Library on the Web

Key Points

The Internet is very different from the information services to which the library subscribes.

• Librarians carefully select which information services to subscribe
• The information services carefully select the databases they include.
• The database publishers carefully select the journals and other materials to be included in their databases.
• The publishers of the journals and other materials select and carefully edit the material they publish.
• A web page publisher, which can be anyone, usually does not follow this process of review.
• The fact is, finding articles of good quality is usually faster using subscription information services.
• You need to be comfortable searching the online information services AND the Internet.
• You need to learn how to evaluate material (print, library databases, web sites, etc.) so that you select good sources.