Don MacLeod (1) (1955–)
Författare till How to Find Out Anything: From Extreme Google Searches to Scouring Government Documents, a Guide to Uncovering Anything About Everyone and Everything
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Om författaren
Don MacLeod has been a law librarian for more than twenty years at four of the most prestigious law firms in New York City. Since 2001, MacLeod has regularly presented a seminar titled "How to Find Out Anything" for mediabistro.com. His research tips have been quoted in Real Simple, among other visa mer publications. visa färre
Verk av Don MacLeod
Taggad
Allmänna fakta
- Namn enligt folkbokföringen
- MacLeod, Donald George
- Födelsedag
- 1955-09-23
- Kön
- male
- Yrken
- law librarian
- Kort biografi
- Don MacLeod is a law librarian and researches companies, individuals, legislation, and specific subjects for the major New York firms of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Chadbourne & Parke, LLP and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. For five years, he developed intranets and taught web research as manager of web applications for Cravath and Chadbourne before returning to research work.
He is the author of two editions of the Internet Guide for the Legal Researcher and serves as editor-in-chief of Internet Law Researcher and Internet Connection. He is a regular contributor to The New York Press and has written for Database magazine and the New York Law Journal. He also speaks regularly at law seminars about the use of the Internet for legal and factual research.
Medlemmar
Recensioner
How to Find Out Anything: From Extreme Google… av Don MacLeod
Since I'm already a librarian, I was aware of most of this. Good resource, well researched.
This book was better than I anticipated. For librarians, this book can serve as a review of things we know already (or should have learned either in library school or somewhere along the way in our work). So, for librarians, it is a book that can be skimmed and reviewed as needed. Now, for the rest of the people who are not librarians or professional researchers, Mr. MacLeod brings a lot of knowledge to the table in a relatively compact book.
He covers the following:
*How to think like a researcher. Learning how to ask the right questions, but also learning how to know when you have found the answer.
*On Google, including some advanced techniques. This part does show the usual disadvantage of some books that present content about the Internet: they can quickly change or go out of date. Some of the Google features mentioned are either not there or they are about to be phased out, like iGoogle (the personalized web page component that Google is retiring). Also, Google has made it more difficult to find the advanced search options (getting to the actual advanced search screen is not easy, and he does not mention it in the book. I do not know if he just did not consider it important, or took it for granted). However, many of the tips on advanced commands you can use are pretty good.
*Stuff on finding information from other sources than the "usual" Google search. He looks at associations, business resources, government resources. This is a pretty good section that shows that not everything is on Google. In fact, if you are only relying on Google, you are missing a hell of a lot of information.
*How to find people. This was a mixed bag. Yes, you can find out many things by the digital footsteps people leave behind. However, getting to it may not be easy. Often, you have to pay to get specific information about people (say for things like background checks). Contrary to common myths, stalking someone is not as easy as it used to. It can be done, but it does take a lot of work and savvy, and as I said, you may have to pay. And that is a good point to make: not all the information is free, and MacLeod does point that out, highlighting some of the paid services that may be of interest or not.
*He also gives credit to the library and librarians, for in this age, they are the one place where you can get a lot of information for free plus you can get good research support. It does pay off to get a library card and to become friends with your local librarians.
So overall, for what the book claims to do, it is pretty good. It does provide good advice and information on how to find a variety of things. It is written in pretty easy to understand language, so the average person should be able to pick it up and get some things done. He even gives some sample exercises to help you practice what you learn. In conclusion, for librarians, this is mostly a review (if you paid attention in library school or at your workplace you paid attention to the older, experienced librarian). For lay people, this is a good place to learn a bit about research, what sources and places to use, and how to use them. It is not the be all, end all, but it is a pretty good start. I think the book does a lot to de-mistify the research process, and that is a good thing. I have no problem with people learning to do these things. I am all about empowering people, and I know that I will still have work since my patrons will always have research and information needs as well as be taught how to use resources and evaluate them. As a librarian, this is a book I would keep on my shelf both to review things now and then as well as to lend to people as needed.… (mer)
He covers the following:
*How to think like a researcher. Learning how to ask the right questions, but also learning how to know when you have found the answer.
