PME Technology Integration: Futile Searching?

While flipping through my July issue of Tech & Learning I ran across this little note:

"Consider these facts the next time you searh the Internet for that ideal lesson plan:

More than 7 in 10 (72.6%) educators search for instructional resources at least several times a week.
More than 1 in 4 respondents (25.8%) search daily.
Only 1 in 4 (24.6%) educators describe their searches as “usually successful.”
66% say they get too many “irrelevant results.”
63% say that searching for educational resources is “too time consuming.”
62% say that the search results they get “do not indicate specifics for grade level, cost vs. free, standards alignments, and other search criteria.”
SOURCE: This study was conducted by The Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI), which is working to make it easier to publish and discover quality educational content and products online. LRMI is led by the Association of Educational Publishers and Creative Commons, and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation."

My initial reaction? This seems like something media specialists should grab on to! I'd like to think that my searches are more successful than this, and that I have some knowledge of resources that would make their searching much more productive.

I'm going to work hard this year to make searching easier for my teachers. I will create better pathfinders for them - and provide lists of resources that include lesson plans that are specific to their grade level and support their standards.

I believe that a goal for teacher librarians should be to be the guide in this area. What do you think? Can we provide that assistance?

Two big tips for better searching?
1. Be specific. Ask yourself what terms best describe what you're looking for prior to beginning your search. Then, as you search, fine tune those words to get the best results.
2. Use Google's built in features to improve your searching. Click on "Search Tools" to limit your search to only the past 24 hours, month, year, or any other dates. Or hold your mouse over the "I'm feeling lucky" button to select how you're feeling as you make your search. Or, from the very top Google taskbar, click "More" and choose from these selective search types: