Amos - I think I've seen those guys before, but didn't bookmark them before. I'll have to backthread and see how much they've got. Doesn't raise a lot of hopes describing the Aeroquip 3200 as "a newer...." since it's been around since the 1970's, but thanks. I'll look more into it.

And that probably is an example of the sort of "specialty search engine" I had in mind.

Rapaire - I think the thing is that the major search engines "don't intrude" into sites that are intended for a more or less closed group of users, or that might contain proprietary stuff. The fact(?) is though, that as a matter of policy most of them don't send their crawlers into .org sites. While you may be able to access the card file at a library, it's unlikely that one of the search engines is going to send you to that card file.

It's not intended as any criticism of the popular search engines; just as a reminder that they don't necessarily search everywhere, for those times when you don't quite find what you're looking for. Sometimes, you still have to pull your pants up and actually visit a real library to find the goodies.

John