The Skeptical Business Searcher: The Information Advisor's Guide to Evaluating Web Data, Sites, and Sources

Citation

Gale, C. (2005), "The Skeptical Business Searcher: The Information Advisor's Guide to Evaluating Web Data, Sites, and Sources", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 284-285. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330510610636

Anyone who has undertaken a new job in the world of business information will know what a minefield it can be when searching for reliable information online. This book aims to be a starting guide to doing just that and is aimed at those new to the task, particularly business researchers in the commercial environment, but the advice is also useful to subject specialists in other libraries. The book aims to enable business researchers to find good quality, free business information online, including that found on the invisible web. As a guide for professionals new to the subject area, the book works very well – general evaluation principles are covered and the reader should pick up techniques to start practising themselves. The types of data covered are pretty comprehensive and include general company information, market research, statistics, news sources and web logs. However, information for investors is not covered. The most useful section of the book is the author's own list of trusted web sources in the last chapter and his own evaluation checklist in an appendix, so a new professional can hit the ground running rather than starting from scratch. The layout of the book makes it easy to read – all URLs are relegated to an appendix to avoid cluttering the pages, though you will find that you want to be near a computer when you read this, as you may find it useful to explore some of the recommended sites as you go through the book. The style of writing is also clear and chatty, making it particularly accessible for those new to the subject. A useful index referring to concepts, types of web site and particular web sites is also included.

Chapters 1 and 2 discuss the issue of quality and business web resources, highlighting the dangers of assuming the web is the only source to check alongside the benefits of rapid connection to others who can help you. The author then advises starting a search without using a search engine and lists useful sources (including databases, directories, librarians (!) and pre‐screened sites) that should be consulted first. The next chapter gives advice on how to get the best from search engines, concentrating on Google and giving useful tips on shortcuts and strategies to get to the best information fast. Chapter 4 provides a useful tutorial on evaluation techniques for online resources, encouraging the reader not to accept what they see and to question motives as well as crosschecking each new site. This links in with the author's own evaluation checklist, usefully provided in an appendix. Chapters 5 to 7 then discuss different types of online information, covering company information and market research; statistics, polls and surveys; news, discussion and web logs. The author covers the categories of information that a business researcher may need, where to find it and how to verify it when you do. The particular problems inherent in each information type are covered, with advice on how to cope with them. Chapters 8 and 9 look at how the reader can progress after reading the book – advice on developing evaluation skills is given and a highly useful starting list of trusted web sources is then provided, broken down by category.

The usual problem facing books about the web and online sources is currency; however, this book is backed up by an accompanying web site, which is updated every six months. The web site is very simple to use – the list of sources is broken down by chapter, with each chapter then providing active links to the recommended sites. Updates are included at the bottom of each section – any new web sites are listed alongside evaluative comments. Any corrections are also included here: I found one recommended site in the book had a typing error in the URL, but on the web site, the URL had been corrected. The site also includes a section on news and trends in the online business searcher's world, these are useful to help the reader understand the searching environment and how new opinions or usage patterns may affect the reliability of certain web resources.

The only proviso I have about this work is that it is written and published in the US, therefore, many of the sites discussed are US‐centric. This matters more to the European librarian in some chapters than others; for example, in his discussion of government sites and public records, the author mentions the types of information that are found online including prison records – in the UK, prison records are not freely available. However, most chapters give a good range of recommended resources covering the rest of the world as well as the US. With this in mind, the book is a useful reference resource for the business researcher or librarian, made especially valuable by the advice on evaluating web sites and the selection of recommended web sites from an expert in the field of online information.