Author Description

From Library Journal Edited by a team from the University of Michigan Internet Clearinghouse, these two volumes in The Internet Compendium series (a third title is Subject Guides to Social Sciences, Business & Law Resources) provide much-needed print directories to Internet resources in health and science and the humanities. Far from comprehensive, both titles represent a selection of the Clearinghouse's 200 online guides available by gophering to gopher.lib.umich.edu under "What's New," then "Clearinghouse for Subject-Oriented Internet Guides." The nine subject guides in Subject Guides to Health and Science Resources cover topics such as aerospace, biology, chemistry, earth science, environmental science, health science, and neuroscience. Subject Guides to the Humanities features 16 subject guides including architecture, book discussions and reviews, Buddhism, Christianity, film and video, library employment, philosophy, and music and theater. Many humanities topics are not presented, but the book's instructions make it possible to obtain more online. In both volumes, the subject guides, each written by a different "power user" or subject specialist, many of whom are librarians or professors, list dozens or even hundreds of listservs, usenet newsgroups, electronic journals, text archives, freenets, chatlines, and Web addresses; the series as a whole provides access to roughly 10,000 Internet addresses. Each listing gives clear, concise instructions and descriptions of content, URLs, voice, and modem phone numbers, and prices (when applicable). Several well-written chapters (repeated in each volume) introduce readers to such Internet basics as telnet, ftp (file-transfer protocol), WAIS (Wide Area Information Server), ARCHIE, and VERONICA. While indexing the ever-changing environment of the Internet may seem an impossible job, this series makes an excellent start and will be valuable on the reference shelf for both librarians and patrons.Laura Lipton, Miller Hor