Introduction

When a resource is electronic, librarians and patrons need two things: the content and the content in a usable form. Our first two speakers have discussed the first need and I'll talk about the second. The two biggest obstacles to usable content are proprietary programming and inadequate documentation. These obstacles manifest in many ways from web sites that use browser specific programming to web pages without clearly stated authorship. I'll discuss these effects and how to troubleshoot them.

Proprietary Programming:

Web Browsers	Problem: Can't get a page to display or display correctly.
	Example: "SourceOECD will run on Internet Explorer or Netscape versions 4.0 and later. However, you may experience some difficulties viewing the site through Internet Explorer 5.0. This is caused by a fault with this version of the browser and not a fault on SourceOECD." Source: User Guide in SourceOECD.
	Test: Open the site in another browser or use an html validator service to see if the problem can be identified.
	Comments: Sometimes you will be told what the problem is, but not usually. Always try to view the page in another browser. Also, wait a little while. Many of these problems are the result of temporary transmission problems and simply go away. If you prefer Firefox, but have trouble viewing licensed resources like SourceOECD, download an extension to Firefox that will allow for viewing with IE.
	Resources: DevGuru HTML Tag Index Firefox Add-Ons

Web Pages	Problem: Pages that open up other programs
	Example: Adobe Acrobat Files (.pdfs) - This format is heavily used by U.S. government agencies. You must choose the Adobe print icon and in some cases, choose the correct file type from the Adobe print box as explained in: Printing *.pdf files
	Test: Look carefully at the browser window for an additional toolbar at the top of displayed web page.
	Comments: When you open a .pdf file, you're really opening the file and program that allows you to view it. As a result, you actually have 1 document and 2 programs open at once. The print options that you choose are specific to the program that they're in. Thus, you must choose the correct printing routine to get the publication. This holds for copy/paste and saving .pdf files also.
	Resources: Webopedia Google's PDF Directory PDF To HTML Converter for People with Disabilities Printing .pdf Documents

Inadequate Documentation:

Web Pages	Problem: Unexplained jargon
	Example American FactFinder Download Screen
	Test: Choose your own file extensions. Using .txt is pretty safe. If the information being downloaded isn't in a proprietary format, you should be able to view it in Notepad because Notepad knows what *.txt files are.
	Comments: Unexplained jargon is a growing problem. Jargon being jargon, the appropriate resources will vary widely. However, I have a few places I go often and they're below.
	Resources: Glossary of Social Science Computer and Social Science Data Terms Census Bureau's TechTalk: Electronic Data Product Support ICPSR Help Index Tips on using our site from the Bureau of Economic Analysis