THREE BOOKS ON FINDING INFORMATION ON THE WEB

Berinstein, Paula, Business Statistics on the Web: Find Them Fast—At Little or No Cost, Medford, NJ: CyberAge Books, 2004, ISBN 0-910965-65-X, US$29.95, foreword by Charles Cotton [former chair, Globespan Virata, Cambridge, England].

Berinstein, co-founder of Paula Hollywood, Inc., an animation software company and author of Finding Statistics Online (with Susanne Bjorner, Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc., 1998, ISBN 978-0-910965-25-5, US$29.95), has put together an impressive guide to sources of statistics relating to business, economics, and marketing. Chapter One, Quick Start, has “the absolute best tips” and “starting points for busy people.” Succeeding chapters cover sources of statistics and general search tips, followed by chapters covering US industry, non-US industry (heavy on English-speaking countries), market research, economic and financial statistics, company info, and demographics and population. She ends with a chapter on special tips and tricks, and “Your Competitive Advantage: Estimating Company Numbers You Can’t Get.” There are 32 sidebars and case studies and a glossary of statistics terms (from her previous book).

If you only use the sources in Quick Start, you will probably be able to find the majority of the statistics you will need, but for those difficult numbers—the only ones I was ever asked to find—you need to consult the other chapters. The other “must-read” chapters are the last two. Special Tips and Tricks covers determining what things cost, estimating your competitor’s marketing costs, how to use media kits and company filing to find out about industries, how to use government statistics, and—last but definitely not least—knowing the right questions to ask. In the very last chapter, Estimating Company Numbers You Can’t Get, Berinstein tells you what information you need to get started; how to draw up a timeline; how to find out how the company is funded; what to look for from the company’s products, how they are sold, and their target market; to use what you already know about the industry; to find out about competitors; what to infer from the company’s marketing; how to evaluate how much buzz the company gets in the media. I never would have thought to use all these tools in my competitive intelligence gathering.

This book should be in the library of every librarian (or market researcher) doing any type of competitive intelligence. And, since you should be doing CI if you want to become indispensable to your organization, that means you need this book.


Broderick, James F. and Darren W. Miller, Consider the Source: A Critical Guide to 100 Prominent News and Information Sites on the Web, Medford, NJ: CyberAge Books, 2008, ISBN 978-0-910965-77-4, US$24.95.

Miller is a reporter who lives in Asheville, NC and Broderick teaches journalism at New Jersey City University in Jersey City, NJ. They have collaborated on a wonderful resource for journalism librarians and others who need to locate information from the media (widely defined). The 100 sources are presented in alphabetical order from Agence France-Presse to Yahoo! News, with AARP, Consumer Reports, Hispanic Web, PBS, Rolling Stone, Weather Channel, and WebMD in between. Each entry includes an overview, what you’ll find there, why you should visit, keep this in mind (warnings and caveats), off the record (little details), and a rating (from one to five “newspapers”). There is an appendix listing sites by ranking and an index.

I would have preferred a different arrangement, by subject, with an alphabetical index. If I knew what organization had the information I wanted, I probably wouldn’t need this book. That aside, it is a good guide to what’s out there and how to use it. I wouldn’t classify as a “must-have,” but as a “must-borrow.”

URL: http://www.TheReportersWell.com


Tamaiuolo, Nicholas G., The Web Library: Building a World Class Personal Library with Free Web Resources, Medford, NJ: CyberAge Books, 2008, ISBN 0-910965-67-6, US$29.95, edited by Barbara Quint [Quint and Associates, Santa Monica, CA], foreword by Steve Coffman [VP for Product Development, Library Systems and Services, Inc., Germantown, MD]

“This book will show you where to look for electronic versions of items that, if translated into physical terms that would sit on library shelves, would cost considerable money.” While Tomaiuolo was a medical librarian [he is now at Central Connecticut State University. New Britain], he found that the costs of research were escalating and that he could probably provide comparable service to his customers by using the Web. He cautions, “This doesn’t mean people won’t be visiting libraries. Librarians are on the leading edge of helping individuals find information. ...Nor does it mean that people should always opt for the least expensive resource.” He also reminds the reader that “it is unwise for individuals to trust everything they unearth on the Web. This is where a librarian’s knowledge and judgment become critical.”

The book begins with Free Articles and Indexes: Can You Afford Not to Use Them? and continues with chapters on news sources, ready reference, ask an expert and digital reference services, books, images, and art. There’s an entire chapter on technology: plug-ins, toolbars, privacy concerns, sources just for Netscape users, and blogs. In Final Considerations, he reminds us again that we can’t trust the Web, that some things will never be on the Web, and that the Web isn’t static and we need to keep looking for unfound information. The appendix has lists of links by chapter (which are more easily accessed from the website) and there is an index.

