Selecting and Creating Subject Specific Resources
by Pam Brooks, Time Inc. Research Center

American Library Association Homepage (http://www.ala.org)

• American Libraries Online: Selected articles from the print publication include the Internet Librarian column. (http://www.ala.org/alonline)
• Booklist: A searchable selection of reviews, features and bibliographies from the print counterpart, along with a cumulative index found only online. Annual Editors' Choice lists, include one for Reference, both print and online and a separate list for CD-ROMs. This site incorporates Reference Book Bulletin's reviews and their excellent Reference on the Web pathfinders (great for reference site creation). (http://www.ala.org/booklist)
• Choice: The print version of this academically oriented journal is quite pricey ($192.50/year) and certainly overkill for most news libraries. However, the annual Web Review Supplement (August 98, Vol. 35 supplement) can be purchased separately. $24.00 will buy 482 reviews of Web sites appearing in Choice over the past year, with brief annotations and feature articles. The Web site offers the complete list of sites, complete with URLs and links to the sites (no annotations), arranged by subject, free of charge. More information at http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/98sup.html.
• ChoiceReviews.online provides Web access to all Choice reviews from 1998 onward. Again, a hefty price tag ($395) and scholarly bent keep this resource off the must-have list. However, you can sign up for a free two-month trial at http://www.choicereviews.org.
• RUSA (Reference & User Services Association) annual lists: Outstanding Reference Sources for Small and Medium-Sized Libraries and Notable Books. (http://www.ala.org/rusa/bestbooks.html)

Bookwire (http://www.bookwire.com)

• Library Journal Digital features selected features and reviews, the WebWatch column, and the 1997 Best Reference Sources lists for books, CD-ROMs and Web sites. The 1998 lists are available only in the print version. Also missing from the Web site: the invaluable LJ Collection Development series and the majority of reviews. The print version costs $109.00 per year and subscription information is available on the Web site. (http://www.bookwire.com/LJDigital/)
• Publishers Weekly Online offers Category Closeups (great for selecting titles and creating new reference sites), PW's Best '98 Books, news and features. (http://www.bookwire.com/pw/pw.html) 

Briscoe, Ellie and Shapiro, Barbara Gellis. "Essential Reference Books for Every U.S. News Library." SLA News Division Web site. (http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/reference/sources.htm) [Link updated 05/11/2004, was http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/reference/references.html]

Rettig, James. Rettig on Reference. (http://www.gale.com)

James Woy, ed. Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources. Thirteenth Edition. Gale Research. 1999. $320.00. (http://www.gale.com)

Smaller libraries can find approximately 600 reviews from recent editions of ARBA at half the price in: Wynar, Bohdan, ed. Recommended Reference Books For Small And Medium-Sized Libraries And Media Centers 1999. $55.00 on back order from amazon.com. http://www.lu.com

• amazon.com is useful for free access to publishing information and reviews from the leading media. You can browse or search by subject (Reference is a heading with subheads). (http://www.amazon.com)
• Barnesandnoble.com has similar capabilities, with reviews drawn from different sources, a Readers Catalogue database of best books and author biographies from Gale. Again, you can't beat the price! (http://www.barnesandnoble.com)
• BookBrowser is especially useful for the links to Review Sites in the Readers' Resources section. (http://www.bookbrowser.com/Resources/)
• LibraryLand. Resources for librarians helpful for collection development include links to Review Resources and Electronic Discussion Groups. (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/LibraryLand)
• Information Today, Inc.'s and Online Inc.'s web sites offer selected full-text articles from their publications. These are sites to bookmark, if there's no room in our budget for subscriptions to Information Today, Searcher, Computers in Libraries and Link-Up (http://www.infotoday.com) or Database and Searcher magazines. (http://www.online.com)

• Library of Congress' online catalog and hundreds of very helpful bibliographies and research guides can be found at http://lcweb.loc.gov.
• The New York Public Library site includes forms for searching its catalogs and research guides prepared by the staff of the research libraries. (http://www.nypl.org)
• Looking for specialized library catalogs or pathfinders produced by other librarians? Try...
• LibWeb's list of Library Servers via WWW, with links to over 3000 pages from libraries in over 90 countries, searchable by keyword, type of library or region. (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Libweb)
• Poynter Online links to news libraries on the Web at http://www.poynter.org/research/biblio/bib_nlibs.htm.
• Search engines we've found helpful in the pursuit of pathfinders and research guides include:
• Ask Jeeves because its natural language search mode enables us to formulate questions like, "Where can I find bibliographies about art?" and its metasearch capabilities frequently produce on-target results. <http://www.askjeeves.com>
• Northern Light, because of its Power Search option to limit by subject and the organization of results into Custom Search Folders. <http://www.northernlight.com>
• Yahoo! where "bibliographies" is a subheading under categories like Education, Science and Reference. <http://www.yahoo.com/> 

We all have our favorite Internet resource guides. Sites recommended by Time Inc. Research Center researchers include:

• Britannica's Internet Guide (http://www.britannica.com)
• Dow Jones Business Directory (http://www.dowjones.com/corp/index_directory.htm)
• Internet Public Library (http://www.ipl.org)
• Librarians' Index to the Internet (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex)
• Price's List of Lists (http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~gprice/listof.htm)

Print publications we consult for content ideas and links:

• The CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research. BiblioData. 10x year. Geared towards business research, market research and competitive intelligence. Complete April issue and online index currently available at http://www.bibliodata.com. $149 per year ($99 for non-profits).
• The Internet Connection: Your Guide to Government Resources. Bernan. 10x year. Subscription information at http://www.bernan.com. $89 per year.
• The Internet Newsroom. Editors Service. 2x month. Bills itself as "a practical guide for journalists and other information professionals who want to use the Internet to gather information available on the Web". Selected contents and subscription information at http://www.editors-service.com. $99 per year.

Our researchers monitor news sites such as CNN, MSNBC and NewsBot and draw upon them to create "Specials" and "Focus" features. They also like the following sites:

• FACSNET. Check out Top Issues for "insight, background and sources to help cover stories about the top issues of the day", and to provide ideas for library-generated guides. (http://www.facsnet.org)
• Poynter Online provides inspiration for our issues-in-the-news coverage in the In the News, Research Topic of the Week and News Topics sections. (http://www.poynter.org)

1999 News Division Program Schedule
SLA News Division Home

Last Updated: 03/21/03
Jessica Baumgart
newsdivisionweb@yahoo.com