Buffalo.com = WNY Online

Buffalo.com http://buffalo.com on your computer may not be as cozy as reading your newspaper while sipping coffee at the kitchen table or as convenient as checking headlines and sports scores on the bus ride to work, but it can do many feats that would make any print publication envious, and that's why you'll want to bookmark it for frequent referencing. The regional site debuted last September as a joint venture of The Buffalo News and co-sponsors Adelphia Communications and Bell Atlantic.

The most prominent features on the Buffalo.com homepage are the current temperature and weather icon (which is clickable for a complete five-day forecast) in the upper left corner, and the centered sections displaying headlines from the day's Buffalo News, Associated Press stories that are updated throughout the day, sports and entertainment announcements (including many ads) from Adelphia, followed by sports coverage and business information from The News. Clicking on the headlines will take you to the full article and, in some cases, stories from the past two weeks. Another click and you can access The News' Library, which you can search online back to 1989. Headlines listed in this archive can be viewed for free, but you'll have to set up an account and pay $1.95 per article to get the full text. Alternately, you can visit Lockwood Library and read the article on microfilm for free, or you can search Dow Jones Interactive http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/e-resources/djnr.html on BISON for full-text News articles back to 1992.

But Buffalo.com is much more than an online newspaper. It links to the most comprehensive assortment of Western New York Web sites available in one place. A long list of categories at the left of the headlines, including "Arts & Entertainment," "Business & Finance," "Education," "Government" and "Home & Garden," connects to hundreds of non-commercial pages. "Education," for example, links to all local colleges, many K-12 schools and such organizations as the Niagara Frontier College Placement Association.

The list to the right of the headlines features mostly Buffalo News sections, such as the classified ads, horoscopes, TV schedules, contests, etc. There's a lot to like about being able to search the classifieds simply by typing a keyword such as "snowblower" or clicking on an American Movie Classics listing to check who the actors are and what other films they've been in. Try doing that at the kitchen table!

-Will Hepfer and Nancy Schiller, University Libraries