University of Applied Science (HTW) Chur
Swiss Institute for Information Research SII
Prof. Dr. Bernard Bekavac
Project management Search skills
+41 81 286 24 70
bernard.bekavac@htwchur.ch

Search skills in relation to academic search engines 

The market for academic information on the Internet is currently in a state of flux. As a consequence of the Open Access movement and innovative technologies, for a number of years now new competitors have been establishing themselves in the traditional area of work of professional information services providers. What is mainly meant here are the search engines which specialise in academic information such as Google Scholar, BASE, Scirus and CiteSeer.

The purpose of this project is to support customers of the Electronic Library of Switzerland in developing their own search skills in using academic search engines. The aim is to create an electronic product offering the following services:

• Online search guide covering all aspects of the organisation, information methodology and technology of academic search engines
• An e-learning component to teach users about the potential and limitations of practical research with academic search engines, using the case study method
• A market overview of the main providers of "academic search engines" and profile descriptions

The SPRINT (Swiss portal for searching on the Internet) run by the Swiss Institute for Information Research (SII) will, firstly, provide the content structure and the technological basis and, secondly, ensure the sustainability of the product.

The project sees itself as enriching or supplementing the e-lib.ch project "Information literacy at Swiss universities", which is working on producing standards for the conveying of information. All the content and material resulting from this project complies with the guidelines and regulations produced there.