Information Outlook, vol. 1, no. 2, February 1997, p. 38.

I discovered that Web resources augment, but do not replace, print resources. I continue to use older research resources while learning how to use the new ones. When a reference is both in print and on the Web, I usually cite both sources in a bibliography and therefore must verify two sources for a single article.

Search and retrieval skills acquired using older online sources are not always transferable to the Web. Each Web search site has its own set of search commands. This adds to the time the bibliographer spends doing the preliminary research.

Since there are few standard evaluation tools yet available for Web materials, webliographers must rely on their own judgment or word-of-mouth evaluations. Help is growing in this area, evidenced by a number of recent articles providing evaluation advice

Information authentication is another problem. The Web has been called the world's largest vanity press, and some Web publishers pretend to be more authoritative than they really are. Some sites are also deliberately designed to mislead users into thinking the site is authentic.

The Web has also presented us with a whole new concept of what "out of print" means. Web pages are notorious for suffering from "link rot." A reference that was cited yesterday may be moved or disappear entirely tomorrow without notice, making maintenance of these resources another headache.

The Web has also changed many users' perceptions of what they should get from online information providers. No matter how exhaustive its coverage, a bibliography is only a snapshot in time of what has been written on a subject and chosen by the bibliographer. Users have accepted the limitations of a traditional bibliography. However, with the increasing hype about the Web's capability to provide immediate gratification for information seekers, webliography users have come to expect, and even demand, links to the latest materials--requiring regular updating that would never be expected of a print bibliographer. For example, six weeks after compiling a bibliography with Web links, I received an irate complaint that many of the links were not working, and therefore the bibliography was useless. I was able to reconstruct new links for some of the citations, however much of the material is lost forever.

How does the webliographer deal with user expectations and demands? You could have a large staff devoted to regular updating activities, you could put a disclaimer on your material warning that the compiler is not responsible for links that cease to work, or you could use automated tools to check for "link rot" and assist with updates--all of which require extra work or decreased user satisfaction. Finally, you could involve the users as part of your update team. This not only blurs the division between information provider and information users, but enables them to repay you by feeding you new information. This informal collaboration forms an information sharing cycle which benefits both parties.

Now the user not only benefits from the research performed by the provider, but also participates by 1) commenting on the usefulness of materials, 2) creating and making available their own materials, and 3) making suggestions from additional information that they have located on their own. Bibliographies on the Web can require more work for the information professional, but will provide new resources for users and enhance the more traditional bibliographies. When the bibliographer enlists the user to form an information partnership, the results can enrich the work of both parties and improve the relationship between the information providers and users.