eReviews

IGI Global, www.infosci-books.com/

Info-Sci Books is a database containing every book and reference work published by IGI Global since 2000. The coverage focuses on computer science and information technology, with specific subject collections including Artificial Intelligence; Biomedical Technology and Informatics; Business/Management Information; Technology and Systems; Case Studies; Computer Networking Technology; Databases, Data Mining, and Data Warehousing; Distance Learning; Electronic Commerce; Electronic Government; Environmental Information Sciences; Health Care Information and Management Systems; Human, Behavioral, and Social Aspects of Technology; Information Security, Privacy, and Ethics; Internet and Web Technologies and Services; Knowledge Management; Library Science; Mobile Computing and Communications Technologies; Multimedia Technology; Online Instruction; and Software/Systems Engineering, Programming, Analysis, and Design.

Materials in the database encompass over 15,000 chapters from more than 800 scholarly books, reference books, and conference proceedings, with article-level abstracting and indexing. The file is updated continuously as new books go to press.

HOW DOES IT WORK? The Home Page gives you three main options to access the contents: a Basic Search link (that lets you search by keyword), a Table of Contents link (that lets you search chapters grouped by their parent book), and a Topics link to view topics related to books. The left side of the screen gives you access to the Home Page, Search Tips, Basic Search, Advanced Search, Topic Search, Table of Contents, FAQ, and Logout via an omnipresent window. At screen bottom are links to an Overview of the file, its Contents and Latest Additions, Subscription Information, Testimonials, Contact Us, and Logout.

CAN YOU USE IT? I wanted to get an idea of the file's scope, so I went first into the Topics section, where I found 27 different topics, ranging from Business Process Reengineering to Virtual Offices. The screen prompted me to check a box next to the topic(s) I wanted to research; Virtual Offices intrigued me, so I checked that box and asked the system to search. That found 208 results, and it took me a minute or two to figure out the order in which they were displayed. I soon realized the order was alphabetical by the title of the book.

The first set of results came from the 2005 title Business Process Improvement Through E-Collaboration, while the last set of results came from the 2004 book Virtual and Collaborative Teams. Chapters are listed alphabetically, too, within each book. A key at screen left clued me in to the fact that I could view Abstracts/Summaries, Full Text, or the text only with no frame for each article in the result list.

When I clicked on the chapter "Effective Virtual Teamwork: A Socio-Cognitive and Motivational Model" by L.J. Millward and O. Kyriakidou, from the book Virtual and Collaborative Teams, I went to an entry giving the title, author, book chapter number, pagination, source, copyright statement, author affiliations, editor, hyperlinked keywords, a succinct but informative 100-word abstract, and two links to the full-text view or text-only, no-frame view.

I clicked on the full-text view and went into a full-page PDF view of the first page of the chapter. It was remarkably clear and easy to read. In fact, it was remarkably easy to print, to size up or size down the font, to move forward and back page by page or jump to a page within the article, to scroll continuously, to find words within the page (no Control+F needed; there's a box right at screen top), and to share documents (through a ready link at screen top to start an Acrobat Connect meeting to share documents). What a pleasant surprise!

I decided to try an Advanced Search next, and clicking on that link took me to a screen prompting me to enter up to three keywords in search boxes, which search within any of eight fields (chapter number, title, abstract, source, author, year, keywords, or affiliation) or within all, related by the operators: and, or, not, exact, whole word, sorted by title, year, source, author, within book chapters, proceedings, reference books, and displaying 15, 25, 50, 100, or all results, prompting me with the wildcard (*) and linking me into detailed Advanced Search tips if I wanted them.

It's astonishingly easy to do an effective, detailed search within seconds. My search for "virtual office*" found 20 results, including "An International Virtual Office Communication Plan" by Lei Lei Meng and Robert Schafer, from the 2008 book Handbook of Research on Virtual Workplaces and the New Nature of Business Practices. Obviously, the database is updated continuously.

The Table of Contents browse/search was less effective, although it's probably more effective with computer and information technology book titles than it would be with book titles in the humanities, which include so many metaphors and plays on words, as compared with the way books in this file tend to get right to the point. For instance, I did find some material on virtual offices by browsing through the title lists, but since searching is so much faster and easier, that's what I found myself doing most of the time.

WHAT'S THE COST? An annual site license for Info-Sci Books begins at $6000 (for under 5000 FTE) and ranges up from there for libraries. Perpetual one-time access to the base package (of books published from 2000 to the end of the current calendar year) is $30,000, with options for adding the subsequent calendar year to the base price or for purchase of access to the current calendar year's content only, without the base package. Consortial discounts of up to 45 percent are available, depending upon the size of the consortium.

HOW GOOD IS IT? This is a straightforward, no-unnecessary-frills file that delivers excellent content efficiently and satisfyingly. It is priced quite reasonably considering the scope and nature of the material. For all these reasons, it gets a firm 10.

BOTTOM LINE I'm reconsidering my reservations about ebooks because of this product. It features a fast and effective way to get at timely information. Solidly recommended for libraries serving researchers in the field.