Let your cursor do the walking

googler@evpl — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:55:00 GMT

Central Library discontinued its collection of most out-of-state phone books last year, because the Reference USA database contains more up-to-date information than the books did (mostly because we didn't always get the most recent phonebooks in a timely manner). And we still enthusiastically use and recommend the database for its highly versatile searching.

But people do miss the browsability of the actual books -- being able to see listings in an alphabetical sequence, being able to compare yellow page ads. So we were happy when a colleague in the Library's adminstrative offices pointed out an online version of all the AT&T phonebooks that allows users to do just that.

The "RealPages" at AT&T allow you to search by keyword and browse by category. They provide seperate tabs for the business, residence, yellow page, and government sections (and the community guide section). It's fast, easy to use, and actually kind of fun to navigate. They even show the cover of the phonebook so you can verify how recent the edition is.

The phone company is not known for giving stuff away for free -- take advantage of this resource!

Research Blog : telephone books

Let your cursor do the walking