For what it's worth, here's the process that I use for selecting modules:

• Write a list of requirements roughly in order of importance.
• Draw a line between the "must have" items and the ones I could live without.
• Develop a list of candidate modules via methods discussed by others in this thread.
• Read the the Description and Synopsis for each candidate and briefly scan the rest of the POD. Modules that are poorly documented or clearly do not meet the "must have" requirements are removed from consideration.

  The Description section will often tell you all you need to know about the documentation. If it's a well articulated description of the module's intended use and capability, the rest of documentation is usually well written. If it's terse, unclear or verbose you can generally expect more of the same. The synopsis should clearly show what the API looks like.

• From here on the selection process varies, but I have a requirements list to guide me and a reasonably well documented selection of modules to choose from.