The Columbia Gazetteer has long been a stalwart in many academic libraries’ reference collections. After much fanfare and delay, the online version has finally debuted, and it is a worthy consideration for many academic libraries, and for larger public libraries as well. Like it or not, our patrons want to access information electronically, and gazetteer information is no exception.
The Gazetteer provides three search methods: Type of Place, Place‐name, and Word. The main screen is free from clutter and loads quickly. There is help available on each screen, as well as information about Columbia University Press and a contact link.
The Type of Place search allows users to perform simple or complicated searches, depending on the information desired. Users must select the type of place from a long pull‐down menu, then can limit this search to five different criteria. These criteria can be set equal to, greater than, or less than user input data. For example, I was interested in finding out which cities were larger than Oklahoma City, one of the larger cities by area in the county. I did a search for cities and limited my search to those with populations greater than 100,000 and areas greater than 500 square miles. (Oklahoma City has an area of 604 square miles and a population of over 440,000.) Other limits include continent and country, so I chose the USA. Interestingly, only Jacksonville, Florida displayed as the result. Despite this omission, the results in general are easy to read and are linked. Clicking on the link provides the Place name information on the selected item.
The Place‐name search is used when information from the gazetteer is needed, much like searching the print version. Users are placed in an index and are provided the gazetteer information on the selected item. There is no way to restrict this type of search. Links at the top of the screen lead to the previous and next entries. To return to the list, users must use the browser’s back button, a minor annoyance. In checking Oklahoma City, the information on area was not in the main body of the text; this explains why I did not get a complete answer in the first search.
The Word search, also known as a full text search, is just as the name implies: a full text search of the entire database. To search a phrase, the phrase is entered in quotes; otherwise, the search terms are combined in a Boolean “and” search. This type of search is a powerful method of searching the entire database for specific information. Faculty and researchers would find this useful.
The Columbia Gazetteer of the World is a useful and easy to use tool. Despite some inconsistencies, it is a worthy addition to libraries’ electronic database collections. Since it is fairly new, updating frequency has not been established, nor have methods of submitting error reports, yet it remains a quality product.
