If you followed all the directions in my last column, and have been exploring the World Wide Web for several months, you know how much wonderful, funny, and even strange stuff is out there. But you may have asked yourself, "What can the Web do for me at work?"

Surprise! There are library related, technical services specific sites that can really make your work easier.

Since I'm a cataloger, I'm going to use that topic as my primary example of what's available on the Web. But I'll include a few valuable acquisitions resources to start the collection development people off in the right direction, too.

You can find cataloging tools on the Web just as you can on your bookshelf. If you catalog online (whether directly onto a utility or on your local system) and your program is windows-based, it's easy to toggle among several open windows. Need a geographic code for the 043? A rule interpretation to help you decide on added entries? Just click the mouse button. At my library we don't have individual workstations; the catalogers share an RLIN terminal and do our cataloging on paper worksheets that go to a technician for inputting. Therefore, we usually work at our desks and it's easier to have documentation on paper. Sometimes the fastest way to get that information is from the Web. Occasionally it's the only way. Many of the most helpful resources are original documents born of the frustration of not finding the tools needed for quick and easy reference. And there are plenty of guides to help you find those tools. Or, just browse. Eventually you'll start seeing the same sites listed over and over again, and then you can feel pretty confident that you've done a thorough search. I've found a lot of great sites by just following interesting looking links that popped up on the next page. You can always go back to where you were by using the list in the "Go" pull-down menu (Netscape).

What you need to do first is figure out which tools you use every day and whether or not they'd be more useful if they were accessible on the computer. Then make a bookmark on your browser, and you're all set. For example, I found a great Cutter table (Geographic Cutter Table for U.S. States & Regions in one alphabetical arrangement, compiled by Adam L. Schiff for the California Academy of Sciences Library:

http://www.lib.siu.edu/swen/uscutter.htm

that I both printed off and included in my bookmark file. Another very helpful document, for both catalogers and acquisitions people, is the Glossary of bibliographic information by language

http://www.mun.ca/library/cat/biblang.html

which included terms in Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Latin, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish. I've been looking for something like this for a long time, since the old work that covered this area is long out of print. And the beauty of it is that once you've found it you can use it -- no trying to find the publisher, no waiting for the order to arrive. I believe in instant gratification!

You may want to be very specific with bookmarks for the things you use daily, such as Cutter tables, geographic and language codes, and rule interpretations. Other things that you don't use as often may be accessible through a more general site, and all you have to do is pick the

one that contains links most useful to you and your job, and bookmark it. When you pull up that page, the links you have visited occasionally will be indicated by the change in colored text and thus easy to find.

Below are a few sites I've found, discoveries I've made, and also some documents that will give you lots of possibilities. Some are very specific, and some general. I have given credit for the documents when this information was available.

Once again, I'm appealing for comments on what you'd like to see covered in this column. Please write to me at Boston University Pappas Law Library, 765 Commonwealth Ave., Boston MA 02215, or email me at paperry@acs.bu.edu