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Rating: 
Summary: Superb Reference Lacking CD-ROM or Online Version
Review:
This is the second of three basic guides by Facts on Demand press that I am very happy to have in my collection and to recommend to others.
Some really top-notch information brokers contributed to this book, and it is a superb reference, well-organized, that lacks a CD-ROM with clickable links or an Online Version to which access can be gained for a fee or from a password in the printed version.
This book is extremely well-developed to the point that it can meet the needs of a first-time researcher eager to become quickly familiar with the ins and outs of the Internet, as well as the more experienced professional that wants a handy reference work to suggest new sources and methods.
The other two books are Helen Burwell's "Online Competitive Intelligence"--the one book to buy if you can only buy one of these three books--and Sankey & Weber's "Public Records Online" (buy only if you have do work in this area or want to protect yourself by monitoring your divorced spouse's assets, etc.)
Rating: 
Summary: I love this book
Review: Alan Schlein has tackled the almost-impossible task of describing how to find information on the web, and how to find it efficiently. If you want to conduct *quality* research on the web, start here. This is a great resource that should be on every web researcher's desk.
Rating:
Summary: The all-purpose single resource and reference book
Review: Collaboratively edited by Peter Weber and J. J. Newby, and now in a fully revised third edition, Find It Online: The Complete Guide To Online Research by journalist and online trainer Alan M. Schlein is the all-purpose single resource and reference book to looking up the latest and most useful information on anything, anywhere, using the resources of the Internet. Individual chapters address the basics of the Internet, framing one's search strategy, the best tools and search engines available, government resources, evaluating the credibility of information found on the net, and a great deal more. Find It Online is a very highly recommended addition to any personal, professional, school or community library Internet Information Resources reference collection.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent guide for research librarians
Review: It used to be that a good reference librarian had only to keep up with the new books being published, and perhaps keep one eye on the newspapers and learned journals. Nowadays, one has to keep track of where best to find the answers to questions on the Web, as well. And it ain't easy! Massive printed volumes of Web addresses weren't much help even a decade ago because they were indiscriminate and seldom included annotations. What we needed -- and still need -- are a few collections of a (relatively) few carefully selected germane Web sites with the reasons given for their inclusion. And this discriminating and well thought out guide is the best one I've seen yet. It's intended mostly for the professional information broker or commercial researcher-for-hire, but librarians in any large public or academic library system do much the same sort of thing and will profit enormously by reading it. After an excellent introduction to the principles of online research, it's divided into topical sections: government resources, public records, news sites, business tools, and international (i.e., non-U.S.) research. Then there are several sections on managing and filtering what you find, how to evaluate its credibility and utility, and privacy concerns. Schlein spends considerable time on fee-based and "hidden" resources, too, not just the freebies on the public Web. Some of the sites he recommends I was already aware of, but there are many others I hadn't run across before. And I have been recommending his advice on search strategies and information massaging to my colleagues. There are a couple of annoying things about this otherwise superior book, however. One is the need for much, much tighter copyediting -- like saying "the software can be moderated" when they meant "modified," and the sometimes eccentric punctuation, and the tendency to break Web addresses in peculiar places (letting only the last character of ".html" fall to the next line gives you a quite different address). The other annoyance is a tendency by the author to laud (frequently) any book published by his editors, associates, or advisors -- so much so that it becomes embarrassing. But given the high quality of the book's actual content, I suppose I can live with that.
Rating:
Summary: Find it Online: The Complete Guide to Online Research, Third
Review: Schlein's how-to guide packs information punch, alerting readers to available Internet resources and supplying tips and strategies for searching. This edition offers some unique features, including online resources from various countries, tips for finding these resources, and translation tools. It also educates readers about terminology, conducting research, managing and filtering information, and determining the accuracy and validity of information found on the Internet. A table of contents and index allow easy browsing and location of topics. Most chapters end with a list of Web resources in addition to those mentioned in the text. Lists of sites include, e.g., best search engines, best subject directories, best meta-tools, best people finders, genealogy tools, mapping tools, reference tools, government resources, public records, news resources. All users of the Internet, beginners to experts, will benefit from this book. It includes ephemeral material, so that annual revisions are required, but the low cost makes it affordable for any collection
Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Online Research Guide for Beginners
Review: This book deserves more than 5 stars for making the Internet fully accessible to anyone for a minimum of cost in time and money.If you have enough skill to turn on your computer and get onto the Internet, this book will take you where you want to go in the fastest, least frustrating way. Within hours, you will be more efficient and effective than people who have done online research for years, but have not yet read this book. Although Web addresses and sites will change, the best basic methods of how to do research online will shift much less often. You should be able to apply what you learn from this book for some time to come. Some of the many helpful things you will learn include: (1) which search engines work best for which kinds of questions (2) how to get the fewest possible sites from a search with the greatest likelihood that they will be helpful to you (3) which sources of information to go to directly without a search first (4) how to assess the credibility of a source (5) how to get things for free that most people pay for (6) when to spend money to save time (7) how to manage your e-mail to spend less time on it. You will also benefit from three sample search models in chapter 12, one for finding a person, another for doing a business profile, and a third for problem solving. Most of your searches will involve one of these three search types. An area you may not think about now is what people can learn about you while you do your research. The sections on privacy issues and how you can protect yourself are outstanding. About a third of the book is devoted to indexes to make it easier for you to find government public records and the right Web site for your research needs. Even though I have been doing online research for many years, I plan to keep this book next to my computer from now on. If you read many of my reviews, you will notice that that is something I rarely say about a book. After you have finished learning how to do better and faster online research with this wonderful resource, I suggest that you step back and think about new questions that you should be asking now that you have improved access to good and timely information. For example, should you be doing more to check out investments? Or should you be learning more about becoming a better parent? Or spouse? Asking and answering those questions will probably be the biggest payoff you can get from this very helpful guide. Be rich in knowledge and turn it into wisdom!
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Summary: Eureka! I can do it
Review: When Mr. Schlein spoke at a recent seminar, he asked Internet novices to raise their hands. As one severely computer-challenged I did't put mine up, as I had yet achieve that level. However, as a journalist, I picked up the second edition "Find It Online," came home, and started trying to search sites as he described. Wonder of wonders, it worked. The book is written with clarity, in an understandable way and contains a wealth of information for the neophyte as well as for the expert. It is an invaluable tool and a great ego-booster as well.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Guide Worth Owning
Review: While this book has got good intentions, it somehow fails to live up to the reviews that I have read of it. There are literally thousands of websites listed in the book, with a brief statement of what the website is about.
As a Canadian, I found this book lacking. If you are looking for American websites or information on American businesses or people, then this book will suit your needs. The book's format does not lend itself to easy reading. It is basically just listings of sites by category. The pages are packed full and hard to read. The author has been extremely thorough in his listing of websites, but I just didn't find that it helped me out.
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