Hardin Meta Directory - A tertiary tool for health/medicine

[Eric Rumsey]

The Hardin Meta Directory of Internet Health Sources, described below in an
announcement sent to health/medical Usenet groups and listservs, is
especially interesting from a library/info science viewpoint because it is
a "meta index" - Using the traditional terminology of library/info science,
web sites that have original information are "primary" sites and sites that
consist mainly of pointers to these primary sites are "secondary" sites.
The Hardin Meta Directory is a "tertiary"site, consisting of pointers to
secondary sites. The importance of such tertiary lists is likely to grow,
since the most comprehensive lists increasingly are those that are
maintained by subject specialists, independently of multi-subject sites,
such as Yahoo.

  --Eric Rumsey

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We would like to announce the Hardin Meta Directory of Internet Health
Sources (aka Hardin MD). It's URL is:

http://www.arcade.uiowa.edu/hardin-www/md.html

As the name "meta directory" implies, Hardin MD is a "list of lists" - Its
purpose is to provide easy access to comprehensive resource lists in
health-related subjects. It includes subject listings in large
"one-stop-shopping" sites, such as MedWeb and Yahoo, and also independent
discipline-specific lists. Hardin MD subject pages indicate the length of
lists in each subject, making it easy to see at a glance which lists are
most comprehensive - These are often not the lists from
the"one-stop-shopping" sites, but those developed by people within the
field, which are well-known and frequently cited within the field, but not
well-known outside it.

Key features of Hardin MD -

-In choosing the independent, subject-specific lists in Hardin MD, we have
looked at many sites in each field, and have chosen the lists that are most
frequently cited by people in the field, thus providing a rudimentary form
of peer evaluation.

-Because the size of lists is indicated, it is easy to see which of the
multi-subject lists is most complete. In particular, it shows clearly that
Yahoo falls short of specific medicine/health sciences lists (particularly
MedWeb). Multi-subject lists used in Hardin MD include MedWeb,
Yahoo:Health, Karolinska Institute MIC-KIBIC MeSH Index,  Medical Matrix,
Martindale's Health Science Guide, Tward's Multimedia Medical Reference
Library, and EiNet Galaxy

-Pointers are to the *specific section* of pages that cover the subject.
This is especially useful in sites with large pages that have much
extraneous material (i.e. Martindale's Health Science Guide).

-All links on Hardin MD are checked regularly to assure that they are
connecting satisfactorily. Because the number of links on Hardin MD is
limited, in comparison to primary lists that include dozens and hundreds of
sites, it is practical to check this frequently. Sites are checked not only
to see that they connect, but that they connect in a timely manner.

-Mirror sites are included when available. This is especially valuable for
transatlantic connections, which often have poor connections.

Please pay a visit to Hardin MD, and let us know how we can make it more useful.

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Eric Rumsey, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
University of Iowa, Iowa City IA 52242
<eric-rumsey at uiowa.edu>
319-335-9875 (voice), 319-335-9897 (fax)

"I never meta-index I didn't like" -- Andy Spooner