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Title:
The Web Library
Review:
Nicholas Tomaiuolo's book, The Web Library: Building a World Class
Personal Library with Free Web Resources, is a treasure trove of high-
quality websites for research and reference, offered up with a charming
puckish sense of humour. If you've ever felt frustrated and
overwhelmed at finding high-quality web information then this is the
book for you. Mr. Tomaiuolo's book is organized into nine chapters
that discuss free or low-cost resources which are similar to those
offered by physical libraries. Bookmarking these websites gives the
librarian a tremendous "web library" at the click of a mouse.
Each chapter covers topics ranging from finding full-text articles,
reference sources, digital reference and e-texts. Each chapter also
has an in-depth interview with an information expert behind some of
the best online reference sources. I found the interviews offer
insight into how some of the most popular web resources were developed
and plans for future growth. The interviews also provide some powerful
food for thought for the future of online reference resources.
Endnotes at the end of each chapter are extensive and underscore the
detail of Mr. Tomaiuolo's work.
In the chapter entitled " Ready or Not: Reference on the Web", the
author notes an interesting economic comparison highlighting the
savings of website reference to subscription or one-time purchase of
print material. While savings from, for example, using Bartleby.com
would equal USD1000 in free versus fee resources, the real savings
come from constant updating of material, which is noted as
"priceless".
The book has a link to an updated website which lists the hyperlinked
websites from the book plus new resources which are clearly marked
with a yellow "sticker". The web resources are divided in the same
organization as the chapters the book.
Mr. Tomaiuolo's humour is delightful. Chapter 7 entitled "Pixels at an
Exhibition" discussing online exhibits from museums to the Library of
Congress brought a chuckle as it is a clever play on Mussorgsky's
wonderful musical piece, "Pictures at an Exhibition" describing
paintings in an exhibit. The author's humour is sprinkled throughout
the book.
Nicholas Tomaiuolo's The Web Library is a solid addition to academic,
public or corporate library reference desks. No librarian should be
without a copy of this book on his or her desktop with the
accompanying link to the companion website on his or her virtual
desktop.
Free Pint Reviewer:
Anne Esler is
an Assistant Professor and Information Services
Librarian at Newman Library at Baruch College (CUNY) in New York City.
She specializes in business information reference and research. She
has a Masters of Library Science and a Masters of Business
Administration..
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