ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 94 / C&RL News ■ February 2004 I n t e r n e t R e v i e w s Joni R. Robertsand Carol A. Drost, editors T e n y e a rs ag o , th e first “In te rn e t R e v ie w s” c o l­ u m n a p p e a r e d in th e F e b ru a ry is s u e o f C&RL News. To com m em orate this anniversary, w e asked th e form er ed ito r o f th e colum n, Sara A m ato, a n d th e w riters o f th e first tw o review s, B arb ara Val­ e n tin e a n d J a n Tudor, to w rite review s for u s this m o n th . T h a n k s to th e ir initial efforts a n d th e e n ­ d eav o rs o f th e m a n y librarians w h o ha v e w ritten re v ie w s s in c e th a t first F e b ru a ry all th o s e y e a rs ago, th e co lu m n is still g o ing strong! TouchGraph. Access: w w w .to u c h g r a p h .c o m /; K w M a p . A c c e s s : w w w . k w m a p . c o m / ; TinyURL.com. Access: h ttp ://w w w .tin y u rl. com /. In h o n o r o f th e “In te rn e t R ev iew s” te n th a n ­ niversary, a n d as som eone w h o has always enjoyed p lay in g w ith n e w too ls o n th e Intern et, h e re are th re e sites w h ic h y o u m ay find interesting, en te r­ taining, a n d m ay b e ev e n useful. T ouchG raph provides a Java-based ap p let that allow s o n e to ex p lo re a n d g ra p h connections b e ­ tw e e n in fo rm a tio n re so u rc e s. T h e W eb site h as several e x a m p le s o f sites u sin g th e T o u c h G ra p h so ftw are, s u c h as N atu re N avigator m a n a g e d b y th e British N atural History M useum , w h ic h offers a T re e o f Life B ro w se r, a n d th e L iv e jo u rn a l B ro w ser, w h ic h a llo w s o n e to s e e c o n n e c tio n s b e tw e e n p e rs o n a l b lo g s o n th a t site. A lso avail­ a b le is a G o o g le b ro w s e r, w h ic h allo w s o n e to e n te r a URL a n d se e a graphical rep resen tatio n o f related sites a n d nodes. This gives a v ery interest­ in g visual ch aracterizatio n o f a W eb site’s n e ig h ­ b o r h o o d o n th e ‘net. T o u c h G ra p h b ro w se rs are g reat fu n to test, a n d o n e c a n o n ly im agine w h a t th e y m ig h t d o if a p p lie d to v a rio u s full-text co l­ lections. P ro c la im in g to b e a “k e y w o r d m a p fo r th e w h o le In te rn e t,” K w M ap p ro v id e s a service th at allow s a u se r to find search term s related to his o r h e r top ic. B y en te rin g a k e y w o rd , a u s e r is p r e ­ s e n te d w ith a ch a rt th a t c o n tain s tw o axes. O n e axis p re se n ts term s th a t c o n ta in th e original key ­ w o rd , a n d th e o th e r axis p re se n ts re la te d term s. B e lo w this is a ch a rt o f m a n y re la te d term s. F o r ex am p le, a se a rc h fo r electric c a rre trie v e s term s su ch as electric car repair, a n d electric car parts o n o n e axis, a n d electric v eh icle, fu el cell, b attery , hev, a n d h y d ro g en o n th e other. W hile little o r n o inform ation is available o n h o w this key w o rd m ap is c o n stru c te d , K w M ap is a n in te re stin g to o l to ex p lo re related search term s a n d concepts. TinyURL.com provides a m u c h -n e e d e d utility to co n v ert lo n g URLs into sh o rt re d irected URLs, w h ic h are m o re m a n a g e a b le a n d n o t as p ro n e to b re a k in g b y line w ra p p in g w h e n s e n d in g via e- mail o r posting to blogs a n d lists. C reated b y Gilby Productions, TinyURL.com is a free service, w hich claim s it creates URLs th a t will n e v e r expire. This service certainly c o m e s in h a n d y w h e n trying to share long urls in e-mail a n d o th e r n o n p e rm a n e n t forum s. TinyURL.com also offers a small javascript th a t c a n b e d ra g g e d to y o u r b ro w s e r’s to o lb a r to m a k e a quick link for creating TinyURLs. In short, T inyU R L .com p ro v id e s a g re a t service!