Exploring HIV/AIDS Resources on the Internet: A Case Study of Relevant
Sites
Ibrahim Alhaji Usman[1]
Ilo Promise I. [2] &
Joan Ogwa Idoko[3]
Abstract
The study identifies, evaluates and compiles accessible and useful Web
resources on Human Immune-deficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome (AIDS) for the benefit of librarians, researchers, health workers,
community workers who work with HIV/AIDS patients. It covers various aspects of
the subject namely, treatment, clinical trials, newsletters, journals,
nutrition, bibliography links and International organizations, concerned with
HIV/AIDs. Out of the numerous websites that were visited, only 50 were found to
be accessible and authoritative. The study ends with recommendation on how
services of librarian can be enhanced in terms of provision of useful
information on HIV/AIDs.
Keywords: Internet, HIV/AIDS, Websites, Library, Information technology
Introduction
Resources on Human Immune-deficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) have grown exponentially in recent times,
particularly in the World Wide Web. The proliferation of available Web sites in
the subject has reached a point whereby mega sites or lists of resources have
begun to appear. Yet despite this proliferation of information, it is observed
that there is scanty relevant and reliable information on HIV/AIDS Internet Web
resources. Librarians need to have information that is accessible, available,
stable, relevant, authoritative and easily accessible on the Internet regarding
this subject.
The challenges of collating and developing accessible information
resources have been reported by Hayati and
Jowkar (2008), in a study on the adoption of electronic reference
materials in academic libraries of Iran. The study identified that the “most
effective factors in adoption of electronic reference materials are the ability
of electronic reference materials to facilitate information retrieval,
shortening the time of searching and fair cost reference”. Similarly, Munnolli
(2005) conducted a situational study of harnessing the on-line resources and
revealed that “Librarians and information science professionals should take a
lead role in unveiling all such possible features available in various on-line
databases”. Munnoli further stated that they “should also make efforts at informing
the user community of the utility of such features in a bid to enhance the
research output”.
It is in view of the foregoing that this study was conducted with the
aims and objectives of publishing the result for researchers, field health
workers, extension staff, community workers working with AIDS patient and
librarians to find easily what is important, stable and relevant to them regarding HIV/AIDS resources.
Statement of the Problem
The Internet has
created both great excitements for information specialists, in terms of easy
access to data, and problems in terms of what is relevant and accessible. The
first problem is associated with the nature and pace of growth of information
resources. This growth of information has increased exponentially over the
years, making it difficult to find what is reliable and relevant. The other
concern relates to the characteristics of the materials available on the
Internet some of which are of poor and unreliable quality. A related challenge
is the huge volume of resources competing for attention: a wide variety of materials for individual to
select, the materials are prone to changes; some are irrelevant to user needs, while many are not
authoritative. Hence this study was designed to compile some
reliable Web sites for researchers and librarians on the issue of HIV/AIDS.
To find solution to
this problem, the study provides prescriptive ways of how Librarians,
Information professionals and Researchers could achieve efficiency and
effectiveness of searches over the Internet.
Aims and Objectives of the Study
The study examined
various Web sites using Internet Scout Project Selection criteria, Smith
Alastair G (1997) criterion, and other definitions, such as usefulness,
in-depth, freely available, well organized and easy to access or navigates. The
study therefore:
1. Examines the Web sites that are relevant, authoritative, stable and not
easily prone to change.
2. Ascertains usefulness, persistence and accessibility of the Web sites
3. Compiles Web sites that are noteworthy for those seeking reliable
information on HIV//AIDS.
4. Proffers solutions that will save time in Internet searching for
information on HIV/AIDS.
5. Provides bibliography list of Web sites that will provide effective and
efficient information on HIV/AIDS research.
6. Provides efficient links or good starting points to many other useful
and relevant Web sites.
Literature Review
A number of empirical studies have been reported in the literature in
respect of searching for information on the Internet. A key to resource selection in the print
environment is the use of reviews. A number of authors have considered criteria
for evaluation of information sources. Many are interested in the criteria developed
by Katz (1969) for the evaluation of print reference tools, such scope,
content, current, relevant, authoritative and usefulness. Sherry Piontek and
Kristen Garlock (1996) refer to the related area of collection development
criteria and argue that
collection development libraries, because of their experience in the areas
of collection, organization, evaluation and presentation, are uniquely
qualified to create World Wide Web subject resource collections for an academic
audience. By learning how to use Internet subject directories and searching
sites, and by acquainting themselves with basic HTML tags, these librarians can
create guides which can become valuable tools for all Internet users. In the
process, they can also expand their own library collections by providing access
to networked information which would have otherwise been inaccessible to their
users.
