View the information with a critical eye. They tend to have been reviewed by an editor for accuracy and currency. Avoid books that have been self-published. Government web sites provide a wealth of information and statistics on a range of topics. The Federal government is the world's largest publisher and puts much of this information up on web pages.
Associations usually provide reliable information.
They sometimes require you to join the association for full services but often provide information for free. Links from these pages often will lead you to other related sites. The Encyclopedia of Associations located in the OCCC Library will provide a list of associations for different topics. The Yahoo search engine has good association links. Special Interest Group web sites can often yield valuable information.