Statistical Resources on the Web was apparently put up by the University of Michigan for the benefit of its students. Some of the links are marked UMich Only and cannot be accessed by the general public. At the top of the home page is a box saying University of Michigan Documents Center; and a link exists at the bottom to get there. The home page offers Frames Index or No‐Frames versions. The No‐Frames version has no side‐bar. The other version has a side‐bar which contains an Index, which provides a link to a line for statistics that are more or less relevant. For example, Ancestry goes to Ancestry of the Population of the US.
At the end of the index is a Search button. This allows the user to search by keywords and offers options as to how many documents are wanted and whether the keywords should be from the Title, Headers, Body, or Everything. The methods for conducting the search are explained in detail. It also has a link to search AltaVista and the Document Center’s Web Site Directory (last updated April 22, 1999). The latter can be searched by letter of the alphabet; or the user can scroll down to browse through the available links.
The Search page also has links to the University of Michigan University Library. There is a link for questions and comments about the Documents Centers Web pages and about the Library Web pages. The home page also has a What’s New link which lists links new to the site, a Directory, which is the Documents Center’s Web Site Directory mentioned above, and a Search button, which goes to the Search page discussed above.
The home page has Tables and Non‐Tables alternatives. The Tables are boxes listing topics. Each box, when clicked, offers a side‐bar index Frame alternative, but this is just the same as the index previously provided. Below the Tables is a Quick Jumps list of the same topics. The Non‐Tables alternative simply goes past the boxes to this Quick Jumps list. The 24 Tables are arranged alphabetically from Agriculture to Weather. Each Table leads to a list of links which are appropriate to the area from a continuous list of topics. Above the Quick Jumps is a box for Government Resources on the Web, which includes Federal, Foreign, International, Michigan, State & Local, and much besides.
The Web site has few graphics and usually loads quickly. The statistical material that is accessible from this site is highly selective. Sticking to the menu‐type boxes or index is the quickest way to determine whether the site has links useful to the user. I found the keyword Search an exercise in frustration. “Automobile accidents” yielded a meager bit of information but few useful statistics. If the topic the searcher is interested in is not listed in the side‐bar Index, one might as well leave the site. The researcher needs to be aware that the dates of the statistics provided vary widely both between sites and within a single site. In sum, the Statistical Resources on the Web site is a fair place for a researcher to begin looking for statistics on a given topic, but it yields limited information. I recommend it with reservations.
