I'm afraid my bookshelf resembles most of you reading this. It's littered

with dozens of technical books from Access 95 (left as a joke by one of my

coworkers) to my bright red Wrox books. Like many of you, I strive each day to

not become obsolete, constantly learning new programming languages and admin

tips. Striving to do this, has come at a huge cost though. Recently my wife

looked at our credit card statement after I retooled for SQL Server 2000 and put

me on book restriction.

Needless to say, books don't come cheap, with an average book running about

$39 on the cheap side to $49 for some of the larger books. As an author of two

tech books, I've better stop complaining about these prices at this point.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to look at a IQReference by IQ

Destination. This product allowed me to comb through complete books, up to 300

at the time of this review. Each month, another 10 are added also. The combined

price of those 300 books would on the low-end run above $10,000.

IQReference

allows you efficiently search  for a keyword that can be found in any

chapter out of their library.  IQReference then ranks the search and tells

you which books and chapters have the keyword in them. For example, a search for

DTS, returned 20 books. The search showed me exactly what chapters I could find

DTS content in and after I selected the chapter, the word DTS is highlighted for

easy reference.

By registering with IQReference, you can receive a 7 day trial membership

that has some limitations. By contacting a sales representative, you can receive

a fully functional 7-day free membership. Normal membership costs $299 for one year.

SQL Server Central has arranged for a couple of specials, through October 7th, 2001, you

can take advantage of the following specials:

• SQL Server 2000 Administration Exam (70-228)
• SQL Server 2000 Database Design Exam (70-229)
• SQL Server 7 Administration Exam (70-028)
• SQL Server 7 Database Design Exam (70-029)
• SQL Server 7 Data Warehousing Exam (70-019)

I found the tool invaluable and as you find material you like you can

bookmark the page. These bookmarks can be shared with others at your company. If

you find a book you'd like to keep, you can click the Bookshelf button to add it

to your bookshelf. I liked the tool because it made resources available wherever

I traveled without having to lug around tons of books. There were books

available that I would never buy under normal circumstances, but read just

because they were available. If you like a book you read well enough to buy, you

can buy it on the site in conjunction with FatBrain.com at even stronger than

their normal discount.

For more information about the program, click

here.