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

Citation

Cleyle, S. (2005), "The Skeptical Business Searcher: The Information Advisor's Guide to Evaluating Web Data, Sites, and Sources", The Electronic Library, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 615-616. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470510631335

It is clear that Berkman knows his internet and knows business resources. He understands at a detailed level what a searcher needs to get the right information out of the web. Filled with interesting tips, techniques and taboos, the reader can consult this book over and over again.

Although the author sings the praises of the web and what it can do for someone searching for information, he repeatedly reminds the reader that follow‐up is crucial. The web can be deceiving and any information can look reliable and credible, but as Berkman notes in his dedication to librarians, they are ultimately his “favorite trusted source”.

Chapters cover everything the searcher needs to know about finding business information on the net, including search engines, precision searching, evaluating sites, company and industry sources, statistics, newlines, blogs, and building your own knowledge base. Two useful appendices augment the book's content – checklists developed by the author for website evaluation and a complete list of the URLs used in the book.

The book also includes a companion web page. Here the URLs are updated semi‐annually. The web page does not include much else except for list of significant trends that at the time of this review were written six months earlier. The web companion is a nice idea of the Infotoday Publishers but it really isn't worth the investment for the reader. With their newfound skills, the reader should be able to locate an updated URL for any site listed. A “last accessed” date was not included in the book and this would have been a useful addition. Although the web companion is distracting it does not take away from the solid content of the book.

The content of Berkman's book is interesting and useful for anyone searching the web and invaluable to those searching for business information. It should be kept by your computer for quick reference. Be sure to get a copy of this book for you, your colleagues and your users. No one will want to share.