Rettig (1995) noted that the consistent, authoritative reviews of
Internet information resources are not yet widely available and situation
remained same. Boyd R. Collins (1996) states that the first priority is to find
trustworthy source on the Internet, while Diane Kovacs et-al (1994) sees a role
for librarians in assisting users to be critical of source. Further, Piontek
and Garlock (1996) make a distinction between sites that only provide links to
other resources and those that provide original information. This is similar to
Katz’s distinction between control-access-directional sources like
bibliographies as well as indexing and abstracting services and source-type
works like encyclopedia and fact-books.
Crichlow, Davis and Winbus (2004) examined the Internet references in
the articles of five major medical journals that were published in January
2004, and, by cutting and pasting the Universal Resource Locator (URLs) into a
Web browser, found that five were inaccurate and three had inaccessible sites. Judit Bar-Ilan and Bluma C. Peritz (2004)
conducted a broad-ranging study of Web pages concerning the subject
“informetrics”. They looked at the number of Web sites retrieved on this
subject in 1998, 1999, 2002, and 2003 and identified 866 URLs in 1998 that met
their search criteria. Of those, 299 (34.5 percent) were not available in 1999,
with 496 (57.3 percent) and 552 (63.7 percent) not available in 2002 and 2003,
respectively. Of the 1,297 URLs identified in 1999, 643 (49.6 percent) were not
available in 2002, and 769 (59.3 percent) not available in 2003. Of the 3,746
URLs identified in 2002, 682 (18.2 percent) were not available in 2003. This
confirmed the instability of some web resources.
Cited content was considered to be
accessible if, after failing to find it at the URL included in the citation or
at a referred page, the researchers were able to locate it elsewhere on the
Web. Zhang and Lane (2001) developed a short list of excellent Web sites in
English and provide brief reviews of those sites for librarians, agriculture
researchers and professionals. This study has a particular interest of listing
the relevant, authoritative and easily access resources related to HIV/AIDS.
Methodology
In order to have successful results, data was obtained from the Internet
using a variety of different search engines and multi search engines like the
dogpile.com, google.com and the invisible.com together with index search terms
like Boolean search method were used. These searches produced numbers of Web
sites on HIV/AIDS, which were thoroughly checked, screened and considered for
selection in the list. The Smith (1997) and Internet Scout project selection
criterion was adopted for the exercise. The criteria used for selection of the
useful Internet Web sites are as follows:
- Scope, content, accuracy, purpose, presentation, authority, currency and uniqueness.
- Usefulness, in-depth and freely available information.
- Well organized and easy to access or navigate.
- Provides efficient links or good starting points to many other useful and relevant Web sites.
- The authority of the source and its richness in terms of information it provides.
Nevertheless, the study is limited to resources that are of general
utility to researchers and librarians, while those resources for advertisement
were left out. The subjects covered in
the study are HIV/AIDS treatment, clinical trials, nutrition, international
organizations that are concerned with HIV/AIDS, journals, newsletters and
bibliographies links to other important sites. Overall, it can be said that
using the Internet Web as a source of HIV/AIDS information offers considerable
advantages over traditional paper resources because of its currency and
possible links to other information resources, but it has its disadvantage in
the area of instability.
Findings and Subjects covered by the Study
The useful related websites to Human Immune-deficiency Virus (HIV) /Acquire
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in seven (7) subject areas are listed below,
comprising general introduction, annotations and comments that include the
Universal Resource Locator (URL) and brief site description.
1. Treatment
Six (6) Internet Web sites are found authoritative based on scope,
content, accuracy and stable and are worth searching for HIV/AIDS information.
- Physicians Research Network (PRN), available: www.prn.org. This is a site that assists Clinicians to master the science and art of caring for people living with HIV disease. It has on the site information concerning diagnosis of new HIV infections, HIV/AIDS therapy, and new medicines developed for HIV/AIDS and new database to help fight against HIV/AIDS. The most interesting feature of the site is that it includes links that lead to good information about HIV/AIDS therapy
- The National Institutes of Health Clinical Centre Complex, available: www.cc.nih.gov/phar/hiv_mgt. This is where clinical biomedical research occurs. It is both a hospital and research centre. It has on it a site map, general information, clinical research studies, healthy living, patient information, special programmes including research and training opportunities at the NIH. The site utilizes a number of colourful graphic icons to orient the user so that one never feels lost.
