From Library Journal
Maxwell's reputation as a purveyor of electronic government information was established with his earlier title, Washington Online: How To Access the Government's Electronic Bulletin Board (Professional Reading, LJ 3/15/95). Here he describes Internet-accessible sources of federal government information, including executive branch departments and agencies, the Congress, and nongovernment providers such as the Cornell Law School, which offers access to Supreme Court decisions and many other legal sources. As with his earlier title, Maxwell has organized this directory according to broad subjects such as agriculture, demographic data, environment, jobs, and science. Each listing includes a narrative description varying in length from a few sentences to several pages, mentioning noteworthy file areas or services and including comparisons with similar sites. Basic information for each Internet site is printed in a box, including protocol, Internet address, login, and path information. A glossary of relevant terms follows the directory listings. Maxwell falters somewhat in his introductory comments on the trustworthiness of Internet-based information by advising the user to use "another source" to verify the accuracy of information found on the Internet. While this is appropriate and necessary in many cases, his statement ignores the realities of widely used information technologies that preceded the Internet by decades. This conceptual gaffe notwithstanding, Maxwell has produced another very useful guide to electronic federal government information. Annual editions are planned. This modestly priced book will be useful in academic, special, and public library reference collections as an aid to librarians and patrons, as a guide to creating "bookmarks" to specific Internet sites, and to individuals as a desk reference.?Patrick Ragains, Montana State Univ. Lib., Bozeman
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
