Free Business and Industry Information on the Web

Citation

Parry, F. (2001), "Free Business and Industry Information on the Web", The Electronic Library, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 444-445. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2001.19.6.444.3

The author introduces this directory of business information by saying that in a recent poll only 18 per cent of respondents in the UK found what they were looking for on the Internet. This book helps to uncover the good, quality‐tested free material available which is often lost in what Pedley calls the “deep Web”. The introduction contains hints about which search engines to use and how to get the best results. It also suggests ways to evaluate Web sites for accuracy, content and reliability. This is especially important when describing free business sources and is reinforced throughout the book by the author’s provider and database descriptions that accompany each directory entry.

The first chapter is devoted to the use of major business portals. The following chapters contain entries for basic company information, finance and investment, industry, regional business, information for exporters and business news. The entries have been carefully chosen for their usefulness – quality rather than bulk! As such, they provide a good starting point for searching business sources. I could not fault the selection of Web sites and most have good, hard data of use to most categories of users. The word “free” in the title should be emphasised, however. As useful as this book is, most professional searchers will have to supplement the sources listed here with subscription databases. Some categories in this book reveal the rather patchy nature of free business information and often reflect local enthusiasms. In the chapter on regional information, for instance, there are entries for very localised sources such as Croydon Online‐business and Basingstoke Business Directory, but one is aware of the many other towns, cities and regions that are not served by similar sites.

In the final chapters, Pedley describes personalised Web services and the means by which researchers can keep up to date with new business information developments. I found very few instances of out‐of‐date Internet addresses – presumably because of the rigorous initial selection policy. There are good indexes and a glossary. All in all, this is a well‐researched and easy‐to‐use reference tool that can be recommended to all those interested in business, finance and industrial information.