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The question
On April 11th (1996) Alice Klingener wanted to know of opinions on the scope and quality of the free Thomas Register site on the Internet. Here's how fellow members of the Business Librarians discussion group responded to her inquiry.

11 April, 1996, Alice Klingener

Does anyone have any opinions on the scope and quality of the free Thomas Register site on the Internet, esp. compared to the print and CD-ROM versions?

Unless their main revenue comes from advertising (or they plan to charge later on), I can't see why they would put a high-quality source on the Internet for free and undercut the print and CD-ROM distributions.

I will also be taking a closer look myself and will be happy to share any results, but thought I'd see first what others think of the site. Any insights much appreciated. Cheers,

11 April, 1996, Vivian Stiedar, Bis Construction Select

It's been a while since I used the on-line Thomas Register but if I remember correctly there were two really big reasons for not using it:

1. the indexing does not appear to be the same (they may use the same thesaurus terms, but your search options are very limited on the Net version - no boolean searching or combining sets). In fact, I'm not sure you can even view the thesaurus - a pretty handy detail if you don't know the right term!
2. you can only view one company at a time unlike a) the print list where at least you can see all the companies listed in one column and b) the CD version where you can work with sets of results.

My experience with the CD version is also that it is extremely over-indexed which results in sometimes unwieldy search results. On the other hand, if what you are looking for is difficult to describe, the ability to search both the abstract and parts of a phrase on the CD is pretty handy. Generally, I find the print version for 1/4 the price to do just fine though. Cheers.

11 April, 1996, Ben Brick, Omaha Public Library

The one down-side to the online version is that it does not give complete addresses for the companies. Only the city in which they are found. We don't have the CD-ROM version here so I can't offer comparison to that, but the search ability is much better than slogging through the bound version. Another down-side is that when it lists the companies found for a particular product, they are not in alphabetical order. Hopefully, this will improve in the future.

11 April, 1996, Tim Dixon, Edward Lowe Foundation

Knowing who produces something and how to contact them is one of the most important types of information for small business owners and operators. A directory of manufacturers fills this important void, as well as offers important information on potential suppliers, competitors, and customers.

For the uninitiated, the Thomas Register is widely recognized as the most comprehensive database of manufacturers in the United States and Canada. Not only is the scope of the database wide, the records are very deep. They include hard-to-find information like brand names, multiple SIC Codes, a myriad of geographic choices, multiple product types, etc.

Registered users can now search a large portion of the Thomas Register of American Manufacturers on the Internet for free. Admittedly, the records are stripped down from the DIALOG version in the online system and on the CD-ROM, but the vital contact information is here. Despite its crippled state, the Thomas Register on the WWW is extremely useful. The system allows you to search companies by product and company name. A search-engine-request form prompts users for keywords. Your search results are listed on the upcoming screen; from there you can click on one record at a time. (There is no way to display a consecutive string of addresses.) This is all right until you execute a search which offers 10s or 100s of hits. A recent upgrade to the service gives a related taxonomy of product descriptions from which to choose from. If that list is still too large, then you can limit it geographically. The online and CD-ROM Thomas Register counterparts are much more time-effective for a tailored list, but you could use the WWW version to do your preliminary searching or job estimation.

Despite its WWW limitations, proper use of the Thomas Register on the Internet is a useful and cost-effective tool if used wisely. Jump on this one it is still available! (Links Checked: 1/18/96)

12 April, 1996, Kathy Shelfer, Strozier Library

When we built a new science library at FSU, we used the GRAPHIC IMAGES in the Thomas Register to identify product specs we thought existed but for which we lacked the correct terminology. Careful specs let us get handmade custom-built board lumber furniture for less than catalog particle board, and helped us fend off bid challenges based on the furniture finish (catalytic conversion varnish).

We also verified at a glance the general fiscal condition of one potential bidder for a half-million in new shelving. The street addresses for that same vendor told us a great deal, and they did NOT get an invitation to bid.

I scan old v. new TRs for the number/nature of mfrs, product line changes, and other features not possible to isolate otherwise. Since my technology stuff is in another library, it helps me keep current to scan them once ayear at the reference desk--not an onerous task.

July 30, 1998, Fred Loewen

A significant difference, for my purposes, between the Thomas Register on the 'Net and the CD-ROM version is the absence of any executive names and their titles in the 'Net version. For my purposes, I'll take the CD-ROM version over the 'Net any day.