Lilly Library at Wabash College: Research Help: Google v. Library Resources

Google & Library Resources

Up until this point you probably have used Google or other search engines to answer a multitude of questions. Questions like, "What restaurants are around Crawfordsville?" "What was George Washington's birthday?" or "Which movies did Tom Hanks star in?" can be answered in seconds (depending on your internet speed) thanks to Google's robust search algorithm. However, what if your questions are a little more complicated? Or perhaps you need highly credible sources on a student budget.

That's where the Wabash Lilly Library is here to help! We provide access to subscription content that you can't get on Google alone. Below are some of the many pros and cons of using Google and library resources.

Comparing Google to Library Resources

PROS

Searches the entire surface or indexed web
Searching is free
Google algorithm ranks relevance for you
Useful for primary sources, such as government websites and data
May retrieve open scholarship and public digital projects

CONS

Scholarly sources may include a paywall
Does not search deep or unindexed web
Google algorithm may privilege some resources over others
Hard to determine the credibility of sources

PROS

Full-text articles are available at no cost to student and faculty
Can refine searches with a variety of filtering options
Easy to identify peer-reviewed journals
Provides access to specialized databases
Provides access to licensed and copyrighted materials

CONS

Not as easy to navigate for new users
Not as flexible with natural language searches
Need to choose appropriate database to search
May not discover materials available outside of the library's collection

Advanced Google Searching

You can use these techniques right in the Google (or most other search providers) search box:

OR between related words or synonyms, e.g. women OR gender

- to exclude words, e.g. the search Hunger games -book would return results that don't include the word book. This is great for excluding irrelevant results

site:[website], e.g. site:wabash.edu would search the entire Wabash website. Also useful to search only .edu or .gov sites

Google advanced searching
Use this link to access a guided advanced search experience in Google.

Lilly Library is a founding member of PALNI, ALI, and The Oberlin Group