This site bills itself as the first "real" agricultural search engine (not just a searchable directory), indexing over 500,000 agriculture Webpages. At present, there is only one search option -- keyword -- though it supports boolean and other search aids. Results are ordered by relevance with a one-paragraph summary taken from the site. Returns in sample searches varied quite a bit in relevance...

The October issue of Searcher magazine offers this article by Gary Price, Web searcher extraordinaire (see the October 3, 1997 Scout Report). The article, which "reviews the latest goings on in the search world and tries to provide some suggestions and tools to make you more knowledgeable and save you some time," is, as one might expect from Price, clear and detailed in its review of the latest in...

As some of our readers may know, About.com has discontinued more than 300 of its sites, sites that functioned as guides to particular topics, maintained by individuals. This page is designed to help editors relocate their pages and users find the pages that have moved.

Sherlock, first described in the October 16, 1998 Scout Report, is the new search tool provided by Mac OS 8.5 which allows users to perform searches of Websites without opening a browser. One of the great advantages of Sherlock is its ability to create a plug-in for any Web-based search engine. Since the release, the collection of Sherlock plug-ins has grown to number over 250. A few sites have...

The OAIster project(last reviewed in the March 15, 2002 Scout Report), is now up and running. The OAIster search interface allows users the opportunity to freely access and search a wide variety of digital resources from various institutions. The database currently contains 274,062 records from 56 institutions, with each record leading to an actual digital collection hosted at an institution....

Some of our readers may already have noticed that Google (last mentioned in the July 20, 2001 Scout Report) is sporting a new look these days. Running along the top of the search page are now four tabs: Web, Images, Groups (newsgroups), and Directory (Open Directory's human-selected listings) that enable users to see different sets of search results. We reported on the Beta version of Google's...

New applications for searching the Web are released daily, but Copernic Agent 6.0 is one of the more user-friendly and powerful ones available. Copernic Agent 6.0 Basic is a free Web-search engine that has the capability to query over 90 search engines grouped into categories. The application is also completely customizable, and users can keep histories for their search queries and sort the...

The Internet Guide is a no-nonsense site intended for Internet newbies. It consists of several short articles that discuss the basics of Internet navigation, common terms and phrases, Netiquette, and much more. Some specific technologies are also mentioned, such as Telnet and newsgroups. The Guide occasionally refers to various products or services; however, it does not endorse any particular...

This meta-search engine helps users browse through search results more quickly by placing a navigation toolbar at the top of their browser. After conducting a search and selecting one of the results, users can view the previous or next result by clicking the appropriate buttons rather than returning to the original results page. Users can also open the previous or next page or search results at...

Search.com allows you to search over 800 engines, listed by subject areas from arts to Web. Each subject area presents a list of search forms, along with very brief annotations and "search tips." While there is no way to do a multiple engine search with a single command, the organization of Search.com allows the user to determine which engines might be appropriate. Search.com also allows you to...