Presentation slides
Research on the Web - Not necessarily an Oxymoron                     Internet Subject Directories
Linda H. West
March 30, 2001
Internet Subject Directories Categories Notes Search Library Journal?
About.com (formerly The Mining Co.) 
     Weekly updates; Extra content; Visible editors
http://www.about.com                                     1 million
36 developed by specialists yes Found 3 layers
Academic Info
    One authors and volunteers; Topics in the news
http://www.academicinfo.net/index.html             7,500 
16 extensive, annotated yes Found 2 layers
Argus Clearinghouse 
    Lists subject collections; Uneven coverage
http://www.clearinghouse.net/                           1,000
13 ratings

Selected

yes Not Found
Britannica.com - Explore (formerly eBlast) 
    Additional content; Expanded outline; Site statistics
http://www.eblast.com/                                130,000
6 Selected
starred
reviews
yes Found
with
search 
BUBL Information Service 
    Checked monthly; UK, but also US
http://bubl.ac.uk/                                           12,000
10 A-Z subjects
or Dewey
browse
yes Not Found
Cyberstacks 
    Science and Technology only; Interesting organization
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/
6 by LC Class no Not Found
Digital Librarian
    Categories are large
http://www.digital-librarian.com/                   10,000
90 annotated no Found 1 layer
Directory of Networked Resources
http://www.niss.ac.uk/subject/index.html
9 UDC, presented in levels No Not Found
Encyberpedia
http://www.encyberpedia.com/
45 limited yes Not Found
Free Internet Encyclopedia
http://www.cs.uh.edu/~clifton/macro.a.html        1,500
none A-Z list no Not Found
Galaxy
    Compiled for Internet experts
http://galaxy.tradewave.com/                           10,000
10 see alsos yes Not Found
Gateway to the Internet
     With Reference Desk
http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/gw/keyword.html#subject
94 University library yes Not Found
HandiLinks
http://www.handilinks.com
54 Pay placement yes Found
4 layers
Infomine 
     All types of resources; University of California Riverside;
          selection criteria; LC Subject headings
http://lib-www.ucr.edu/                                   20,000
9 you chose display yes Found
3 layers
Internet Index - from Silver Platter
    Reference items
http://www.silverplatter.com/intindex/intro.htm/
86 A-Z listing no Not Found
Internet Public Library - Reference Center
http://www.ipl.org/ref/                                     3,000
11 Graphical interface yes Not Found
Internet Resources from College & Research Libraries News
    Collected from the journal columns
http://ala.org/acrl/resrces.html
34 scholarly, selected No Not Found
Josh's Sanctum
    Add links instantly
http://josh.nu/
13 limited yes Not Found
Jump City
     Signed reviews; targeted subjects
http://www.jumpcity.com/
12 reviews yes Not Found
Librarian's Index to the Internet 
    Federal funding; Updated weekly; initialed reviews;
       request weekly emails
http://liii.org                                                   7,400
42 Public library,
1251 subjects
best of...
yes Found
2 layers
Linkopedia
http://www.linkopedia.com
12 nice layering yes Not Found
LookSmart 
    "The Quality Web Directory"; 200 editors

Used by: AltaVista, MSN, Go2Net, Hotbot, Infospace, Webcrawler, Netscape, Excite; Direct Hit partner; AltaVista and Realnames searches

http://www.looksmart.com/                              2.3 million
10 says 24,000 categories yes Found 6 layers
MetaPlus
http://www.metaplus.com/
51 abbreviations no Found 1 layer
Michigan Electronic Library
http://mel.org/                                                 26,000
14 includes a Michigan
category
yes Found 2 layers
NBCi.com - formerly Snap! 
    Popular content; User submitted; Top Web selected by user popularity
http://www.snap.com/                                     1 million
22 nice related searching Yes Found
with search
NetGuide Live
     Reviews; very selective
http://www.netguide.com/                                 50,000
18 Reviews yes Not Found
Open Directory Project 
    "Humans do it Better"; 31,000 volunteers; not found leads
          to additional search; see references - @; fewer dead links
          Uneven coverage; starred sites

      Used by: 212 other sites including AOL, Google, Hotbot, AltaVista, Netscape, Lycos, Owned by Netscape, now AOL

http://dmoz.org/                                            2.1 million 
16 become an editor yes Found
3 layers
Resources of Scholarly Societies
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/subjects_soc.html
46 ratings by availability no Not Found
Scout Report Signpost 
    Academic; Sponsored by NSF; Selection criteria; "Best Internet resources";varied displays
http://www.signpost.org/signpost/                         10,000
22 LC Class or Subjects yes Not Found
SelectSurf
http://www.selectsurf.com/                                 10,000
18 best sites yes Not Found
Studyweb
    K-12 and higher education; grade levels listed
http://www.studyweb.com/                              141,000 
18 Grade levels indicated Yes Not Found
Suite 101
    Editors; editorials; five featured sections; additional content
http://www.suite101.com/                               44,000
10 Dewey;
in depth on some
yes Not Found
Surf Point
    All links belong to Link Exchange
http://www.surfpoint.com/                              400,000 
22 cool ratings yes Not Found
Web Gems 
     Small size is a drawback
http://www.fpsol.com/gems/webgems.html 
54 Annotated;
900 sites
yes Not Found
Webrary
http://www.webrary.org/Ref/weblinksmenu.html
10 Dewey from PL yes Not Found
Wired Cybrarian
http://hotwired.lycos.com/cybrarian/
9 selective no Not Found
WWLib
    One editor; expands to individual number
http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/wwlib/browse.html
10 UK, uses Dewey yes Not Found
World Wide Web Virtual Library
    Oldest directory; Uneven coverage; editors; on different servers
http://vlib.org/Overview.html                          50,000
14 global network yes Not Found
Yahoo! 
    100 editors; since 1994; popular and general information
        user submitted; search url; uncluttered; search by date added;
        cross references - @
http://www.yahoo.com/                                   1.7 million
14 Sunglass
cool ratings;
The Gold Standard
yes Found 4 layers

http://library.nsuok.edu/Resources/Research/indexes.html