Information Sources and Searching on the World Wide Web

Citation

MacLennan, A. (2002), "Information Sources and Searching on the World Wide Web", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 58 No. 3, pp. 345-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/jd.2002.58.3.345.12

The slimness of this book comes as something of a surprise, both because of the predominance of hefty manuals in computer‐related topics, and because of the inclusiveness of the title. However, on examination, it does appear to live up to the title, in that it provides a reasonably comprehensive overview of sources and services.

One might question the inclusion of “searching” in the title, because there is no comprehensive coverage of the subject, but the book gives us guidance on the best use of the available tools, which is probably more valuable from a practical, if not an ideological, viewpoint.

A work of this nature is, of necessity, a “snapshot” – some of the services referenced will have changed between writing and publication. At the time of writing this review (November, 2001), for example, PICK (http://www.aber.ac.uk/∼tplwww/e/) is undergoing an upgrade and is unavailable. It is a fact of life now, more than ever, that much printed material is out of date by publication. Though this can be ameliorated to some extent by provision of a Web site with updates, the step has not been used in this case, and might be “overkill” – the ideas here are more important than the particulars.

The Preface states that “the major objective of this book is to give an overview of the major information sources and services available on the Web, and the corresponding tools and techniques that are required to search and retrieve the information”. I feel that it achieves this objective in an interesting and informative manner. Its format is compact, and it may well find a place on the desktops of reference librarians and other information workers.

There is a short introduction to WWW concepts and formats, then a chapter on basic search techniques, which together provide enough background to use the rest of the book. A description and annotated list of search engines and meta‐engines follows – a valuable quick‐reference, though, of course, subject to change.

The Web directories chapter covers three major directories and two (Argus Clearinghouse and the WWW Virtual Library) selected for their interesting features. Again, the features of each are compared in bulleted lists, and short, easily understandable examples are given. The same approach is followed in succeeding chapters on “Subject gateways”, “Reference and information services”, “Electronic journals” and “Digital libraries”.

Some indications here that times are changing – electronic journals are firmly established, digital libraries are no longer just research projects, and there is a range of reference services of which I was quite unaware, so this book earns its place on my reference shelf with credit.

It is well written, in an easy‐to‐use format and an approachable style. It really encourages one to try the services, and could provide a novice user with a ready‐made “toolbox”, covering the whole range of Web‐based information sources. I will certainly be using it, and I would recommend it for reference staff and students of information and library studies, though it deserves consideration by any regular user of the Internet.