What about the Web for information?

 

Although many people go to the Web first for information, it is not always the best place for what you need. While it's difficult to make definitive statements about something as diverse as the Web, here we go. . . .

Most information on the Web does not go through a review process.
You should be skeptical about some of the information on the Web because anyone can publish information without its content passing through any type of editor. Pages might be written by an expert on the topic, a journalist, a disgruntled consumer or a sixth grader.

Some information on the Web is NOT free.
Many Web pages are free to view, but some commercial sites will charge a fee for you to access all or even part of their web site’s content.

Information on the Web is not organized.
There is a very large portion of the Web that simply is not organized. There are directory web services, such as yahoo, that collect links to web sites and organizes them into subject lists. However, no single directory or search engine is capable of arranging and indexing the millions of sites and variety of subject matter on the web.

Most information on the Web is not comprehensive.
The web is comprised of millions of web pages; these pages contain a hodgepodge of information, some valuable and reliable, some not. In addition, finding information in an historical context, (i.e., over time) is a very difficult task and finding a variety of sources can be challenging for even the most experienced web searcher. REMEMBER: the majority of printed information is not available on the web. Some materials will never be digitized due to cost, size or format issues.

Most information on the Web is not permanent.
There are many well-maintained sites that are updated with current and accurate information. However, a large percentage of Web sites cease to be maintained, become dead links or disappear altogether.

What about the Library for information?