Library Research in Economic Botany
Prepared by Anne Turhollow for Biology 460
Fall 2004
Searching for Information on the Web
We've all seen the ads or heard the hype: It's all on the Internet and it's all free. WRONG! Lots of information is not on the Internet; almost all books and most journals are not available. And it's certainly not free. (Think about it - if the library pays a publisher $3000 a year for journal subscription, is that same publisher is going to put that information up on the Internet for everyone to see?) Yes, we are beginning a transition to electronic formats, but it's going to take awhile. And it will be even longer before older journal articles and books are converted. (If ever!)
However, there is some very good information out there on the Internet, you just have to find it. A number of institutions have developed some well thought out and informative sites. However much of the information tends towards the general rather than the specific.
About the Internet
Some starting points if you are unfamilar with the Internet:
- Bare Bones 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web is a good way to get a quick, simple introduction or a refresher in how to search for information on the Internet. Created by Ellen Chamberlain of the University of South Carolina Beaufort Library.
- Finding Information on the Internet is a tutorial from the UC Berkeley Libraries. Includes sections on what the Internet is, how to search and a suggested order for using search tools.
Some Directories for Biology
Directories are large listings complied by humans. While some attempt to cover all areas, there are a few which focus on biology. Most directoriest to evaluate sites for content before adding them to their lists.
- BIOME
- Covers the life and health sciences. Sites have been selected and evaluated by academic and research librarians in the United Kingdom.
- InfoMine: Biological, Agricultural, and Medical Sciences
- Similar to BIOME, but maintained here in the United States. Not all entries have been evaluated.
There are two general directories worth looking at:
- LII - Librarians' Index to the Index
- A small (8,000) but choice set of sites with a nice focus on California. A project of the Library of California.
- Scout Report and Archives
- A larger collection of sites than LII with more of an academic focus. A twice monthly newsletter on Life Science sites is available. Maintained by the Scout Project based at the Computer Science Department at the University of Wisconsin.
Search Engines
Search engines use machine created databases that do not evaluate resources. You will need to use several of them as no one search engine can encompass the entire World Wide Web. A good starting point is the Recommended Search Tools page from LII. They also provide a quick overview of search tips for these tools. My personal favorites at the moment are Teoma and Google. One search engine, Scirus, attempts to restrict its indexing to electronic journal articles (mainly from Elsevier) and scientific websites.
Some Sites of Interest for Economic Botany
These were found using various techniques.
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- Part of NIH, they sponsor scientific research on herbal medicines and other areas of complementary and alternative medicine.
- Office of Dietary Supplements
- Another NIH agency, they deal with dietary supplements, which is the category for most herbal medicines.
- University of California - Agriculture and Natural Resources - Find Information
- Provides links to a wide variety of information about agriculture and other natural resources in California.
- US Department of Agriculture
- There is lots of information here on agriculture, food, and nutrition. Good source for statistics.
- US Food and Drug Administration
- They have oversight for the safety of food and drug products in the United States.
