The Internet has been called a hopelessly tangled collection of useless electronic pages by some users, and services that help untangle the web may soon be shut off.
Many people have difficulty knowing where to start a search for worthwhile information on the World Wide Web.
"There's just so much there ... it's incredibly hard to find things," said Schelle Simcox, assistant director of the Internet Public Library.
Fortunately for some Internet surfers, there's a two-year-old service on the Internet, the Internet Public Library, which can assist people in finding resources located at http://www.ipl.org.
The reach of the popular IPL site has grown immensely since its adoption.
"We just had our four-millionth visitor," said Joseph Janes, director of IPL. "They're mostly from North America, but they spread over 130 countries."
Despite the millions of visitors IPL has serviced, the site is in danger of being forced to shut down when its $200,000 grant runs out.
"We have more ideas than resources," Janes said. "Our current funding expires at the end of August."
There are several collections available to visitors, ranging from more than over 5,100 online texts to a reference section to a comprehensive children's area, Simcox said.
"It's set up like what you'd expect in a traditional public library," she said.
IPL is not exactly like other web searches, such as Yahoo! and AltaVista. Simcox said most search engines have "no sense of quality control."
"We didn't want to be just another hot list, so we spent a lot of time looking for the best resources and organizing them so that it makes sense to people," Simcox said.
The organizers "based it on the fact that the Internet is an emerging community," Janes said.
Janes said they wanted to appeal to the average person on the Internet, so it's not a typical campus library that focuses on more specific information.
"They're serving a different clientele (than the Graduate library). Their mission is different," said School of Information student Rebecca Graff.
Janes said the site is not intended to be used for in-depth research, but can be used as a starting point.
"It's more the kind of thing people go to the public library for like 'How do I fix my car?' or general reading," Janes said.
Some students said IPL's easy accessibility is an important feature for usage in one of the most difficult parts of the research process - getting started.
"It's available whenever you get the inclination and inspiration," Graff said.
"Distance-oriented approaches help in getting started, but it's just a start."
She stressed that although IPL is a valuable resource, it does not yet sufficiently incorporate the more interpersonal aspects of actual library assistance.
"They're fantastic at what they do - especially with youths and teens - but it's not everything. It's only one aspect, and it only serves a certain community," Graff said.
She said that librarians are needed to help people look at topics from different viewpoints.
"One of the major parts of librarianship is getting people to ask questions," Graff said. "It's not just finding and organizing information."
But the site is still developing, and Janes and Simcox keep this in mind.
Simcox said that she doesn't believe traditional libraries and books will become obsolete for quite a while, but in the future, libraries will have to "just do a better job of integrating the digital and hand-held resources."
"We have a good start, but we have a long way to go," Simcox said.
The site is expansive, yet easy to navigate.
"We've found that it changes people's ideas of what is available to them," Simcox said.
Janes says that what started as a class project is now a service with about 11,000 links to other sites, each with an abstract describing that site.
"It's the only place I would go for an online book," Graff said. "Their collection is fantastic."
Along with the $200,000 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, the School of Information has also assisted in funding IPL.
IPL is looking into several possibilities for future funding, including a corporate partner.
The site has won several awards already, and many other sites point to IPL for related information.
"It's one of the best things on the Internet, period," Graff said.
in the future, libraries will have to "just do a better job of integrating the digital and hand-held resources."
"We have a good start, but we have a long way to go," Simcox said.
The site is expansive, yet easy to navigate.
"We've found that it changes people's ideas of what is available to them," Simcox said.
Janes says that what started as a class project is now a service with about 11,000 links to other sites, each with an abstract describing that site.
"It's the only place I would go for an online book," Graff said. "Their collection is fantastic."
Along with the $200,000 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, the School of Information has also assisted in funding IPL.
IPL is looking into several possibilities for future funding, including a corporate partner.
The site has won several awards already, and many other sites point to IPL for related information.
"It's one of the best things on the Internet, period," Graff said.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
A student works on one of the computers in Angell Hall. Students have 24-hour access to many computing sites on campus. Most sites include the use of the World Wide Web.