SPECIAL PROJECTS

VALUE-ADDED NEWS RESOURCES

This month, the Internet Prospector takes a quick peek at some of the value-added to already reliable research news resources.

Northern Light (http://www.northernlight.com/) has added The New York Times and about 100 new newspapers from Knight Ridder/Tribune News to its Online Business Library. Now, Northern Light makes available about 400 newspapers. Use Northern Light to perform full-text searches of more than 330 million World Wide Web pages.

Another favorite, AJR NewsLink (http://ajr.newslink.org/) a joint venture between the American Journalism Review and NewsLink Associates, is working on a complete replacement of its links database. If you need to find local media resources, use this site's Search NewsLink database. Search by name, city, state and media type. Search AJR articles, other news sites (like Electric Library, TotalNews, Excite and others) and the Web, all from NewsLink.

Then there are the links to 13,000 newspapers, magazines, TV and other media. Its Resources is an excellent tool for the professional researcher. Find News Services, Journalism Organizations, New-Media Newsletters, Search Tools and Starting Point for Journalists. Starting Point includes the Reporters Hotlist, Professional Reference and Selected Sources. AJR Newslink Resources is a not-to-be-missed tool.

NBCI.com (http://www.nbci.com/) as a news source has great toys that are helpful to the researcher. The clincher in choosing this news site over its competitors is its Power Search. The Power Search is fantastic. Use drop down menus and plug in your terms. Search by keyword, Boolean phrase, extensions, media type (it includes types you may not even consider), domain, country extension, language and much more. The Power Search is a helpful tool because it provides ideas you may not have considered to help you pinpoint your search.

NBCi also offers a personal agent developed by its flyswat (http://www.flyswat.com/) division. Called QuickClick (http://www.quickclick.com/), this is a free, word-activated info source accessed within your browsers, e-mail and other software applications. The program underlines keywords as you surf. Click on the underlined keywords and get more data on that word.

Why use this tool? You can click on a company name and get the scoop on insider trading, company news or an analyst's report, without using another source.

Another advantage is the ability to manually add your own keywords, which may be very useful for campaigns, special projects or initiatives.

That wraps up the Internet Prospector's recap of some old yet renewed news sources for now. If you have any oldies with new goodies, just drop me line.

Pamela J. Smith