dogs rather than canines.

Using "Grok It"

The IPL has a partnership with Grokker (http://www.groxis.com/); we send them descriptive data of the links in our database and their search mechanism presents our data in a new visual way.

Users who use the Grok It search above will have their search results clustered together topically and presented in either an outline view or in a highly useful graphical interface

The same search terms used in the Traditional Advanced Search can give you different results when you "Grok" the IPL.

You can also "Grok" the IPL by going to http://ipl.grokker.com/, entering a search term, and clicking GROK.

The Grokker website explains where the term "Grok" comes from: "Grokker’s name is inspired by the 1961 Robert A. Heinlein science fiction classic ‘Stranger in a Strange Land,’ in which Grok is a Martian word meaning to understand something completely."

The Outline View displays results according to subject topics that will appear as categories in the center pane. Click on the "expand outline" link at the top of the pane to see all categories and subcategories. The right pane displays the contents of a selected category

The Map View displays the same categories in a three-dimensional space. Circles are categories and squares are links and documents. Click on a category to explore (or zoom into) its contents. Click on a link to load details in the right pane. The "More" circle displays more categories and results

Outline view comes up first; to see the map view, click on the tab.

Using Map View

• Click on any of the circles to get a closer look at what is included.
• Sites within a cluster are listed to the right.
• Click on the site link to get to the resource.
• You can zoom back out at anytime to get a look at the whole picture.

Map View Technical Notes

• A "Grok" search’s results can take 10 to 30 seconds to appear.
• Your browser may not tell you that the map view is loading.
• You need java enabled on your browser to see the map view.
• Grokker should work on a Mac or PC.

In Map View and Outline View, each result will offer the following options.

Add to Working List | Post to del.icio.us | Bookmark | Email

The Working List is a place to store links and documents as you conduct research. You’ll find it in the upper left-hand corner under the IPL logo. You can add items from your search, search again, add more items, and then email or export your results. Note: Your working list will only stay for as long as you are on the IPL’s Grokker page. Email or export your working list to save it for future reference

Post to del.icio.us will add a link to your del.icio.us collection of bookmarks. del.icio.us is a social bookmarking, social software web service for storing and sharing web bookmarks. See the del.icio.us website for more information.

Bookmark will add the link to your own web browser’s saved collection of web links, usually found in the menu bar under the word "Bookmarks" or "Favorites".

Email will email a link to you using whatever the default email client is for your web browser.