Websites 15use a rating system which will score each product based on four ele-
ments: content, searchability, price, and contract options/features.
A Comparative Score averaging these elements will provide an “at
a glance” rating which will be prominently displayed near the top
of each review.^7TCA reviews are critical as well as descriptive and include screen shots of the
products under consideration.
The Internet Library for Librarians (www.itcompany.com/inforetriever/) is a
commercial site established in 1994. As an information portal, it provides links
to more than 3,000 web resources of interest to librarians: “All the resources
are recommended, selected, and reviewed by librarians. Each entry has a full
description of the goals and/or scope of the resource, as well as the contact
information if provided.”^8 There are ready-reference sites, sites devoted to
specific areas of librarianship, such as acquisitions, cataloging and reference,
library associations, journals, job opportunities, and much more.
This chapter has considered sources which reference librarians can use to
locate useful and credible websites and web-based sources. In the succeed-
ing chapters, specific online resources will be included in the discussions of
particular types of reference sources (e.g., dictionaries, directories, etc.).
notes
The chapter epigraph is from Roger Ebert, “Critical Eye,” Yahoo! Internet Life,
September 1998, 66.
- William A. Katz, Introduction to Reference Work, 8th ed., vol. 1, Basic
Information Services (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002), 40. - “Best Free Reference Web Sites Combined Index, 1999–2011,” RUSA
Machine-Assisted Reference Section (MARS), http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/
mars/marspubs/marsbestindex/. - ipl2, http://www.ipl.org/div/about/LII_About/selectioncriteria.html.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- ipl2, http://www.ipl.org/div/about/mission_and_vision.html.
- The Charleston Advisor 9, no. 4 (2008): 4.
- Internet Library for Librarians, http://www.itcompany2.com/inforetriever/about.htm.