link annotations

[Martin, Julie]

We've got some debate going on about the value of providing annotations for the resources we link to on our library web site. We link to a large number of databases, newsletters, electronic journals, and web sites relevant to our company. 

We're in the process of a redesign and there are strong feelings on both sides of this issue. Some people feel the annotations are unecessary, and that after you've used a resource once they just clutter things up. Other's feel that librarians add value by providing some descriptive information about the resource and what it's unique features are. In addition some of our site-licensed publications have access information users need to login, session limits, etc, that users need to be aware of. Some of this could be provided via a link to an information page. 

Personally, I prefer to know what a link is before I follow it, especially if there are a large number to choose from. But I'm probably too close to the issue here, and would like to get some objective feedback.  
If anyone has information on usability studies that address this issue I'd be interested in seeing those as well.
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Julie Martin
Boeing Library Services
(425) 234-4434
julie.martin at boeing.com