Cataloging the Internet: Kinds of catalogs

[Michael V. Sullivan]

An issue that complements the 'what to include in Internet user
instruction' question has to do with the varieties of access
methods that libraries can profitably offer their users.  Three
major categories of Internet searching tools come to mind:

1.  ACCESS TOOLS INDIGENOUS TO THE INTERNET.  This category
includes the Web-accessible search tools such as Lycos and
Yahoo, but also Web-independent approaches such as WAIS,
Veronica, etc. 

2. OFF-THE-SHELF INDEXES.  These include NetFirst (OCLC), and
Internet navigators offered as parts of various ILS's.  They
can be searched via commercial services such as FirstSearch, or
they may be set up as gateways from the local OPAC.

3.  CATALOG RECORDS WITH EXECUTABLE MARC FIELDS (e.g., 856).
We are seeing these in local OPAC's as well as on cataloging
utilities (notably OCLC).

What are the conditions that determine when it is more
advantageous to use one or anohter of these 3 classes of access
methods?  Should libraries invest energy in creating MARC
records to emphasize particularly in-scope Internet resources
(e.g., on-topic electronic journals,) while relying on native
INternet sources to find Internet materials that are more
tangential to their central focus?  Or is this a wasteful
duplication of effort?  What are the advantages of carefully
edited descriptions, of the sort advertised by NetFirst, over
the rougher and readier access offered via Webcrawler?  Should
libraries invest in these more selective commercial sources, or
do they really not add anything that a searching tool such as
Lycos can already provide?