My biggest quibble with this book is the use of Personal in the title. Every library, personal or institutional, and librarian can benefit from reading and using this book. After all, the librarian’s mantra is cheaper, better, faster—and Tamaiuolo has created a guide to finding information that is (usually) free, reliable, and online. What more could one ask? Buy this book!

URL: http://www.ccsu.edu/library/tomaiuolon/theweblibrary.htm

ALL ASIAN-AMERICAN NEWS, ALL THE TIME

Asian Week is a website with “everything” you need to know about Asian-Americans. It’s produced in Sacramento, California and has a section on (San Francisco) Bay area activities. There are news items, advertising, and columns such as The Small Business Advocate, Capitol Watch, and Voices from the Community. Good coverage of a growing segment of the US population.

URL: http://asianweek.com/

FIND NEWS ARTICLES FOR EUROPE

The tag line for NewsExplorer from Europe Media Monitor (a service of the Joint Research Centre of the European Union) is “daily news analysis, across languages and over time.” You can use it on many levels: just as a search engine—in one of a dozen languages; to locate articles on a specific person; to read articles about the same news event in various languages; or to see a visual representation (news cluster) for a subject on one day. You get variant spellings, photos of a personality, lists of related articles, countries, and organizations. You can even map information on Google Earth and sign up for an RSS feed. It is a fascinating site.

URL: http://press.jrc.it/NewsExplorer/

SEARCH 9 UK NEWSPAPERS AT ONE TIME

Chipwrapper’s “first tool [in Beta] is a Google© Custom Search Engine across nine of the UK’s leading national newspapers: The Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Sun, The Telegraph and The Times.” The simple search page also provides the latest headlines—clickable. The service also provides RSS headline feeds, a rugby edition, and a mobile edition.

URL: http://www.chipwrapper.co.uk/

LOCATE POLITICAL FEEDS AND PODCASTS FOR POLITICIANS

Political Feeds is a portal to news feeds and podcasts by our about politicians. Categories include Asia, Australia, Canada, China, Philippines, UK (blogs and politicians), USA (left-leaning, right-leaning, conservative, independent, liberal, Democratic, Green Party, Independent Party, Libertarian, Populist, Republican Party), local and state government, and by states. A RSS feed of feeds is available.

URL: http://www.political-humor.net/

ANOTHER LEGAL RESOURCE

"Mondaq is one of the most comprehensive electronic resource of professionals' knowledge and expertise...supplied directly by hundreds of the world's leading professional advisors from over 80 countries." It covers "commentaries, analysis and news updates concerning legislative, regulatory, and business issues related to international trade and investment..."

Categories include: antitrust/competition; banking and financial; construction, property and real estate; corporate/company, environmental and energy; European Union and international; finances, accounting, and consultancy; government and public sector; immigration; information technology and telecommunications; insurance and transport; intellectual property; labor and employment; litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution; media and entertainment; offshore; pharmaceutical, healthcare and life sciences; taxation law;and press releases.

Access and free personalized news alerts are free. It is supported by the "Big Four" accounting firms.

URL: http://www.mondaq.com/

FIVE SUPERFLUOUS SITES

“NowPublic is a participatory news network which mobilizes an army of reporters to cover the events that define our world…with thousands of reporters in over 140 countries—”now listing over 121,000 members in over 4000 cities. Stories fall into these categories: local, politics, culture, entertainment, life, places, favorites, and newsroom. Other features are “24hrs of photos and videos,” “Now on NowPublic,” and “good members.” There’s an RSS feed. Its parent company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
This seems to me to be yet another newsline, albeit with user-generated stories. I’m not impressed, but you may find it useful.
URL: http://www.nowpublic.com/

“Truemors is a web site that enables you to “tell the world”—within the bounds of good taste and the law anyway. You can post your rumors, news, and sightings….” It is the product of Nononina, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, USA. Its categories are latest, greatest, auto, business, crap, entertainment, food, gaming, health, news, odd, politics, science, sex, sports, and tech. It, too, has an RSS feed available.

I like this one a bit more, but still don’t see a real need for it.

URL: http://truemors.com/

“LinkedIn is an online network of more than 12 million experienced professionals from around the world.” I like it because all fields in one’s profile are searchable, so you can find a classmate, fellow librarian, etc. It is free, but, of course, they also offer a paid version with more bells and whistles.

URL: http://www.linkedin.com/

Wikiseek searches only Wikipedia pages and sites referenced within it. The interface is extremely simple, like Google, and “as you type, Wikiseek will suggest categories related to your query term.” But aren’t the contents of Wikipedia findable from Google? Is there a real need for this service?

