Content area
Full Text
FIND IT FAST: HOW TO UNCOVER EXPERT INFORMATION ON ANY SUBJECT. 3rd ed. Robert I. Berkman. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1994. 355 pages, including index and appendixes. $13.00 (softcover). FIND IT ONLINE! Robert I. Berkman. NY: Windcrest, McGraw-Hill, 1995. 515 pages, including index and appendixes. $27.95 (softcover).
THE ESSENTIAL INTERNET INFORMATION GUIDE. Jason J. Manger. NY, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1995. 380 pages, including index and appendixes. $19.95 (softcover).
Each of these three reference books tries to accomplish an impossible task.
In Find It Fast, Robert Berkman attempts to tell the reader how to find a way through enormously large systems of knowledge and information. To deal with this problem, he adopts a simplistic model of information gathering that presumes that the user is going to write a paper and needs information on which to base that paper. The process of information gathering is then focused on identifying individuals who can provide the requisite information from their expert knowledge. All information resources that might be encountered in performing library research (indexes, abstract journals, trade news articles, bibliographic databases, directories, etc.) are discussed in the context of identifying "knowledgeable and helpful people whose job is to provide information about their field to those who need it."
Although he flip-flops back and forth among search strategies (using comprehensive sources like computer databases rather than focused sources like encyclopedias), sources (printed indexes versus hotlines staffed by people), and information types (specific data versus comprehensive understanding), his examples and recommendations consistently come back to the premise that the ultimate source is some person that knows everything you need to find out. The use of the primary literature (for example, journal articles) or secondary literature (for example, handbooks and abstract journals) for finding information is rarely, if ever, considered.
Many useful sources are identified, ranging from the Statistical Abstract of the U.S. to the National Technical Information Service. But Berkman's book is not a reference source. You would not go to this book to find out "where can I find the answer to my particular question?" Rather, it is a textbook for learning an approach to seeking information. It is a textbook that happens to...