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11 COGNOTES ALAANNUAL.ORG/MOBILE–APP|#ALAAC19 HIGHLIGHTS Finding Joy in Every Search By Sara Zettervall, Hennepin County Library Daniel M. Russell, PhD, shared his insights into internet searching and research behavior on Saturday morning. He highlighted findings from his forthcoming book, The Joy of Search: A Google Insider’s Guide to Going Beyond the Basics (MIT Press, September 2019), which includes stories from his many years of research on search quality and user happiness at Google. Russell’s goal for the session was simple: to help librarians “learn to teach patrons and users to be better searchers.” He started by defining the problem, which is that most people learn how to search from their friends, rather than from experts. So, if their friend has a “dysfunctional search behavior,” they pick up on it. When he visits classrooms or businesses, he asks people to draw and write a brief explanation of how they think Google works. Of his respondents, 33% used the word “magic” in their answer. “This is an utter and abject failure on our part as educators,” he said. But the good news is the second most important place for people to learn search behavior is in a classroom. His own massive open online course (MOOC) on search strategies, available at www.PowerSearchingWithGoogle.com, has reached over 4 million users. He laughed, and so did the audience, that all those views meant “I’ve been on someone’s video screen for over 300 years,” but all those hours of instruction produced significant, measurable improvements. Something as simple as knowing to use control-F to find a name buried in a page correlates with 12% faster searching. One theme Russell highlighted throughout his presentation was the world of information continues to grow and change by leaps and bounds, but few users know all the great resources available to them. This is something most librarians know well about their own digital resources, but they may not realize Google is also far more than just a search engine. In one of his test cases, 250 software engineers failed to find a photograph because it involved using Google Earth and not just the usual Google search. When an audience member called out to ask whether he did the same test on his local librarians in Palo Alto, he said he did, and none of them found it, either. People are “functionally fixated” on the traditional Google search, and in response, he said, “We need to teach all information systems.” He encouraged fostering a culture of asking questions and doing “just one more search” to move past the first answer that presents itself. His presentation also covered that, as he said, “we live in an age of information triage,” where we have to learn to filter out false results. He included some examples of “spoof sites,” and touched on doctored videos. “You can and must know how to search deeply, effectively, and precisely,” he said, providing a personal example that involved the internet, in-person archival searches, and interpersonal interaction. Through this example, where he ultimately found his answer by having a conversation with the archivist, he highlighted that human connections remain a crucial information source to teach and use alongside technology. Librar- ians who are experts on all of these various forms of information, including what they hold within their own minds, are invaluable resources for patrons. Ultimately, participants walked away with many new ideas to consider, and Russell made them laugh while navigating these complicated topics. A few lucky participants walked away with an advance reading copy of his book, but everyone left with examples they could use in their own libraries, such as Google’s new public data search (www. google.com/publicdata), and the MOOC mentioned before. Daniel M. Russell talks about the joy of searching, discussing adventures in teaching people how to search. HELP READERS SUCCEED WITH LARGE PRINT Large print is a proven solution for literacy success. It increases comprehension and confidence in young readers—and students of all abilities. LEARN MORE gale.com/thorndikeala19