Knowledgerush Book Directory

Citation

Ogirri, E. (2001), "Knowledgerush Book Directory", Online Information Review, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 271-279. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2001.25.4.271.11

Knowledgerush is a full‐text book directory covering literature of all types: classical, African American, historical, children/young adult, and more. It also includes genre fiction such as romance, science fiction, mystery, adventure, and horror, as well as a reading list and online dictionary.

Unlike Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.net), which is browsable by title and author, KnowledgeRush.com organizes its books into subject categories and subcategories. The category for US history, for example, incorporates useful full‐text historical materials like the Gettysburg Address, US Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and more. The category on classics is another section whose contents will be useful in the classroom. All materials are provided in full‐text format, and links to book chapters are provided.

Although there is advertising at the top and bottom of the main page, it is not distracting. Users can navigate KnowledgeRush.com by clicking on the links to any categories or topics. Despite being cluttered with links, each subject page has a “home” link by which users can return to the main page. Overall, the site is easy to read. The author(s) of this site is not provided, but there is an e‐mail address for the Webmaster.

Searching is available via a search box on the main and subject pages. This is useful in searching for books across the different topic categories. Both title and author searching are available, as are searches by keyword, subject, and Boolean operators. The directory is a good alternate entry point because it categorizes the different subjects into 32 subcategories to ease navigation.

The site does not have a lot of graphics, and loading time is usually very fast except for some titles which are huge files. Homer’s Odyssey, for example, is one single long file, though a table of contents at the beginning of the file links to subsections further down. Users do not need elaborate training to navigate this site; it is self‐explanatory especially with the aid of the search engine. The site permits printing and downloading, but no e‐mail feature is available.

A page with links to reference sources can be accessed by clicking the “link” or “useful links” icons at the top or bottom of the main page. These include almanacs, magazines, encyclopaedias, government documents, telephone directories, financial information, travel, weather, quotations and other miscellaneous sites. Through the discussion link, users are able to join a discussion forum in which messages can be posted online. Also, the reading lists are very useful for assessing reading levels (elementary, middle, or college).

I recommend this site as a supplemental resource to library collections.