- The Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers of America (PHRMA), available: www.phrma.org. This is a Web site with information on medications in development, patient assistance programmes, publication and news room. Other information on the site includes safety, innovation, education and issues. It contains a well-chosen selected links relevant to pharmaceutical research.
- United States of America Department of Health and Human Services Aids info Service, available: www.aidsinfo.nih.gov. This site offers information on HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and research. Information such as guidelines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS reviewed and updated information by experts in the field, fact sheets on HIV/AIDS-related drugs, studies on drugs, vaccines and other new or existing treatment as well as Information on preventative and therapeutic HIV vaccine, research, resources on HIV/AIDS related topics. It is very informative and good for consultation.
- The Alternative Medicine Homepage, available: www.pitt.edu/~cbw/hiv.html. This site comprises of databases, Internet resource, Mailings lists and newsgroup, AIDS & HIV practitioners’ directories and related resource. The site not only maintains useful links to alternative and complementary therapies HIV/AIDS information, but it presents it in a format that is extremely user friendly.
- National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine www.nccam.nih.gov. This site provides information on health, research grant application, research funding opportunities and published results. Information on clinical trials, A-Z list by keyword search, training, career development opportunities and continuing education series
2. Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are very important area on HIV/AIDS research; nine
listed Web sites are found relevant and worth visiting based on the criteria
mentioned.
·
National Centre
Institute, Aids Malignancies Consortium (AMC), available: www.amc.uab.edu. This
is a US-based project that was funded in 1995 to support innovative trials for
AIDS-associated Malignancies. AMC is
composed of 14 main clinical trials sites and their affiliates, operations and
statistical canters. The site is committed to enhancing therapeutic options for
patients with AIDS associated malignancies.
·
The Aids Vaccine
Evaluation Group (AVEG), available: http://scharp.org. This is an initiative
that carried out early stage testing of vaccine. It provides a link to
www.hvtn.org which provides information on vaccine trials. This site offers
descriptive and evaluative information about vaccine.
·
The Community
Programmes for Clinical Research on Aids, available: www.cpcra.org. This is an
experienced community based clinical trials network whose main goal is to
obtain evidence to properly inform healthcare providers and people living with
HIV. It has smart information trial available on link www.smart-trial.org and
smart plenary slide sets and integrating HIV research.
·
US National
Institute of Health Clinical Trials Project, available: www.clinicaltrials.gov.
This site is sponsored primarily by the National Institutes of Health and other
Federal agencies. It provides information on clinical trials, HIV-related
diseases and conditions. The site has links to many conventional resources that
are available.
·
Centre Watch,
available: www.centerwatch.com. This site provides lists of clinical trials
each with annotation. There are over 25,000 clinical trial listings. It also
provides a comprehensive listing of HIV/AIDS information. A separate and
potentially useful section of the site is devoted to AIDS.
·
ACTIS, available:
www.actis.org. The site provides selected HIV/AIDS clinical trials databases.
There are many links on this site to HIV resources. It serves as a bibliography
and reference source for retrieval of information.
·
HIVNET, available:
www.hivnet.ubc.ca. This site is designed and maintained by Canadian HIV Trials
Network. It contains useful information on research for treatments, prevention
and cure.
·
The International
Maternal Paediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Group maintained the Web
site, aviable: http://pactg.s-3.com. This is a mega site featuring hundreds of
resources, but the relatively small numbers of links presented appear to have
been carefully selected.
·
Adults AIDS Clinical
Trials Group http://www.aactg.org/ This is the largest HIV clinical trials
organization, plays a major role in defining the standards of care for
treatment of HIV infection and opportunistic diseases related to HIV/AIDS
around the world. There are resources for general public, patient and
clinicians. Also general information about clinical trials process and a list
of trials that is open for enrolment. Contact information about HIV/AIDS
clinical researches being conducted are available for information seekers.
