Peter's Digital Reference Shelf - December 2004

[Lois Kiehl]

Peter's Digital Reference Shelf - December 2004

The December edition of Peter's Digital Ready Reference Shelf has been
posted on the Gale Group website. This column is available free of
charge to all users at:
        http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/reference/peter/

Peter Jacso is a member of the Internet Librarian Hall of Fame
(http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/lrc/hofprevious.htm). His in-depth reviews are
illustrated with dozens of screenshots and provide a multi-linked
virtual walk-through of the databases he evaluates.  Jacso was the 1998
recipient of the Louis Shores-Oryx Press Award of the Reference and
User Services Association for his discerning database reviews.

This month Peter reviews:

[1] CNET Shopper.com
Bulky print product directories and catalogs have never been among the
most revered ready-reference sources, but their much-enhanced digital
versions are. Among the many online hardware and software product
directories, catalogs and consumer guides related to consumer
entertainment and information technology, CNET Shopper stands out with its
highly regarded reviews, buyers' guides and price comparisons. It is a
perfect digital reference source, especially for the holiday season.

[2] Google Scholar Beta
Given Google's universal popularity, this free service could help scholars
discover scholarly articles, at least at the bibliographic level, and
could steer scholars to their libraries' expansive and often expensive
digital collections much more intensively, if the harried implementation
is improved by some changes.

See the Archives on the Gale site for databases previously reviewed:

        50states.com
        A & E Biography
        Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology
        ADAM Medical Encyclopedia
        Adflip
        Adherents.com
        Amazon
        Amazon Search Inside the Book
        American Heritage Dictionary Deluxe
        American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
        American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms UK Official Charts
        Annual Reviews, Inc.
        AP Multimedia Archive
        Artcylopedia
        AskOxford
        Atomica 2.1
        Awesome Library
        Barnes & Noble
        Biographical Dictionary
        Biography Resource Center
        Biography.com
        Bloomsbury Research Center
        Borders
        Bowker's Complete Video Directory
        Britannica  GeoAnalyzer
        Britannica Concise
        Britannica Concise Encyclopedia- National Geographic version
        Britannica.com
        Cambridge Dictionary of American English
        Canadian Encyclopedia Online
        Chambers 21st Century Dictionary
        Choice Reviews Online.
        CIA World Factbook 2000
        CIA World Factbook 2004
        Collins Concise Spanish Dictionary
        Collins English Dictionary
        Columbia Dictionary of Quotations
        Columbia World of Quotations
        Comparative Religions on File
        Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia 2000 (CD-ROM)
        Concise Oxford Dictionary
        Consulta
        ConsumerSearch
        CrossRef Search Pilot
        Cultural Profiles Project
        CultureGrams World Edition
        CyberAtlas
        DealTime.com
        DOE Energy Citations Database
        e.encyclopedia
        Encarta Africana 2000
        Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2000 (CD-ROM)
        Encarta Interactive World Atlas 2000
        Encarta World English Dictionary
        Enciclopedia Universal Micronet
        Encyclopaedia Britannica Almanac 2003
        Encyclopaedia of the Orient
        Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
        e-psyche
        Expedia
        Fact Monster
        Facts  for Features
        Funk & Wagnalls Knowledge Center
        Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Deluxe 2000 (CD-ROM)
        Grolier Multimedia Online Encyclopedia version 2
        GuruNet reference suite
        Hoover's Online
        How Stuff Works
        Hutchinson Encyclopedia concise version
        Index Mundi
        InfoNation
        InteliHealth version of the Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary
        jake
        KeepMedia
	Kluwer Journals Online
        Librarian's Index to the Internet
        McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms
        Merriam-Webster Third International Unabridged Dictionary
        MetaCritic
	National Priorities Project Database
        NBC Olympics
        New Millennium Encyclopedia on CD-ROM
        New York Times Movie Reviews
        Nobel Prize List
        Nolo Law Dictionary
        Nolo Legal Encyclopedia
        OCLC WorldCat
        Official Academy Awards Database
        Online Columbia Encyclopedia 2000 (6th edition)
        Oxford English Dictionary Online
        Oxford Reference Online
        Penguin New English Dictionary
        Profusion
        PsycINFO
        PubList
        PubSCIENCE
        Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
        ResourceShelf
        Rotten Tomatoes
	SAGE Journals Online
	SCOPUS
        Search Engine Showdown
        Searchasaurus database collection
        Simpson's Contemporary Quotations
	SportDiscus
        Sports Rules on File
        Subway Navigator
        TechEncyclopedia
        The Blair Archive
        The Top 10 of Everything
        Travelocity
        Ulrich's
        Ulrich's International Periodicals
        Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk
        Web of Science Citation Indexes
        Webster's Third New International Unabridged Dictionary
        Word Reference Desk
        World Atlas
        WWWebster Dictionary
        Xrefer Plus
        Xrefer.com
        Yahoo! Reference
        Zagat Survey