Cataloguing Internet resources: the library approach

Abstract

Many approaches have been taken by different groups to collect, organise, archive, disseminate and preserve electronic resources on Internet. Some projects, such as WebCrawler, Lycos, etc., purport to index or organise the electronic resources automatically. Another approach, led by the Clearinghouse for Subject‐Oriented Internet Resource Guides, involves human intelligence to identify and compile Internet resources by subjects for public access. The third category is the traditional library cataloguing approach. This paper demonstrates the benefits of the MARC formats, the importance of the integration of information resources, and the guarantee of public access as the major reasons for using the traditional cataloguing approach to organise Internet resources. Since cataloguing the Internet is a huge project, and various groups are involved in this process, the roles of each related group are discussed.