3. Palliative & Nutritional Care
In the area of nutrition for people living with HIV/AIDS the following
listed Web sites are found relevant for researchers
·
The American
Dietetic Association, available: www.eatright.org/public. This site offers
information bill board of promoting optimal health and well-being. Selected
topics linked to Web resources in the area of HIV/AIDS treatment and diet. The
collection of links is well annotated.
·
The Association of
Nutrition Services Agencies, available: www.aidsnutrition.org. This contains
information on general nutrition of people living and affected with HIV/AIDS.
·
Tufts University
Resources available: http://www.tufts.edu/med/nutrition-infection/hiv/health.html.
The site, maintained by Tufts University, provides information on research, HIV
resources, tufts nutrition collaborative, nutrition academic award programme
and nutrition for healthy living.
·
New York Academy of
Medicine Library HIV/AIDS information outreach Project, available:
www.aidsnyc.org. This site provides information to/on HIV and AIDS-related,
community based organizations in the New York area. The Web site links to
community based organization with HIV/AIDS information outreach project. There
is enormous number of links that is collected here and each is annotated.
·
Food and Nutrition
Technical Assistance II (FANTA-2), available: http://www.fantaproject.org.
FANTA-2 works to improve nutrition and food security policies, strategies and
programs through technical support to the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) and its partners, including host country governments,
international organizations and NGO implementing partners. Focus areas for
technical assistance include maternal and child health and nutrition, HIV and
other infectious diseases, food security and livelihood strengthening, and
emergency and reconstruction. FANTA-2 develops and adapts approaches to support
the design and quality implementation of field programs, while building on
field experience to improve and expand the evidence base, methods and global
standards for nutrition and food security programming. The project, funded by
USAID, is a five-year cooperative agreement.
·
Schools &
Health, available: http://www.schoolsandhealth.org. This site is managed by the
Partnership for Child Development which
comprises diverse organizations including World Health Organization (WHO),
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, Pan-American Health
Organization, World Food Program (WFP) and Save the Children. The site aims to
provide information on “improved learning through better health, nutrition, and
education for the school-age child”. While the
working language of this website is English, school health, nutrition, HIV
and AIDS documents are available for
download in diverse languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Russian,
Kiswahili, and Arabic.
·
World Health
Organization (WHO), available:
http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/hivaids/en/index.html. As the directing and
coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system, the WHO
manages this site to provide up-to-date information on nutrition and other
relevant topics on HIV/AIDS. It is responsible for providing leadership on
global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and
standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical
support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.
·
The United Nations
Standing Committee on Nutrition, available: http://www.unsystem.org. The SCN Nutrition and HIV/AIDS webpage aims to provide
nutrition/health practitioners/development workers with pertinent and
up-to-date information in the major areas of research and programmes linking
nutrition and HIV/AIDS. The information provided under the 12 subject topics
below has been obtained from biomedical journals, general reports, and
conferences. The articles and reports are mostly accessible through the
internet and cover the years 2002-2008. In the future, we anticipate including
grey literature, which is typically not found in the public domain, provided it
contains quality information.
The foregoing references are by no
means exhaustive, but they do provide a selection of reliable and authoritative
sites where specialist information can be easily accessed.
4. International Organizations
Seven International organization Web sites were found worth searching
for relevant information on HIV/AIDS
·
United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS, available: www.unaids.org. The site provides a database
of estimated number of AIDS cases and HIV infections country by country, focus
on high-level meeting on AIDS, UNGASSS reporting, Technical guidance, AIDS
epidemic update regional summaries. Also, there are information on policy and
practice, country responses, partnerships and knowledge centre.
·
International Labour
Organization (ILO), available:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/trav/aids/. This site hosts
core documents like, the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS, implementing the ILO
Code, HIV/AIDS behaviour change communication: a toolkit for the workplace,
legislation and policies, research and policy analysis, HIV/AIDS and work:
global estimates, impact on children and youth and responses.
·
Centre for Health
Information and Technology, available: www.healthnet.org. The site provides
AIDS forum designed to allow an exchange of AIDS information for health
professionals. The aim is to stimulate the development of knowledge networks
and ICT health.
·
Baylor International
Paediatric AIDS Initiative, available: http://bayloraids.org. This site
contains information on instructional cases and materials, paediatric HIV
atlas, HIV curriculum, educational resources, nursing questions and answers and
five countries where it operates namely Huston, Romania, Botswana, Uganda and
Mexico.
