Introduce ourselves and let students know that they can feel free to contact us -- we're available as resources. Also, tell the students about ourselves, so that they're aware of our background, how we ended up where we are now, experience, etc.

These goals are quite broad.  The main point to remember today is, however, that librarians must consider ways to integrate the use of the Internet as a resource for themselves and for their patrons.  As you can imagine, this integration poses a number of challenges and issues:

Once you’ve done a search and have located a number of sites, you must determine whether the information you’ve found is relevant, authoritative, reliable, etc. 

The WWW is the whole constellation of Internet resources.  It provides the protocol for text files and multi-media.  What the WWW can do which none of the other Internet modes can is handle "hypermedia" such as graphics, moving and still images, audio, real-time chat or sound, etc.  The WWW uses the hypertext transfer protocol (http) to enable sounds, images, text, etc. to be mixed together in the same documents.  Although most WWW documents are written in the html (hypertext markup language), gopher and ftp sites can also be accessed via the WWW.  The WWW also allows any computer to become a client, and any computer to become a server.  Plus, the WWW allows different kinds of machines to communicate with eachother by providing a simple, common language (via the browser). 

A URL is an address for a WWW site.  Just as every home has a number, street, city, state address, every WWW page has a URL.  The URL is what you use to locate a particular site when you're on the Web.  The URL provides information that tells your computer (client) exactly where to go (server).  protocol://server & domain/directory/file & extension.  So, the URL that's on this slide tells the client to go to the med-libwww server at the boston university (which is an educational institution) domain.  The directory is called "library", and within that directory, is a page or file called home.  The html tag indicates that this file was written in the html language (as opposed to a gif (graphics) or other kind of file.) At this point, does anyone have any questions or comments about the history and background of the Internet & WWW?

A URL is an address for a WWW site.  Just as every home has a number, street, city, state address, every WWW page has a URL.  The URL is what you use to locate a particular site when you're on the Web.  The URL provides information that tells your computer (client) exactly where to go (server).  protocol://server & domain/directory/file & extension.  So, the URL that's on this slide tells the client to go to the med-libwww server at the boston university (which is an educational institution) domain.  The directory is called "library", and within that directory, is a page or file called home.  The html tag indicates that this file was written in the html language (as opposed to a gif (graphics) or other kind of file.) At this point, does anyone have any questions or comments about the history and background of the Internet & WWW?

(Based on their experience using printed resources, the students should be able to list some of the criteria used to evaluate resources.  Most of the criterion that applies to printed resources also applies to Internet resources.)

Which is the REAL whitehouse?  How long would it take the average user to figure out that the 1st is a parody of the REAL whitehouse page (whitehouse.gov) (This is an  editorial from a supposed expert.  But, who is this guy, really?  Notice that his resume is included on the site; but the resume excludes his education and is very vague.  Is CERI a legitimate organization?)

One site mentions the CDC, so I’d try searching their WWW site for more information.  Or, I’d try one of the toxicology databases on Internet Grateful Med for more information.) http://www.chem.utah.edu/MSDS/msds.html  (This site sells herbal PhenFen, despite the FDA’s warnings against it.)

One site mentions the CDC, so I’d try searching their WWW site for more information.  Or, I’d try one of the toxicology databases on Internet Grateful Med for more information.) http://www.chem.utah.edu/MSDS/msds.html  (This site sells herbal PhenFen, despite the FDA’s warnings against it.)

One site mentions the CDC, so I’d try searching their WWW site for more information.  Or, I’d try one of the toxicology databases on Internet Grateful Med for more information.) http://www.chem.utah.edu/MSDS/msds.html  (This site sells herbal PhenFen, despite the FDA’s warnings against it.)

Encyclopedia Brittanica (note that it says that it contains ALL articles from the printed editions; but for illustations, biographies, yearbooks, etc., it doesn't say that it contains ALL, so you should assume that many are missing.)  Mugar Library's "reference shelf" provides a link to WWWebster Dictionary, the online version of Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.  Notice that Mugar clearly states that the dictionary is an online version of the 10th edition of Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.  But when you link to the dictionary itself (http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm), it's a lot tougher to find out what edition is contained and whether it's complete. American Hospital Directory clearly states how the information is gathered.  States that it includes infomration on MOST hospitals.  When you enter the "free services" section, it immediately presents a notice regarding contents, and a disclaimer.

Encyclopedia Brittanica (note that it says that it contains ALL articles from the printed editions; but for illustations, biographies, yearbooks, etc., it doesn't say that it contains ALL, so you should assume that many are missing.)  Mugar Library's "reference shelf" provides a link to WWWebster Dictionary, the online version of Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.  Notice that Mugar clearly states that the dictionary is an online version of the 10th edition of Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.  But when you link to the dictionary itself (http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm), it's a lot tougher to find out what edition is contained and whether it's complete. American Hospital Directory clearly states how the information is gathered.  States that it includes infomration on MOST hospitals.  When you enter the "free services" section, it immediately presents a notice regarding contents, and a disclaimer.

Encyclopedia Brittanica (note that it says that it contains ALL articles from the printed editions; but for illustations, biographies, yearbooks, etc., it doesn't say that it contains ALL, so you should assume that many are missing.)  Mugar Library's "reference shelf" provides a link to WWWebster Dictionary, the online version of Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.  Notice that Mugar clearly states that the dictionary is an online version of the 10th edition of Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.  But when you link to the dictionary itself (http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm), it's a lot tougher to find out what edition is contained and whether it's complete. American Hospital Directory clearly states how the information is gathered.  States that it includes infomration on MOST hospitals.  When you enter the "free services" section, it immediately presents a notice regarding contents, and a disclaimer.

http://www.hans.org/  (If you look at the fact sheets on this site -- none are dated.) Bartlett's Familiar Quotations -- this is a terrific resource, but you may or may not notice that it's the 1901 edition!  (The header, bibliographic link and front matter link all clearly say 1901, but people could miss that.  What do you think?) This site actually warns you that the information may be outdated.  It also has a thorough disclaimer.

and even the library's new WWW site http://med-libwww.bu.edu/library/home.html underwent changes.  See the BUMC MEDLINE link?  In the original re-design,   (on handout), the MEDLINE link is not as clearly delineated as a clickable box.  When we mounted this page, we immediately got calls from patrons who couldn't find the link to MEDLINE.  We were surprised that they didn't see it, but decided to make a change anyway.  If you compare the handout to the new site, you'll see that the links under the library's name are much clearer. Also notice on the other handout that the header and menu column on the left are small.  Patrons also complained about this, so we enlarged it. About USA Today Online - the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) (http://www.usatoday.com/leadpage/about.htm) Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 Edition (http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/webster.form.html

 This site looks benign enough -- looks like a potentially useful consumer health site -- http://www.healthfront.com/  

Many newspapers, for example, provide what I call “teasers” -- headline or the first few sentences from an article.