Created and maintained by David Novak, the Spire Project has been expanded and refined since its original review in the January 14, 1999 Scout Report for Social Sciences. Offered as both a research guide and search-engine alternative, the site offers a number of searching tutorials on specific topics which feature numerous links and search forms. While each tutorial is different, most contain a mix of official or governmental sites, databases, libraries, and commercial resources. The Government Resources section, for instance, covers general sources for government information and a number of specific ones for the US, UK, and Canada. Other tutorials include Finding Articles, Searching Patents, Company Information, Country Profiles, and Finding a Library, among others. Most offer some final thoughts in a conclusion as well as search strategies. While the site will certainly prove a considerable help to newer users, more experienced internauts may also want to poke around a bit to find some new resources or brush up on their searching strategies.