Information gateways, virtual libraries and other catalogues

• Terminology
• Examples of sites

Terminology

In the Yenza! section on search engines it was indicated that search engines such as AltaVista compile indices of web sites automatically, while directories like Yahoo rely on human intervention.

A more narrowly-focussed variation on the directory theme are information gateways, Internet catalogues, subject guides and virtual libraries. These tools focus on resources in a particular field, and - although usually searchable - are organized in some hierarchical format. Some catalogue resources within particular fields; others are "catalogues of catalogues".

Because the terms are often used interchangeably and the boundaries are unclear, this Yenza! section will not attempt narrow technical definitions of each term, focussing rather on the features common to all. In all cases sites

• Are compiled manually, rather than indexed automatically
• Are organized according to some logical classification scheme
• Apply some form of quality control mechanism in making decisions about including sites

For more information on evaluation criteria see the Yenza! section on evaluating information.

Examples of sites

General

Argus Clearinghouse
The Argus Clearinghouse serves as a central access point for subject guides which identify, describe, and evaluate Internet resources:
http://www.clearinghouse.net/

Resource Organisation And Discovery in Subject-based Services (ROADS)
A good starting-point to find if there is a suitable information gateway for your topic is the list maintained by the project:
http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/roads/who/

DutchESS, Dutch Electronic Subject Service
Indexes Internet resources, selected on quality and relevance for the academic community: students and academic researchers. Can be searched and browsed, in English. Information is arranged in subject sections.
http://www.konbib.nl/dutchess/

World Wide Web Virtual Library
The World Wide Web Virtual Library describes itself as "the oldest catalog of the web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the web itself. Unlike commercial catalogs, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert; even though it isn't the biggest index of the web, the VL pages are widely recognised as being amongst the highest-quality guides to particular sections of the web." The library can be browsed alphabetically or by category and is also searchable.
http://www.vlib.org/

SCOUT
The Scout Report is a weekly e-mail and web publication offering "a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators."  A searchable catalogue is maintained at
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/archives/

Subject-Based Information Gateways (SBIGs) in the humanities and related areas