·
International AIDS
Vaccine Initiative, available: www.iavi.org. This site is maintained by the
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative which aims to ensure the development of
safe, effective, accessible, preventive HIV vaccines for use through out the
world. The site has information on AIDS vaccine news, vaccine science and
global access.
·
World Health
Organization, available: www.who.int. This is multi-lingual user-friendly site
that aims to provide reliable information on HIV and AIDS. In addition to
country reports, the site hosts information on health topics, forthcoming
events worldwide, and press releases.
·
Hiv Vereniging
Nederland, , available: www.hivnet.org. The site is designed in Dutch language,
but has links to other Web sites. It also has chat and discussion forum. The
site is designed and maintained by Net Information Server (Netherland). There
publications and booklet in HIV and information on living with HIV.
5. Journals
Eight Journal worth searching and relevant in the HIV/AIDS subject area
are as follows:
·
Positive Nation, available:
http://www.positivenation.co.uk/. This is an HIV and sexual health magazine
based in the United Kingdom. It is published by UK coalition of people living
with HIV and AIDS. The print edition of the magazine is free to anyone living
with HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom.
·
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), available: http://content.nejm.org/. This is an on-line journal
containing easily accessible current and archived resources. It contains lots
of information on HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
·
Aidonline, , available:
www.aidsonline.com. This is an on-line journal of the International AIDS
Society. It contains latest ground breaking research on HIV/AIDS with links to
several categories of Web sites.
·
Aidsinfonyc, available:
www.aidsinfonyc.org/hivplus/. This is an on-line magazine can be searched based
on issue and subject.
·
Journal of Infectious Diseases, available: www.cdc.gov/ncidid/eid/. This is a journal maintained by
the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. It is peer-reviewed journal
tracking and analyzing disease trends. Current and past issues can be searched
through keywords.
·
British Medical Journal, available:
www.bmj.com. This is a peer-reviewed journal dealing with medical issues
including HIV/AIDS. It also hosts resources on health news and careers in
United Kingdom.
·
Medscape, available:
http://www.medscape.com/hiv/journals. The journal is designed and maintained by
Med-scape. It provides comprehensive and
relevant clinical information to improve patient care; and make the
clinician's task of information gathering simpler, more fruitful, and less
time-consuming. It also provides physicians with the educational tools needed
to stay current in their practice.
·
Journal of American Nursing, available:
www.nursingcenter.com. This is one of the oldest and largest circulating
on-line journals world-wide. The Website of the journal offers the opportunity
to search for current and archived journal articles.
6. Newsletters
There are six Web sites related to Newsletter that are worth searching
by HIV/AIDS information seekers.
·
Bulleting of Experimental Treatments of AIDS (BETA), available: www.sfaf.org/beta. The aim of the newsletter is to
provide information on prevention policy, treatment, resources on HIV/AIDS.
BETA includes in-depth articles on HIV
prevention technologies and approaches, as well as HIV treatment
and strategies for living well with HIV. It is published biannually
in English and Spanish by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
·
PositiveWords.com, available: http://www.positivewords.com/.
This is a free, easy-to-use newsletter service
designed to assist community-based providers in delivering appropriate,
credible and timely health management information and support to people living
with HIV.
·
Rush University Medical Centre Newsletter, available: http://www.hivnewsletter.org/. This newsletter provides
relevant clinical information from many of the leading experts in HIV and AIDS
medicine.
·
Doctor’s Guide to Medical & Other News, available: www.pslgroup.com/dg/hivaidsnews.htm. This is an on-line
publication that covers a wide range of topics including information about
specific anti-HIV therapies, diagnosis and treatment. The information is
arranged alphabetically or by subject. Information can also be searched by
keyword.
·
AIDS Education and Training Centre Newsletter, available: http://www.aidsetc.org/ This newsletter provides
information to educate, raise awareness and build community. Information such
as AIDS treatment news, nutrition and other vital information on the disease
are reported.
7. Bibliographic Databases
Five Web sites were found relevant and worth searching by researchers in
the subject area of bibliography
·
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/testing/bibliography.htm:
This site is designed and maintained by Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention. It has databases that are constantly updated. It is keyword
searchable.
·
http://mensbiblio.xyonline.net/:
This site has updated information with links to the latest resources. It is
good starting place for new researchers
·
http://www.medguide.org.zm/aids/aids.htm/:
This site is maintained by
the University of Zambia Medical School with
information on HIV/AIDS in
Africa; organized in a series of an annotated bibliography containing information on HIV counseling and prevention.
