Devine and Egger-Sider open this brief monograph on the invisible web with a two-part definition. The first part is a “traditional technology-based definition” designating the invisible web as “the part of the World Wide web that is omitted from the results presented by general-purpose search engines” (4). The second definition refers to what the authors call “the cognitive Invisible web,” which is related to what “people know and do not know” about research (12). The focus falls heavily on the former here, but the latter probably deserves more scrutiny.

This book covers the trends that are affecting the invisible web—for instance, increasingly personalized search results and students’ reliance on social media, to name just two. In addition, one of the author’s main points is that librarians and information users should seek out resources that go beyond the first page of Google search results.

Chapters 2 and 3 in particular belabor this point. Is it an argument that needs to be made? Of course. Is it an argument that needs to be made to the intended audience for this book, practicing instruction librarians? Not really. Before most instructions librarians read this, they will have taught library databases to many classrooms of students. And given that library databases are part of the invisible web (as defined by these authors), few instruction librarians will need to be convinced that it should be taught. A more productive argument might be made for making “the invisible web” a ubiquitous metaphor in one-shot library instruction curriculum. Doing so would provide a succinct way for librarians to explain what they teach to their stakeholders.

Chapters 4,5, and 6 hit closer to the target. The authors provide useful examples of how to teach the invisible web, links to specific resources, and an insightful look forward. Particularly helpful is a ready-to-implement exercise in which students compare search results from an invisible web resource to results from a general search engine. Also helpful are the series of diagrams and images that represent the metaphor of the invisible web visually. And last but not least, the annotated links to specialized databases and search engines are extremely helpful.

Going Beyond Google isn’t terribly fresh, but it is a practical guide and has much to offer the aspiring instruction librarian.