1998 Canadian Internet Directory and Research Guide

John D. Blackwell is Reference Librarian/Collections Coordinator of the
Goldfarb Library at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

Although the Internet offers a tremendous, often overwhelming, amount of
information, finding Canadian content is not always a simple matter.

Jim Carroll and Rick Broadhead, the authors of some 20 general and
specialized books on using the resources of Canadian cyberspace, have
now published this practical research guide and directory to Canadian
Web sites.

Part 1 is a guide to developing and improving one’s online research
skills. Carroll and Broadhead discuss a wide variety of Internet
directories and search engines, particularly Yahoo! Canada. They
emphasize the importance of planning a search strategy in order to
maximize the results, and offer basic instruction on using Boolean and
proximity operators, wildcards, phrases, and desktop search utilities.

Part 2 is a selective directory of more than 3000 Canadian Web sites,
ranging from acupuncture to zoology. These are organized in a subject
classification, along with descriptive rather than evaluative
annotations. A table of contents and Web title index greatly facilitate
access to this rich variety of Internet resources. Users may quibble
with the categorization of some Web sites. For instance, why is the
“Canadian Debt Clock” listed under “Canadian Studies,” and why
does the “National Archives of Canada” appear under “Libraries,”
while the “B.C. Archives” appears under “History?” Why is the
“Canadiana Resource Page,” one of the best directories of Canadian
Web sites, listed under “Reference—Canadian Indices” and not under
“Internet—Search Engines and Indices,” along with Yahoo! Canada
and other search tools? There are also some surprising omissions. Under
“First Nations,” for instance, there is no entry for the “Report
of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples,” the most important
recent document in the field.

It is refreshing to see the authors’ candor in Part 1. They concede
that there are limitations to what one can obtain from the Internet.
Sites come and go, may not be regularly updated, and run the full gamut
from excellent to trashy. The user must beware. And, yes, sometimes a
trip to the local public library is still the best way to meet an
informational need.

Although it will quickly become outdated, the 1998 Canadian Internet
Directory and Research Guide is an indispensable reference book for
Internet users at all levels of expertise.