Internet for Health Professionals

Introduction

Why connect
to the Internet?

What is on the
Internet?

Evaluating Web Resources

Finding what
you want

Encyclopedic Sites

Pathfinder Sites

Search
engines

Subject
Catalogues

Evaluated
Subject
Catalogues

Interactive
Learning

Strengths of subject catalogues

Subject catalogues allow you to identify Internet resources from a broad subject base, thereby negating the need to identify highly specific search terms.

Their hierarchical and browsable structure provides a logical and accessible route to the Internet and , thus, are an ideal starting point for new users.

Weaknesses of subject catalogues

As the creation of a subject heading requires some human input, the catalogues tend to be smaller and less up-to-date than their free text equivalents.

Relevant resources may be overlooked by the inappropriate use of subject heading.

For medical and health information, the most widely used subject catalogues are:

Yahoo: Health
http://www.yahoo.com/health/

World Wide Web Virtual Library: Medicine
http://www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/