Web terminology

[Carole Leita]

>What do you call those sites that basically consist of
>links to other useful sites? They can be annotated (like
>the Librarians' Index to the Internet), or simply lists of
>unannotated links.

Most commonly, they are called Subject Directories and include Web
resources that are evaluated and not, and annotated and not. The most
extended attempt I've seen to differentiate what it is that librarians and
others making evaluative judgments are doing is in Ackermann and Hartman's
"Searching and Researching on the Internet and the World Wide Web." Info
and several chapters available at:
http://www.fbeedle.com/searching/sample.html

On p. 74 - "Virtual libraries are directories that contain collections of
resources that librarians or cybrarians have carefully chosen and organized
in a logical way.... Typically, virtual libraries provide an organizational
hierarchy with subject categories to facilitate browsing. Most include
query interfaces in order to perform simple searches."

On p. 75 - "The main difference between virtual libraries and the
directories we discussed earlier (Yahoo, Magellan, etc.) is that virtual
libraries are much smaller, because the resources included are selected
very carefully. The people who organize virtual libraries are usually on
the lookout for three major types of information: subject guides, reference
works, and specialized databases."

As coordinator of the LII I can tell you that the Librarians' Index to the
Internet's database of 3400 annotated entries is about 25% subject guides;
55% reference works (content that will directly answer the user's question)
and 20% specialized databases.

Carole
_____________________________________________
Carole Leita, leita at netcom.com
Librarians' Index to the Internet Coordinator
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex/

______________________________
Carole Leita, leita at netcom.com