Designing a Search People Can Really Use
http://www.stc.org/intercom/PDFs/2003/200312_18-21.pdf

Quesenbery, Whitney
Intercom
2003

Abstract:

The challenge of finding the right information at the right time has grown with the Web. The information superhighway is larger and more crowded than ever, and individual sites are also larger and more complex. With this explosion in the sheer volume of pages, finding the information you need is harder than ever. Search engines have always held out the promise of solving this problem, but they are often a usability disaster area. Inaccurate results, cluttered search entries, and a narrow focus on technological capabilities are only a few of the issues that make search features so difficult to use.