Editors Note: ResourceShelf welcomes a new contributor. Along with Shirl Kennedy and yours truly, Dan Giancaterino, a librarian based in Philadelphia, has agreed to share his thoughts (and some useful sites) with us from time to time.

Making a Case for the Open Web
by Dan Giancaterino
A frequent topic on ResourceShelf is the importance of educating people about the high-quality electronic information sources from content aggregators and producers that are often available via libraries. However, in the areas of business and law, the “open web” can sometimes offer information, features and pricing options not found on LexisNexis or Westlaw. Here are a few examples:

+ D&B – Both LexisNexis and Westlaw have additional charges for D&B searches. Zapdata, D&B’s database of 13 million U.S. companies, lets you do a simple company lookup for free (includes headquarters/branch designator, address, industry, and alternative names). More information is available for $5.

+ Delaware Corporate Records – Also available from both Lexis and Westlaw for an additional fee. With Lexis, however, you need to contact your rep to have the database activated for your account. (I’ve run into that problem in two different jobs.) The DE Department of State database is free and is more than adequate for a simple company lookup. Status information is an additional $10; filing history and tax information is $20. Both, however, are cheaper than LexisNexis or Westlaw.

+ Federal Register – The GPO’s site allows you to bookmark or have delivered via email the table of contents of the current day’s issue. To check daily for notices on a topic, click on the bookmark, then use Edit-Find on Page to search for the term. If there’s a relevant notice, right-click on the link to it and select Copy Shortcut. Then open an email and paste the URL into it. Elapsed time: about a minute. In many cases, this procedure is simpler than setting up, testing, and managing an ECLIPSE or WestClip alert.

+ Non-profit organizations – GuideStar’s database of 850,000 non-profits includes (if available) copies of the organization’s IRS Form 990, sometimes going back several years. Not available on either LexisNexis or Westlaw.

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