URL: http://www.wikiseek.com/

GlobalIncidentMap is more than unnecessary; it could be dangerous. It maps anything and everything that might possibly be related to terrorism. The categories are: airport/aviation incidents, arson/fire incidents, biological incidents/threats/anthrax hoaxes, bomb incidents/explosives/hoax devices/ chemical incidents, dam incidents, radiation incidents/smuggling/proliferation, chemical attack (how is this different than an incident), other suspicious activity, shipping/maritime/ports/cargo/waterways security, assassination/assassination attempt, railways/train stations, bus stations/bus security/bus related incidents, bridge/tunnel incidents and security, shootings/sniper incidents, terrorist arrests/captured/killed locations, general terrorism, and oil gas infrastructure: incidents/threats/news. It is a produce of TransitSecurityReport.

It is up-to-date: the Minnesota bridge collapse is included. This is a perfect example of why I call this a dangerous site. The collapse had nothing to do with terrorism. Two other examples: a crew leaves a train unattended—it could be hijacked and a theft of a chemical that could be converted to the poison ricin. Not only are these not in the same league as bombs attacks in Iraq (which are also mapped), but they could make people even more paranoid than they are now. I do not recommend its use.

URL:http://www.globalincidentmap.com/home.php

SOURCES OF FREE NEWS AND JOURNAL ARTICLE (with a few for a fee)

http://news.google.com
http://news.yahoo.com
http://www.magportal.com
http://www.news.com (from C|Net}
http://www.smartbrief.com
http://www.newsisfree.com (newspapers, international in scope)
http://www.doaj.org, (Directory of Open Access Journals, “categorized, searchable links to free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals”)
http://www.highbeam.com (not free, but very inexpensive for what you get)
http://findarticles.com

Free RSS news feeds are available at: http://w.moreover.com/site/products/ind/rss_feeds.html

Gale Thompson offers AccessMyLibrary (http://www.accessmylibrary.com), which “gives you free [full-text] access to millions of articles from top publications available at your library.” They will even send a plain text version of the article to your email address.

The resources below come from Gary Price of ask.com.
NewspaperARCHIVE, (http://newspaperarchive.com/), a fee-based service with millions of articles, offers their “special collections” with tens of thousands of articles for free (http://newspaperarchive.com/SpecialCollections.aspx). These are the same articles (full text and full image) that you have to pay for elsewhere. If you are a K-12 school library or a public library, nearly the entire database is available for free (see http://access.newspaperarchive.com/
SiteLoading.aspx?from=default.aspx) for details.

Time magazine offers a free archive back to 1923, http://www.time.com/time/, with a nice selection of options to focus results.

Topix is primarily a web-based news site, but does a good job of making sure “older links” are still available. They now offer case sensitive searching and useful interactive graphs to see trends and go directly to older material. For example, look for the graph at the top of this search results page (http://www.topix.com/search/article?q=%22
Los+Angeles+International+Airport%22).

Remember that many libraries in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and elsewhere offer free access to numerous full text article databases for personal use, but this is usually for card holders only. Access from any web computer. For example, http://www.sfpl.org/sfplonline/dbcategories.htm or http://www.cpl.org/databases-links.asp. Remember every library offers different resources.

TEN STORIES THAT SHAPED 2006

In LISNews, 15 December 2006, John Hubbard [University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee] listed ten stories that he thinks were the most important for the year. I don’t particularly agree with them, but they’re interesting to recall.

The titles are his, the explanations are mine.

10. New UCLA Slogan: "Get Tasered @ your library"

Police used tasers on a problem student. Interesting note: the story was first reported on YouTube.
9. Ding Dong, Gorman Tenure Ends

ALA’s new president is a blogger.
8. Library Weblog Explosion, ReduxNew blogs: Library Juice, one from John Berry, and custom search engines LISZEN and LibWorm.
7. EPA Library Closure
Many hope the new Democratic Congress will stop the closing of these Federal libraries.
6. Library 2.0 Meme
Everyone’s talking about Library 2.0, Web 2.0, and Librarian 2.0. (Look for an issue of The One-Person Library on this soon.)
5. More Elephants in the Room
Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! are working on scanning/digital library initiatives. Microsoft also introduced Live Academic and Live Book Search.
4. Censorship
Everything from Harry Potter to MySpace has been challenged this year.
3. 'Net Neutrality
This and digital rights management are becoming big issues.
2. P is for Privacy
The Patriot Act and drug testing for Florida library volunteers—strange world.
1. The James Frey Fallout
Authors such as James Frey found to be untruthful do not help the book’s image. (Why this is number one is beyond me…JAS)

URL: http://features.lisnews.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/15/137213

FREE RESOURCES FROM ASKSAM

askSam, the database producer, has made a free searchable health news archive available. You can limit the search by title and/or date range. This joins their other free archives: FDA News and Recall Information, Country codes, Area codes, and Photography Dictionary and their scores of free e-books, legal texts and codes, US government reports, and political documents. The software to use them is also free.

URL: http://www.asksam.com/health/