I just couldn't stay out of the thread on the 'Net as a reference tool. Let's not forget the history of the 'Net. After it's initial communication function by the military, it was (and is) used by academics to share their RESEARCH. All of these documents are lying around out there in cybersapce waiting to be accessed by way of ftp or gopher searches. While the WWW is getting evermore cluttered with *look-at-me* sites, it's also a great place to look for information. Witness the Smithsonian's home page - did I read that it now runs to 1,500 pages? (URL: http://www.si.edu/). The Library of Congress' Thomas page (http://thomas.loc.gov/) has tons of governmental stuff like the Congressional Record, the Federal Register, full text of pending legislation, and access to all our *wunnerful* politicians). Some states have their state Codes online (http://www.law.indiana.edu/codes/). Have you priced legal publications lately? Need to find a business anywhere in the US? Look 'em up in the online yellow pages - yep, all of 'em! (http://www.telephonebook.com/) How about a university professor? Find their university's home page and find its online phone book. Find almost anything in the world at the BUBL Subject Tree (http://www.bubl.bath.ac.uk/BUBL/Treealphabet.html). Think Yahoo's pretty neat? Check out BUBL! Looking for a new car? Find out how much the dealer pays for it (and it's options). Look it up at http://www.enews.com:80/magazines/. Want to check out a museum and what it's got - see LA County Natural History Museum's terrific index (http://cwis.usc.edu/lacmnh/webmuseums/). How 'bout finding what kind of stuff the NEA (http://gopher.tmn.com:70/Artswire/Govarts/NEA/NEAINFO/) or NEH (http://www.neh.fed.us) has been funding. There it is. Don't know the URL (address)? Look it up in Lycos (http://www.lycos.com) or Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.digital.com/). Don't forget the advantages of Discussion Lists for research either. After all, this thread started with a request for information. That's all research is, isn't it? Yes, there's lots of drek out there. But the more you look, the more GOOD stuff you'll find, too. BTW, if you want a demo copy of Netscape, go to their home page and download a copy. Nothing on the 'Net? I don't think so. But, enough of my two cents for now. Hope this helps. Gregg Jackson ([log in to unmask]) Librarian The Children's Museum of Indianapolis "Where children grow up...and adults don't have to!" Please visit our Home Page at: http://www.a1.com/children/home.html (NOTE: that's a "one" not an"L" after the "www.a" bit.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~