These are my notes for the presentation I did at at NYLINK on June 4, 1999. If you want to send me any questions at marylaine at marylaine.com, I will be happy to post answers here as well.

If I refer a lot to Best Information on the Net, http://www.sau.edu/bestinfo/, it is not because even I think it is the best site on the net--it is simply the one I know cold, because I selected everything on it. More to the point, it points you to other excellent indexes to the web, other reference desks, other terrific resources that mostly come to us from other librarians in the field.

The net is too big, it's too disorganized, there's too much junk, and we don't have enough time to learn it really well. How do we master it?

• You know the strengths of your collection

  What ARE the strengths of the web "collection"? adapted from my online handout, When and How To Search the Net http://www.sau.edu/bestinfo/howto.htm

  A. Pictures (http://www.sau.edu/bestinfo/Pictures/pixindex.htm)

  B. FAQ files--frequently asked questions files created by experts in the field

  C. Government information--laws, court cases, statistics, important historical documents, public records.

  D. Searchable files

  E. Interactive files

  F. Demonstrations, animations, videos, music, and speeches.

  G. Reference sources. (http://www.sau.edu/bestinfo/Refdesk/refindex.htm)

  H. Online courses.

  I. Usenets and listserves to discuss common problems with others in your field.

  J. News. Nothing is faster than the net at delivering breaking news and specialized news (http://www.sau.edu/bestinfo/News/newindex.htm)

  K. 24 hour a day 365 days a year availability. That's our competition--but it's also our answer to the question: why can't you betil midnight on Friday.

• You know how to search through catalogs and indexes.

  A. searching within specific subject databases;

  Librarians' Index to the Internet:
  http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex/

  Digital Librarian:
  http://www.servtech.com/~mvail/home.html

  B. using boolean logic, searching specific fields

  C. reading the help screens

• You know how to match the question to the type of available resource

  Best Information on the Net Ref Desk, arranged by question:
  http://www.sau.edu/bestinfo/Refdesk/refindex.htm

  Internet Public Library Ref Desk, arranged by tool:
  http://www.ipl.org/ref/RR/static/ref0000.html

• You use the cataloging system, Dewey or LC, to browse

  New Athenaeum (by Dewey):
  http://members.spree.com/athenaeum/mguide1.htm

  Scout Report Signpost (by LC):
  http://www.signpost.org/signpost

• You know how to evaluate the quality of information, looking at tables of contents, indexes, organizational scheme, credibility of the author, reviews, currency, documentation:

  Evaluation of Information Sources, by Alastair Smith:
  http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~agsmith/evaln/evaln.htm

  Evaluating Quality on the Net, by Hope Tillman
  http://www.tiac.net/users/hope/findqual.html

• You read reviews and other current awareness sources

  Best Information on the Net, What's New on the Net:
  http://www.sau.edu/bestinfo/Netnew/netindex.htm

  Search Engine Watch from Danny Sullivan
  http://searchenginewatch.com/