Manual of Online Search Strategies. Volume II – Business, Law, News and Patents (3rd ed.)

Citation

Eaton, J. (2002), "Manual of Online Search Strategies. Volume II – Business, Law, News and Patents (3rd ed.)", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 63-64. https://doi.org/10.1108/prog.2002.36.1.63.14

This new edition and new format of the Manual of Online Search Strategies reflects the relentless proliferation of electronic resources in the nine years that have passed since the second edition appeared. The editors have split the publication into three separate volumes, with the second devoted to patents, business and economics, news and current affairs, and law. All the contributors are, or have been, experienced library and information practitioners in their specialised fields, representing a depth of knowledge that lends considerable authority to this volume.

The Manual of Online Search Strategies. Volume II is not intended as an introductory text, according to its editors, but aims to appeal to all searchers, whether information professionals or otherwise, who seek advice on database or search service selection and search strategy compilation. Its coverage has been extensively revised to incorporate the impact of the Internet upon both the business information marketplace and users’ expectations. Some exposure and skill in using both the Internet and specialised electronic services are assumed, as is an interest in the basic psychology of searching online.

In the opening chapter the editors not only summarise technological developments in the field of online information, but also provide a helpful critique of the literature relating to search evaluation and behaviour. Of the following chapters, patents and business and economic information account for some 220 of the book’s 283 pages, the remainder shared between news and current affairs and law. The chapter on patents is probably worth the (rather steep) purchase price in its own right. Edlyn Simmons covers in admirable depth the various patent databases and assesses differences in their implementation on traditional online hosts, together with Internet‐based services. The chapter begins with a thorough and lucid introduction to patents, their role and context, and is notable for both its detailed database evaluations (with relevant search/display transcripts) and its insights into the structure and compilation processes of files such as Derwent’s World Patent Index.

Jacqueline Cropley and Gwenda Sippings attempt the difficult task of trying to survey a constantly shifting business information landscape with considerable critical acumen and aplomb. As they note, theirs is the field most subject to change, as products (ever more so in the Internet era) are rapidly released, modified, renamed, sold and withdrawn. As proof of this, their discussions of FT Profile have become instantly dated with its subsequent disappearance after the FT Information acquisition by LexisNexis. Yet despite the impact of such “churn”, their chapter is notable for its survey of the issues and (often conflicting) pressures acting on information vendors and subscribers alike. The authors manage to balance both the specific details and applications of key database sources with some good insights into the psychology of the business world and its information needs. Their practical experience is distilled here into appropriate strategies and tactics for managing what they call “information surfeit”, and for critically appraising the many vendors and services that crowd this expansive marketplace.

The final chapters covering news and current affairs, and law, are considerably less ambitious in scope than those that precede them. Peter Chapman provides a series of simple check‐lists and bulleted lists of pros and cons of the various available news media such as online, CD‐ROM and Internet. He helpfully analyses the fluid Internet‐based news scene to distinguish key trends in sites and services, and presents numerous useful hints and tips for dealing with the often problematic aspects (such as versioning changes to stories, content omission and coverage gaps) that characterise news searching. He uses coverage of the Louise Woodward trial of 1997 as a concrete illustration of the strengths and shortcomings of the various online news media.

John Williams, a professor of law, provides a concise, clear summary of the background issues in law that make skilful use of legal electronic resources essential for legal practice today. His perspective on legal information services such as LexisNexis is that of a lawyer, rather than a legal information specialist, and this proves both a strength and a weakness of this concluding chapter. We find a good overview of LexisNexis, but no mention of WestLaw – a rival in the marketplace; instead Williams places JUSTIS as the competitor service. Perhaps, in a future edition, a practising law librarian might offer a more detailed survey that approaches the patents and business and economics chapters’ scope.

The Manual of Online Search Strategies. Volume II has a sober presentation and tone that contrast sharply with the North American publications that address similar needs in a brighter, more direct style, such as the Super Searchers … series published by CyberAge (see, for example, Bates and Basch, 1996). The plain typography and layout do sometimes grate on occasions, where database names are printed as upper‐case text making the page “noisy”, where they are listed in thick clusters. The decision to separate database names and subjects into separate indexes is good and greatly assists reference use. The Manual of Online Search Strategies. Volume II will be useful for students of library and information science, but nonetheless there is much here that will benefit new and established information professionals alike as a source of reference and evaluation criteria for some years to come.