Speakers and representatives from the major search engines, including Yahoo!, Google, Ask Jeeves, and others, traded tips from the floor and podium, treating attendees to lively, impromptu exchanges about search engine features and capabilites. With more than 250 librarians, researchers, and information retrieval professionals attending, the 2-day educational event for search professionals was full of tips, tools, strategies, and networking opportunities. The expert speakers were all accessible for one-on-one discussions, and attendees had the rare opportunity to influence the wish lists of search features by talking with technical gurus from the search engines.

One attendee, Tim Hackman of the University of Maryland, had this to say about WebSearch University: “Excellent ‘cutting-edge’ content and lots of useful hints. I learned a lot of new things — resources, techniques, etc.— and got lots of reminders for things I had forgotten!" In his post-conference "class notes" on the Yahoo! blog, Jon Glick, senior manager at Yahoo! Search commented, "The attendees here have a laser focus on finding the best, most-complete sources of information."

First-time attendees and alumni alike benefited from the wealth of information shared with them by the world-renown faculty of super searchers. Speakers, who are widely recognized as the top names in the business, included Chris Sherman, Mary Ellen Bates, Greg Notess, Marydee Ojala, Gary Price, Tara Calishain, Ran Hock, and Genie Tyburski. With sessions such as "Trends in Web Searching: A Look Ahead," "How to Uncover Information Others Can't Find," and "Searching Newsgroups and Blogs," speakers provided expertise and practical tips, breaking information about new Web search developments, and advice about strategies, search tools, and resources.

The eight WebSearch University sponsors — AskJeeves, Factiva, Find.com, Google, GuruNet, Market Central, Net Snippets, and Yahoo! — presented in-depth tutorials and briefings on product features, new developments, and undocumented search tips during the conference and also hosted tabletops in the WebSearch Showcase.

To find out more about events at this year’s conference, visit the WebSearch University Web site at www.websearchu.com.

The next WebSearch University is being held May 17–18, 2004, in New York City. For more information on the completely revised upcoming conference, please contact Information Today, Inc. at (800) 300-9868 [outside the U.S. call (609) 654-6266], or e-mail custserv@infotoday.com. More information will be posted to www.websearchu.com in the coming months.