— S a ra Amato, Bowdoin Collie, samato@bowdoin.edu V a lu a tio n R e s o u rc e s .c o m . Access: w w w . v a lu atio n reso u rces.co m /. W h e n valuing a privately h e ld business, bu si­ ness appraisers n e e d access to econom ic data a n d industry forecasts, public c o m p a n y financial data, m e rg e r a n d a cq u isitio n d ata, a n d v a lu a tio n dis­ counts a n d prem ium s. ValuationResources.com is a portal for business appraisers, business ow ners, a n d o th e r in d iv id u a ls lo o k in g fo r v a lu a tio n -re ­ lated data. T h e site, o w n e d b y b u siness appraiser J e n y Peters, Iras b e e n in operation for several years. W h a t m a k e s V alu atio n R eso u rces.co m e s p e ­ cially u se fu l to stu d e n ts a n d lib rarian s is its “In- Joni R. R oberts is associate u n iv e rs ity lib ra ria n f o r p u b lic services a n d c o lle c tio n d e v e lo p m e n t a t W illa m e tte University, e-m ail: jro b e rts @ w illa m e tte .e d u , and Carol A. D rost is associate university lib ra ria n fo rte c h n ic a l services a t W illa m e tte University, e-mail: cdrost@ w illam ette.edu http://www.touchgraph.com/ http://www.kwmap.com/ TinyURL.com http://www.tinyurl TinyURL.com TinyURL.com TinyURL.com TinyURL.com mailto:samato@bowdoin.edu ValuationResources.com valuationresources.com/ ValuationResources.com ValuationResources.com mailto:jroberts@willamette.edu mailto:cdrost@willamette.edu C&RL News ■ February 2004 / 95 dustry R eports” section. This section is organized b y SIC (S tandard Industrial Classification) code, b ecau se m ost business appraisers are in th e habit o f using the SIC co d e that best describes th e com ­ p a n y they are valuing for their research. For e a c h o f tire 230 SIC codes included in th e section, a n n o ta te d links are p ro v id ed to free an d fee-based sources that provide industry overview, issues a n d trends, industry outlook a n d forecasts, financial benchm arks, an d com pensation surveys. F o r e x a m p le , h e re is a sam p le o f th e links p r o ­ v id e d fo r SIC 205x: B akery Products: I n d u s t r y O v e r v ie w , I s s u e s , T r e n d s , a n d O u t­ lo o k T h e Retail B aker’s Association Retail B ak eiy Start-up G uide w w w .rbanet.com /resources/bm books.htm G uide covers operating percentages a n d industry statistics a n d includes resource lists. C o m p e n s a t i o n S u r v e y s Baking Business W holesale, In-Store, a n d Retail Salary Surveys w w w .bakingbusine.ss. com /career/index. htm Salary a n d benefit surveys covering each segm ent o f th e b a k in g industry. Available free online. T h e list o f links for e a c h SIC is certainly n o t com prehensive, because site editor Jerry Peters in­ c lu d e s o n ly th o se sources that are data-rich a n d m e e t th e n e e d s o f business appraisers. Still, if y o u have an SIC code in mind, ValuationResources.com is a great site to start an industry research project.