Web Directories
Web directories operate in a similar way to the subject search function in the library catalogue . They are arranged in sub categories relevant to the main topic of the website and list links to other websites. This facilitates subject browsing.Most directories are evaluated, compiled and edited by people who have a good knowledge of or are experts in that subject area. Because of this screening process you will find more relevant and higher quality websites in the directory.
A useful feature of many web directories is the description (which sometimes includes a review) of the website listed.
Note:
- Most web directories have a hierarchical structure.
- Websites are usually listed as a whole, occurring only once in the directory - in contrast to search engine results where you sometimes will find multiple listings of web pages from the same website.
- Many web directories have a local search engine for searching the directory. This is very useful with large directories where there is a large listing of categories and subcategories.
When to use a web directory
If you want broad, general information on a topic a web directory will give you a good overview of what is available on the web.You will use a directory when you need
- a large amount of information on a broad topic.
- an overview of a topic and to see what the scope of the topic is.
- to see how your topic is related in a scheme. (It gives an idea of related - and may be relevant - topics.)
- generally good quality sites that has been reviewed by experts.
- a variety of websites on a topic.
- when you are unsure of the actual terminology for a site but are aware of its subject content.
- History of Ancient Rome
- Jazz music
- Shakespeare's life & times, works & literary criticism.
Navigating a directory
This exercise looks at ways in which you could navigate Google's directory - using the listings for Climate change.
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Hands-on Demonstration
Method 1 - Drilling through the directory:- Open Open Directory Project (open in a new window/tab)
- Click on Science - note the options for searching at the top. See how it changes as you click your way through the categories.
- Then click on Earth Sciences - note the Related categories listing, which gives you other pathways to the topic.
- Then Atmospheric Sciences
- Then Climatology
- Then Climate change.
Method 2 - The alphabetically arranged subcategories:
Note - not all of the categories have this option.
- Go back to the home page - click on the link at the right side of the screen.
- Click on Science
- Scroll down to Science Categorised by Letter, then click on 'C'
- Click on Climate change.
- Compare the results page with the above method's results.
- Go back to the home page.
- Enter you search term Climate Change
Did you note the category indications? This is useful because it gives you an indication of other relevant categories to browse for related information. Some of the results in a directory search may be irrelevant to your topic, as it searches for the words you specified.
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General Directories
- The Open Directory Project
- Yahoo directory
- Best of the web
- Intute web resources - Intute is a consortium of seven UK universities. Good quality websites for college and tertiary students.
- Pipers have a NZ directory.
- Te Puna Web Directory - collated by our New Zealand National Library.
- Christchurch Internet gateway
- Wellington City Library has a Popular Topics page that includes websites for that topic.
- The Library of Congress Virtual Reference Shelf directory is extensive, though, as expected, some of it is US biased.
Specialist directories
These directories focus on a specific topic or subject area. Here is an example of two - have a look and note how they differ from general web directories.- Best of History websites
- Environment links - a directory of environment related websites
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DISCOVERY EXERCISES
- Choose one general directory and one New Zealand directory and explore them using a topic of your choice (or try one of the following: History of Ancient Rome - Jazz music - Shakespeare's life & times, works & literary criticism).
- Repeat your search on Google's general web search engine with the term 'web directory' added to you topic terms.
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Updated: October 2012
