Scope
Pikes Peak Library District’s Recommended Websites is a collection of over 3,000 web sites selected and evaluated based on criteria established to ensure high standards of quality, content, presentation and accessibility. These sites are grouped under broad subject categories (some of which are further subdivided into subcategories) to assist staff and patrons in finding web sites to meet specific information needs. Subject indexing and descriptive qualifiers are added to entries to make them easily accessible to a wide range of users.
Criteria for Inclusion
Content
- Information contained in site must be accurate and up-to-date.
- Information should be published/endorsed/created by an authoritative source; sources should be cited.
- Content should be of a factual nature as opposed to opinion pieces.
- Content should be relevant to the information needs of PPLD staff and patrons.
- Site should not be primarily intended to sell or promote products/services.
- Links from site should lead to useful related sites.
- Site should be well-organized and easy to navigate.
- Site should have a search feature, index, or the like.
- If site is graphics-intensive, a text version should be available.
- Site should not take an inordinately long time to load.
- Site should not require users to download special software to use the site.
- Site should look professional.
- Site must be free or must contain a significant amount of information which can be accessed without cost to the user.
- User should not have to register; if a site is the sole available source for content/information, or if it contains unique or hard-to-find information, it may be included: if registration is required, the site should have a privacy policy.
- Site must be accessible most of the time.
- At least 75% of the links from the site must be functional.
- Selection of web sites must be consistent with PPLD’s Collection Development Policy.
- The Recommended Websites collection is intended as a reference tool for staff and patrons, and is not to be considered a public forum; selection is based on the site’s utility as a reference source as compared with similar sites.
- If a site offers unique or hard-to-find information, it may be included even though it does not conform to all stated criteria.
- Since too many links can be as useless as no links at all, a limited number of sites have been selected to provide good coverage without overwhelming the user; while there may be scores or even hundreds of candidates for a subject, only a few excellent sources can be chosen.
Maintenance
Recommended Websites is maintained by one librarian who is responsible for selection of websites for inclusion, development of subject categories and subcategories, as well as creation of added subject headings and descriptive qualifiers.
Disclaimer
Provision of access to websites in Recommended Websites does not mean or imply that the library endorses or sanctions the content or point of view of any of the information or commentary found in the websites. The Internet is an unregulated medium. Library staff cannot control access points, which often change rapidly and unpredictably. While every effort is made to evaluate the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of information found in the websites included in Recommended Websites, the Library cannot be responsible for the content of websites, over which it has no control. Users must use critical judgment in relying information found in these websites and to determine what information is appropriate to their needs.