·
http://www.hivpolicy.org/bib/browse_g_bib.htm/:
This site is designed and maintained by HIV Policy Organization. It is an
on-line database of HIV/AIDS policies for the Asia pacific region.
·
www.simmons.edu/:
Simmons University created and maintained this Web site, it is user friendly,
searching by format and subject is allowed. It contains information on
electronic indexes, journals and news.
Data Presentation
A total number of 200Web sites were visited within the period of 90
working days, out of these numbers 50 sites have been found authoritative,
while seven (7) subjects namely treatments, clinical trials, nutrition,
international organizations, journals literatures, newsletters and bibliography
links were designated for the research as shown on table 1 below
Table 1: Distribution of Sites by Subjects
|
S/N
|
Subjects
|
Number of sites
|
|
1.
|
Treatment
|
6
|
|
2.
|
Clinical Trials
|
10
|
|
3.
|
Nutrition
|
8
|
|
4.
|
International Org
|
7
|
|
5.
|
Journals
|
8
|
|
6.
|
Newsletters
|
6
|
|
7.
|
Bibliography links
|
5
|
|
|
Total
|
50
|
Table 2 shows that highest number of Web sites found worth of searching
are on treatment and clinical trial with 10Web sites each or 20% of the total
number of Web sites visited within the period of 16 working days allotted to
it.
Table 2: Reliable Sites
|
S/N
|
Subjects
|
No. of sites visited
|
Reliable sites
|
%
|
|
1
|
Treatment
|
35
|
6
|
12
|
|
2
|
Clinical Trial
|
35
|
10
|
20
|
|
3
|
Nutrition
|
30
|
8
|
16
|
|
4
|
International Org.
|
20
|
7
|
14
|
|
5
|
Journals
|
30
|
8
|
16
|
|
6
|
Newsletters
|
20
|
6
|
12
|
|
7
|
Bibliography links
|
20
|
5
|
10
|
|
Total
|
|
200
|
50
|
100
|
Discussion
The responsibility of orienting the Internet user has been left or
occupied by the search engines. Specialised and voluntary initiatives for
referral begin to appear in various fields trying to offer an information
seeking context for resources targeted to specific groups of users. Information
professional and librarians can put on the Internet their views and exploit
their skills to create content-oriented Web referral to clientele. They can in
this way contribute to resolve access barriers to knowledge mining. The
filtering and selecting operations are indispensable to adding value to the
huge amount of resources that are produced by institutions
Moreover valid knowledge organization in targeted context may be
extremely useful. It can open up new spaces or tracks in the network and guide
the user to find the right information at the right time.
Recommendations
In the light of the emerging information society with a view of saving
time for researchers and librarians through the provision of relevant Web site,
the following recommendations are made for the benefit of librarians and
information scientists:
- Periodical connections or requests for notification of Uniform Resource Locator modification from institutions are vital to all services and particularly to referral documents and services; librarians should constantly check and update this information for their client.
- Internet referral is not a static thing but a life-cycle process. It requires the building of a dynamic framework sensible to major variations and modification. To this end librarians should activate bilateral communication with institution whose Web site is considered an information resource for the library service.
- There should be appropriate methodologies and techniques to design a new generation of user aids and referral services adequate to the Internet information world.
- Internet resources should be identified with a working mechanism to embed resources description elements.
- There should be periodical conference of librarians and other information professionals to chat the way out for providing researchers with relevant Web sites for their research.
Conclusive Remarks
The Internet provides a rich minefield of data and resources, on almost
every issue, for individuals and organizations. In terms of HIV/AIDS, the study
reveals that there a plethora of sources. However, the study found that not all
sites are reliable or efficient. Thus, we conclude that concerted efforts is
needed from the parts of Library and Information workers to filter relevant
Internet resources, as a complementary mechanism for deriving reliable
information from search engines. This can also go a long way to reduce the difficulties
in locating the relevant materials needed by researchers and librarians. It is
in this view that librarians and information professionals should work hard to
provide easy access to relevant information on the Internet.
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[1] Corresponding Author & Director of
Digitalization Department, National Library of
Nigeria, Abuja, E-mail: uscoma@yahoo.co.uk, Telephone: +234-803-592-0491.
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