Evolving Internet Reference Resources

Citation

Cloete, L. (2007), "Evolving Internet Reference Resources", Online Information Review, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 387-388. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520710764177

Internet reference resources have become vast in volume. A large number of unreliable and untrustworthy resources, especially where web search engines generate thousands of hits in no particular order, have emerged in the process. Both novice and experienced searchers can be overwhelmed by the volume and find it difficult to distinguish between useful, reliable sources and the untrustworthy ones.

Evolving Internet Reference Resources reviews and evaluates internet reference resources in a wide variety of fields in order to provide the reader with guidance to quality resources. Online resources made available by government agencies, academic institutions, independent associations and commercial publishers are covered.

Miller explains in the introduction that this book is in many ways a successor to Academic Research on the Internet: Options for Scholars and Libraries (1999), which covered printed and online sources. This volume, however, covers only online sources. It provides a comprehensive overview of online information in the human and social sciences, as well as computer science and engineering. It is a guide to free and subscription‐based internet references resources covering 26 subject areas of academic and general interest. Each chapter offers a point of departure to high quality internet resources. The authors explain the rationale for selecting the various sites. Resources include web sites, mega sites, indexing and abstracting services, directories, portals, databases and blogs. Aspects covered include accessibility, usability, time saving and effort when searching.

Twenty‐five chapters cover internet sources on the following topics: research on art and artists; rhetoric and composition; poems and poetry; films and film‐related subjects; US history; anthropology; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies; women gender studies; Asian studies; the development of the internet in Latin America; African Americans in and from Kentucky; blogs as reference sources for librarians; psychology; education; tourism and travel; college and career information; English as a Second Language web sites; US legal and government information; online maps and mapping sources; the environment; agriculture; health and medicine; nursing; computing and computer science and engineering.

Many of chapters include useful references, lists of web sites discussed and webliographies. A comprehensive index of 40 pages enables the reader to locate information on the most important topics covered. The emphasis is more on resources of Northern America origin, and this could perhaps be considered a limitation by international readers.

Evolving Internet Reference Resources is recommended for all types of libraries and information services, librarians, researchers (novice and experienced), as well as for personal use.