PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND SEARCH ENGINES by Zoe Dickinson Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Library and Information Studies at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia April 2016 © Copyright by Zoe Dickinson, 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED ................................................................................. x GLOSSARY ...................................................................................................................... xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. xiii CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 1.1 Purpose of the Research ....................................................................................... 2 1.2 An Overview of Relevant Technology ...................................................................... 4 1.2.1 The Mechanics of Library Catalogue Technology .............................................. 4 1.2.2 The Mechanics of Search Engines ...................................................................... 6 1.2.2.1 The Robots Exclusion Protocol (http://www.robotstxt.org/) ....................... 8 1.2.2.2 The Sitemaps Protocol (http://www.sitemaps.org/) ..................................... 8 1.2.2.3 Canonical URLs ........................................................................................... 9 1.2.2.4 Schema.org Markup (www.schema.org) ..................................................... 9 1.3 Organization of the Thesis ................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................ 11 2.1 Approaches to Search Engines in the LIS Field ...................................................... 11 2.1.1 Search Engines as the Competition ................................................................... 11 2.1.2 Search Engines as Outreach Tools .................................................................... 13 2.2 The Semantic Web and Linked Data ....................................................................... 17 2.2.1 What is the Semantic Web? .............................................................................. 17 2.2.2 How Does Linked Data Fit In? ......................................................................... 18 2.2.3 Semantic Search ................................................................................................ 18 2.2.4 Linked Data in Libraries ................................................................................... 20 2.3 Gaps in the Literature .............................................................................................. 22 2.4 Summary of Literature Review ............................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 26 3.1 Study Design............................................................................................................ 26 ii 3.2 Recruitment of Participants ..................................................................................... 27 3.3 Research Instruments ............................................................................................... 29 3.3.1 Interviews with Library Staff ............................................................................ 29 3.3.2 Site-Specific Searches ....................................................................................... 29 3.3.3 Website Traffic Data ......................................................................................... 31 3.4 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................... 32 3.4.1 Analysis of the Interviews ................................................................................. 32 3.4.2 Analysis of the Site-Specific Searches .............................................................. 38 3.4.3 Analysis of the Website Traffic Data ................................................................ 39 3.5 Research Ethics ........................................................................................................ 39 3.5.1 Informed Consent .............................................................................................. 40 3.5.2 Confidentiality and Anonymity ......................................................................... 40 3.5.3 Risk Assessment ................................................................................................ 41 3.6 Validity, Reliability, and Limitations ...................................................................... 42 3.6.1 Validity .............................................................................................................. 42 3.6.2 Threats to Validity ............................................................................................. 43 3.6.2.1 Assumptions ............................................................................................... 43 3.6.2.2 Limitations ................................................................................................. 43 3.6.3 Reliability .......................................................................................................... 45 3.6.4 Threats to Reliability ......................................................................................... 46 3.7 Summary of Methodology ....................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 4 – RESULTS ................................................................................................ 48 4.1 Participant Profiles .................................................................................................. 48 4.1.1 Library Profiles ................................................................................................. 48 4.1.2 Participant Roles ............................................................................................... 49 4.2 Motivators of Visibility ........................................................................................... 50 4.2.1 Adapting to Changing Search Behaviour .......................................................... 51 4.2.2 Reaching Non-Library-Users ............................................................................ 53 4.2.3 Contributing to the Quality of Information on Search Engines ........................ 54 4.3 Barriers to Visibility ................................................................................................ 55 4.3.1 Attitudes ............................................................................................................ 55 iii 4.3.1.1 Search Engines as Commercial and Untrustworthy................................... 56 4.3.1.2 Visibility as an Impossible Goal ................................................................ 58 4.3.1.3 Unknown Consequences ............................................................................ 60 4.3.1.4 Lack of Motivation to Become More Visible ............................................ 61 4.3.1.5 Concerns About Data Privacy and Security............................................... 62 4.3.1.6 Investment in Current Practices and Formats ............................................ 65 4.3.2 Organizational Issues ........................................................................................ 65 4.3.2.1 Lack of Integration into Organizational Goals .......................................... 66 4.3.2.2 Lack of Comfort With Technology Throughout Organizations ................ 68 4.3.2.3 Lack of Buy-In Throughout Organizations................................................ 69 4.3.2.4 Lack of Integration into Departmental Structures ..................................... 70 4.3.2.5 Lack of Policy ............................................................................................ 71 4.3.3 Technical Difficulties ........................................................................................ 73 4.3.3.1 Difficulties Being Indexed ......................................................................... 73 4.3.3.2 Difficulties Rising to the Top of SERPs .................................................... 78 4.3.3.3 General Technical Difficulties ................................................................... 80 4.3.4 Limited Resources ............................................................................................. 83 4.3.5 Vendors ............................................................................................................. 85 4.4 Enablers of Visibility ............................................................................................... 90 4.4.1 Inter-library Cooperation................................................................................... 91 4.4.2 Attitudes ...........................................................................................................