The Invisible Web

Increasing growth of information sources on the internet, coupled with the technical and non-technical drawbacks of search engines, has caused a massive amount of such resources to be kept hidden from users. The phenomenon, referred to as invisible web, is a subject of debate by many information scientists. Presently many libraries, information centers and even researchers tend to digitize resources and put them on the Net. Many of these are one of the kind and in the absence of a suitable access to internet resources, many of human scientific, research, intellectual and cultural heritage would be lost to both present and future generations. Librarians and information officers could play an important role in pushing down the level of information invisibility through boosting user awareness about invisible web and various techniques for accessing and seeking such information. The present paper has endeavored to unlock the concept of invisible web from both a technical and user-oriented perspective. In the conclusion, the role of librarians and information officers for promoting various modes of accessing such information are discussed.