Evaluating Internet Resources
The use of the Internet for conducting business (whether it is providing library services or any other transaction) efficiently and effectively should be considered as one of its prime objectives. It is necessary to evaluate what interne information, services and facilities staff within an-organisation need for their work and how the Internet can be used as a facilitator of their scientific, technical as well as business communication and collaboration.
It may be that the library is concerned to use Internet resources to answer questions on behalf of users, or to offer services that direct users to specific Internet resources, in either case, it is necessary to evaluate the Internet resources. Though there are no explicit criteria available for this purpose, traditional criteria used for print evaluation may be useful in the evaluation of Internet resources to some extent. The answers to some of the questions given below might be useful in the process of evaluating the resources:
i) What is the intended audience? Is it academic or public?
ii) What is the frequency updating? Is there information on updating?
iii) What is the affiliated institution?
iv) What are the resource developer's areas of expertise'? Is there an about section that describes the author/creator of the source?
v) What is the relationship between resources and other resources on the same topic? Are there any links or references to these related resources?
vi) Are there any reviews or evaluation of the site? What do these say?
vii) Is there any permission needed for access, and are any charges made for access?
The answers to the questions posed above furnish basic information for identifying and the assessing the suitability of these resources for use by the library.