— JanDavis,fiLResearch,jt@jtreseaich.com O *N E T C on so rtiu m : O ccupational In ­ f o r m a t io n N e tw o r k . A ccess: w w w . onetcen ter.o rg /w h atsn ew .h tm l/. J o b seekers, students, w orkers, em p lo y m en t professionals, counselors, an d others interested in ex p lo rin g o ccu p atio n s a n d careers will find this site a g r e a t p la c e to start. T h e c e n te r p ie c e o f th e site is a d a ta b a s e o f w o r k e r a ttrib u te s a n d jo b c h a ra c te ris tic s d e v e lo p e d b y th e U.S. D e ­ p a r tm e n t o f Labor, E m p lo y m e n t a n d T rain in g A d m in istra tio n (ETA) in c o o rd in a tio n w ith th e N a tio n a l O*NET C o n s o rtiu m . It r e p la c e s th e D ic tio n a r y o f O c c u p a tio n a l T itle s (D O T ), w h ic h c e a s e d p u b licatio n in 1991, a n d is b illed as “th e n a tio n ’s prim ary so u rce o f o c c u p a tio n a l in fo rm a tio n .” O*NET strives to p ro v id e a s ta n ­ d a rd iz e d w a y o f d efin in g a n d describ in g o c c u ­ p a tio n s, sim ilar to th e D O T; h o w e v e r, O*NET offers m u c h m ore. O*NET O n lin e is a w e ll- d e s ig n e d s e a r c h e n g in e fo r ex p lo rin g th e d atabase. Search “Find O c c u p a t i o n s ” b y k e y w o r d to p r o d u c e a r e l­ e v a n c e - ra n k e d list o f all o c c u p a tio n s in c lu d ­ in g th a t w o r d . A lte rn a tiv e ly , b r o w s e b y th e “J o b F a m ily ” h ie r a r c h y o f o c c u p a tio n s . P u ll­ d o w n m e n u s rev eal ca te g o rie s s u c h as “A rchi­ tectu re a n d E ng in eerin g ,” o r “E ducation, Train­ ing a n d Library,” o r e v e n “All O c c u p a tio n s.” In a d d i t i o n , t h e “S k ills S e a r c h ” f e a tu r e a llo w s s e a rc h e rs to lo c a te job s b y c h o o sin g attrib u tes o f im p o r ta n c e to th e m . F in ally , w ith “C ro s s ­ w a lk ,” o n e c a n u s e a n y o f fo u r o th e r o c c u p a ­ tio n a l c la s sific a tio n s, s u c h as D O T c o d e s , to fin d m a tc h in g O*NET-SOC ( S ta n d a r d O c c u ­ p a tio n a l C lassification) o c c u p a tio n s. E ach o c c u p a tio n listed inclu d es th e O*NET- SOC c o d e a n d th re e rep o rts. T h e s u m m a ry re ­ p o r t d e sc rib e s characteristics m o st n e e d e d for e a c h o ccu p atio n org an ized u n d e r a d o z e n stan­ d a rd categories: tasks, k n o w le d g e , skills, w o rk a c tiv itie s , w o r k c o n te x t, in te r e s t, w o r k v a l­ u e s , re la te d o c c u p a tio n s , etc. E specially in te r­ e s tin g is a t a b f o r w a g e s a n d e m p lo y m e n t, w h ic h o ffe rs a n o c c u p a t i o n r e p o r t b y s ta te , in c lu d in g o u tlo o k , tre n d s , a c a re e r v id e o , a n d m u c h m o re. D eta ile d a n d cu sto m re p o rts offer o th e r v ie w e r o p tio n s. B e y o n d O*NET O n lin e , th is site is c h o c k - fu ll o f in fo rm a tio n o n th e C o n s o rtiu m , o th e r e a sily a c c e s s ib le O*NET p r o d u c ts , c a r e e r a s ­ sessm en t guides a n d tools, research a n d techni­ cal re p o rts , d a ta c o lle c tio n m e th o d s , p la n n e d p r o d u c ts a n d w a y s to c o n tr ib u te to th e p r o ­ cess. B ro w s e th e site m a p o r FAQ first, as th e n u m e ro u s p a th s c a n b e a b it o v e rw h e lm in g to navigate. O*NET O n lin e a lo n e , h o w e v e r , is w o r th th e s to p fo r stu d e n ts se a rc h in g fo r re le v a n t ca ­ re e rs a t a n y p o i n t in th e ir a c a d e m ic jo u rn e y . T h ro u g h it th ey c an ex p lo re occupations, m atch skills, fin d o u t a b o u t salary a n d tre n d s, o r just s e e w h a t is o u t th e r e . R e s e a rc h e rs , e m p lo y ­ m e n t specialists, a n d o th ers c an dig d e e p e r a n d d is c o v e r a w e a l t h o f in f o r m a tio n a b o u t th e w o r ld o f w o r k th a t is lik ely u n ­ available anywhere else.— Barbara Valentine, Linfield College, bealen@ Imfield.edu^t http://www.rbanet.com/resources/bmbooks.htm http://www.bakingbusine.ss ValuationResources.com jt%c2%aejtreseaich.com