Representative of these directories are Australian search engines, lists of Australian publishers and booksellers and Australian government publications. On the face of it, the search engine seems beguilingly simple. Yet, despite its ingenuous appearance, it is, in fact, a subtle and sophisticated tool. Case insensitive, key word searching further enhances its ease of use. For the sake of flexibility and ease of manipulation, the ALG engine provides both simple and advanced features, as well the opportunity to search by region through a Map search interface and by subject via collection strength profiling.
Further refinement is given by a series of pull-down menus.
Another pull-down menu allows users to retrieve any where from 10 to 100 search results. The default is 20. The Map search provides an iconographic search interface. Clicking on the icon of Australia finds libraries within a state, territory, regional or metropolitan area. The pull-down menus to the left side of the map offer a quick way to search by location and by library type.