Subject-based gateways
A last category of subject directories are services created by librarians and/or experts with the purpose of providing access to high-quality internet resources. They are sometimes described as 'virtual libraries,' but also as 'subject-based gateway services.'
One of the best-known, this is a collection of 'guides' (internet resources) which has been compiled by experts and specialists. The value of each guide about a particular subject wholly depends on the expertise of the person collecting and ordering the data. In practice, this means that, for most subjects, there is an excellent collection of websites, although for some the information is unbalanced and often obsolete.
The Bulletin Board for Libraries is an information service for higher education set up by the British government. BUBL Link, which used to be called BUBL Subject Tree, is a catalogue of selected internet resources. The service BUBL 5:15 enables the user to search for relevant internet resources at the academic level. There is a fixed number of 15 resources for every subject.
Compiled by librarians of the University of California and Stanford University, it contains mostly scientific internet resources, divided into some ten categories. Infomine can be searched via keywords, titles, or LCSH (Library of Congress Subject Heading). This is not the place to look for non-academic subjects and recent news.
Librarians' Index to the Internet http://lii.org/
Compiled by librarians of public libraries in the United States, it has the character of a reference work. The Websites found are evaluated, i.e., selected on the basis of content and reliability, and provided with annotations. Here, too, you can search with the help of categories, and, more directly, with keywords. The database is relatively small and can therefore best be searched with broad terms.
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This file prepared and presented as an aid to help students understand the web. Send questions or comments to Royce Shook