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Reference Tools on the Web—For Free!

Reference Tools on the Web—For Free!. Kerry Smith MegaResource School Librarian Workshop III Mississippi State University Libraries March 30-31, 2000. Outline. How to Find Reference Tools Online. Evaluating Them Once You Find Them. Keeping Up with What’s New. ARPANET Structure in 1969.

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Reference Tools on the Web—For Free!

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  1. Reference Tools on the Web—For Free! Kerry Smith MegaResource School Librarian Workshop III Mississippi State University Libraries March 30-31, 2000

  2. Outline How to Find Reference Tools Online Evaluating Them Once You Find Them Keeping Up with What’s New

  3. ARPANET Structure in 1969 Source: http://www.cybergeography.com/atlas/historical.html

  4. Internet Structure in 1991 Source: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SCMS/DigLib/text/technology/Visualization-Study-NSFNET-Cox.html

  5. Internet Structure in 1993 Source: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SCMS/DigLib/text/technology/Visualization-Study-NSFNET-Cox.html

  6. How to Find Reference Tools Online Ultra Mega Supreme Cardinal Rule: Take advantage of other people’s work!

  7. How to Find Reference Tools Online • Consult existing online reference collections • Examples: • Librarians’ Index to the Internet • LibrarySpot • Internet Public Library • Google Directory • Refdesk.com • BUBL Link • StudyWeb • Andrew’s Online Reference (Dewey Decimal!) • Martindale’s Reference Desk • U.S. Government Documents Ready Reference Collection

  8. How to Find Reference Tools Online • Check regular columns (print and online): • C&RL News’ “Internet Reviews” (also online) • Library Journal’s “WebWatch” (also online) • Gale Group’s online Reference Reviews • Booklist’s “Reference Books Bulletin” and “Reference on the Web” (also online) • Choice’s internet resources reviews (not online)

  9. Evaluating Online Reference Tools Once You Find Them • Alastair Smith’s criteria: 1. Scope 2. Content 3. Graphic & Multimedia Design 4. Purpose & Audience 5. Reviews 6. Workability 7. Cost

  10. Evaluating Online Reference Tools Once You Find Them • Alastair Smith’s criteria: 1. Scope • Breadth: What aspects of the subject are covered? • Depth: What is the level of detail provided about the subject? • Time: Is the information in the resource limited to certain time periods? • Format: WWW, Telnet, Gopher, FTP, etc.

  11. Evaluating Online Reference Tools Once You Find Them • Alastair Smith’s criteria: 2. Content • Accuracy • Authority • Currency • Uniqueness • Links Made to Other Resources • Quality of Writing

  12. Evaluating Online Reference Tools Once You Find Them • Alastair Smith’s criteria: 3. Graphic & Multimedia Design • Is the resource interesting to look at? • Do the visual effects enhance the resource, distract from the content, or substitute for content? • If audio, video, virtual reality modeling, or other effects are used, are they appropriate to the purpose of the source?

  13. Evaluating Online Reference Tools Once You Find Them • Alastair Smith’s criteria: 4. Purpose & Audience • What is the purpose of the resource? • Is it clearly stated? • Does the resource fulfill the stated purpose? • The purpose needs to fit the intended audience for the resource.

  14. Evaluating Online Reference Tools Once You Find Them • Alastair Smith’s criteria: 5. Reviews • What do reviewing services say about the site?

  15. Evaluating Online Reference Tools Once You Find Them • Alastair Smith’s criteria: 6. Workability • User Friendliness • Required Computing Environment • Searchability • Browsability and Organization • Interactivity • Connectivity

  16. Evaluating Online Reference Tools Once You Find Them • Alastair Smith’s criteria: 7. Cost • Free = worthy of suspicion

  17. Keeping Up with What’s New • Read review columns (C&RL News, Library Journal, Booklist, Choice, etc.) • Subscribe to LII.org’s “What’s New” e-mail list • http://lii.org/search/file/mailinglist • Subscribe to a Scout Report e-mail list • http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/misc/subscribe.html • Subscribe to the DIG_REF (digital reference services) e-mail list • http://www.vrd.org/Dig_Ref/dig_ref.html

  18. Keeping Up with What’s New • Subscribe to Refdesk.com’s “Reference Site of the Day” e-mail list • http://www.refdesk.com/ • Subscribe to the ResPool e-mail list • http://rtiess.tripod.com/respool.htm • Subscribe to LibrarySpot’s e-mail newsletter • http://www.libraryspot.com/newsletter.htm

  19. References: Online Collections Andrew’s Online Reference http://web.tampabay.rr.com/library/ BUBL Link http://bubl.ac.uk/link/types.html Google Directory http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/ Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/ref/RR/ Librarians’ Index to the Internet http://www.ill.org/

  20. References: Online Collections Library Spot http://www.libraryspot.com/ Martindale’s Reference Desk http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/~martindale/Ref.html Refdesk.com http://www.refdesk.com/ Study Web http://www.studyweb.com/Reference/ U.S. Govt. Docs. Ready Reference Collection http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/dsc/ readyref.html

  21. References: Review Services Booklist’s “Reference Books Bulletin” and “Reference on the Web” http://www.ala.org/booklist/ C&RL “Internet Reviews” http://www.bowdoin.edu/~samato/IRA/index.html Gale Group’s Online Reference Reviews http://www.gale.com/reference/reference.htm Library Journal’s WebWatch http://www.ljdigital.com/articles/multimedia/webwatch/ webwatcharchive.asp LibrarySpot’s Reference Site of the Month http://www.libraryspot.com/rsomarchive.htm

  22. References: Articles Smith, Alastair G. "Testing the Surf: Criteria for Evaluating Internet Information Resources."The Public-Access Computer Systems Review 8.3 (1997). [http://info.lib.uh.edu/pr/v8/n3/smit8n3.html]

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