I'm a List Master. Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it.

A while back, I was invited by Charles Knight, a former CEO of a search engine optimization firm, to join with a handful of other search engine experts to compile a list of 1,000 alternative search engines (ASE's). Since we're managers of this list, he's dubbed us List Masters.

While the group has been reluctant to define an ASE, the reality of the project is an emphasis on alternatives to Google and other major search engines. In describing his monthly Top 100 ASE compilation, Charles nicely states that "‘Alternative’ means that each entrant exhibits at least one characteristic that surpasses the equivalent feature in one of the major search engines."

As you can tell from this quote, the philosophy is not anti-Google. If it were, I wouldn't participate. The rationale is a positive one, one that celebrates the entrepreneurial, experimental, creative spirit of Web 2.0. Charles now writes for the blog Read/WriteWeb. He also edits a new blog in the Read/WriteWeb network, Alt Search Engines. Its motto: "The most wonderful search engines you've never seen." I like it.

I've been having a good time with Charles and the other List Masters. We've had interesting discussions as we establish our procedures. We're maintaining our Top 1,000 list using Central Desktop, and are making LinkedIn contacts with the alternative search engine community. Charles is quite the 2.0 guy.

Through this work, I've also found out about lots of new engines. Some of them are quite good. Most of them are valiant efforts.

Imagine, in the world of Google, launching a new search engine, especially one that searches the general Web. It takes a lot of gumption. I have always felt that running with the crowd can be problematic, but it can be very hard to buck the tide. Years ago, I wrote an article for American Libraries that castigated librarians for using the Yahoo! directory because it was a bad research tool. Back in those days, this directory was pretty much the center of the Web universe. The subsequent letters to the editor were solidly against me. People couldn't imagine functioning without Yahoo! (Coincidentally, Charles just organized A Day Without Google.) Nowadays, the Yahoo! directory is off the radar.

There are lessons in this for us as we work to steer our libraries toward new ways of providing services. One of them is about struggling against the forces of habit. Another is about experimenting with innovative new tools. Yet another is about a willingness to get out there and advocate for change even if the odds are against us. Still another is an acceptance that today's popular tools will be tomorrow's history.

Flexibility. Experimentation. Advocacy. Change. Good lessons, all of them.