Yahoo - What librarians CAN do

[Eric Rumsey]

Despite my seemingly positive comments about Yahoo a few days ago, it's
been pretty obvious for a long time that Yahoo is a dinosaur (but, like it
or not, a very heavily used dinosaur!). One of the motivating factors in in
the development of the Hardin Meta Directory of Internet Health Sources
(see URL in signature) was that even 2 years ago, when the Hardin MD (HMD)
was started, Yahoo was obviously inadequate. Its lists of links in health
and medicine were clearly much less comprehensive than other (generally
little-known) lists maintained by subject specialists. So the HMD was
launched as an access point to the lists that really did do what everyone
thought Yahoo did, which is to provide access to the most comprehensive
lists of links in the field.

In this discussion, some have suggested that librarians should take on the
job that Yahoo attempts, to be the world's list keepers. Realistically, I
think this is too big a job, a hugely time-consuming task (As a start, I
have found out in correspondence with keepers of the best lists in the
Hardin MD that the lists with the best connection rates have their links
checked regularly *by hand* - not with an automated link checking program -
so before undertaking a list, set aside some time for clicking links - Some
of the subject lists in the HMD have over 1000 links!).

I would suggest that a task that IS within the grasp of librarians is to
create gateways to the "cream of the link lists" that already exist, as
we've done with the Hardin MD. (The Argus Clearinghouse is a good start in
doing this, but in attempting to cover all subjects, it lacks depth of
coverage when compared to a specialized meta-list, like the HMD).

One of the incidental benefits of the HMD is that it shows clearly the
limitation of Yahoo - HMD pages list Yahoo along with other lists, ranked
more/less in the order of size/quality, and it's obvious at a glance that
Yahoo is a very minor player in the field.

I would invite people to have a look at the HMD, and to consider doing
something similar in other subjects. We've developed some fairly specific
methods for evaluating lists that are included in the HMD (including use of
link checking software, which does have its place, even though it certainly
has limitations). I'd be glad to discuss these methods with anyone
interested (probably too specialized for discussion on the list).


*       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *
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)
Hardin Meta Directory of Internet Health Sources
http://www.arcade.uiowa.edu/hardin-www/md.html
Featured in Internet Medicine (Lippincott-Raven), June 1997
Reviewed in Consumer Reports, Feb 1997, p 29