*On Google, including some advanced techniques. This part does show the usual disadvantage of some books that present content about the Internet: they can quickly change or go out of date. Some of the Google features mentioned are either not there or they are about to be phased out, like iGoogle (the personalized web page component that Google is retiring). Also, Google has made it more difficult to find the advanced search options (getting to the actual advanced search screen is not easy, and he does not mention it in the book. I do not know if he just did not consider it important, or took it for granted). However, many of the tips on advanced commands you can use are pretty good.
*Stuff on finding information from other sources than the "usual" Google search. He looks at associations, business resources, government resources. This is a pretty good section that shows that not everything is on Google. In fact, if you are only relying on Google, you are missing a hell of a lot of information.
*How to find people. This was a mixed bag. Yes, you can find out many things by the digital footsteps people leave behind. However, getting to it may not be easy. Often, you have to pay to get specific information about people (say for things like background checks). Contrary to common myths, stalking someone is not as easy as it used to. It can be done, but it does take a lot of work and savvy, and as I said, you may have to pay. And that is a good point to make: not all the information is free, and MacLeod does point that out, highlighting some of the paid services that may be of interest or not.
*He also gives credit to the library and librarians, for in this age, they are the one place where you can get a lot of information for free plus you can get good research support. It does pay off to get a library card and to become friends with your local librarians.
So overall, for what the book claims to do, it is pretty good. It does provide good advice and information on how to find a variety of things. It is written in pretty easy to understand language, so the average person should be able to pick it up and get some things done. He even gives some sample exercises to help you practice what you learn. In conclusion, for librarians, this is mostly a review (if you paid attention in library school or at your workplace you paid attention to the older, experienced librarian). For lay people, this is a good place to learn a bit about research, what sources and places to use, and how to use them. It is not the be all, end all, but it is a pretty good start. I think the book does a lot to de-mistify the research process, and that is a good thing. I have no problem with people learning to do these things. I am all about empowering people, and I know that I will still have work since my patrons will always have research and information needs as well as be taught how to use resources and evaluate them. As a librarian, this is a book I would keep on my shelf both to review things now and then as well as to lend to people as needed.… (mer)
This is a great research book. I've put it on my birthday wish list.
Rating: 3 of 5
My goal here was professional development; specifically, how to cultivate a list of companies (both domestic and foreign; both public and private) in a certain industry for my client's marketing plan. How to Find Out Anything was a solid introduction to finding information - online and offline - but it's definitely geared more toward the newbie than the intermediate or expert researcher. The most valuable component was the "Sites and Sources Mentioned in This Chapter" section at the end of each chapter. MacLeod throws out a lot of suggestions with leads within the chapters, yet there's no need to write them all down whilst reading thanks to those handy-dandy lists. What readers may want to take notes on, though, are the caveats provided for each site and its related search and information opportunities. Overall, I'm satisfied with the book's information, but it's definitely only meant to be a jumping off point, not an end-all resource.… (mer)
My goal here was professional development; specifically, how to cultivate a list of companies (both domestic and foreign; both public and private) in a certain industry for my client's marketing plan. How to Find Out Anything was a solid introduction to finding information - online and offline - but it's definitely geared more toward the newbie than the intermediate or expert researcher. The most valuable component was the "Sites and Sources Mentioned in This Chapter" section at the end of each chapter. MacLeod throws out a lot of suggestions with leads within the chapters, yet there's no need to write them all down whilst reading thanks to those handy-dandy lists. What readers may want to take notes on, though, are the caveats provided for each site and its related search and information opportunities. Overall, I'm satisfied with the book's information, but it's definitely only meant to be a jumping off point, not an end-all resource.… (mer)
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Statistik
- Verk
- 2
- Medlemmar
- 141
- Popularitet
- #145,671
- Betyg
- 3.8
- Recensioner
- 5
- ISBN
- 14
- Språk
- 1