See also: How to organize bookmarks

Summary by SKnight(Sarah) SOLOLIB-L 5/25/2004

We have set up a MYSQL database to organize Web resources. We use PHP as the middleware (PERL or JAVA are other options). Our Quick Reference is at: http://www.lib.unc.edu/reference/quick/ Some things, especially electronic Federal documents are also in the online catalog.

We have links to some sites in our OPAC, plus we have a collection of sites in a BackFlip account that anyone can view. BackFlip is a free, web-based bookmark consolidator. You can see our collection at http://www.backflip.com/members/businesscollege. Very few are annotated, alas--it's a work in progress.

I have a listing of "Useful Web Sites" incorporated into my intranet, which I design, populate, and manage. I have a service automatically checking the pages each week, and I edit each page on an annual basis.

For publications in my catalog or vertical file, I put a link in the record to the web site if there is one. For organizing web sites(bookmarks,favorites) I use www.backflip.com <http://www.backflip.com>. I imported the bookmarks, and over a period of time, checked each one for dead links and put them into folders. This came in very handy recently when my hard drive died. Everything was on the web at my backflip account. The best part is it's free.

I use both the library catalog and the intranet library pages to manage web resources. I use InMagic to catalog mostly pdf files for the library catalog and simply indicate that they are Internet documents rather than books or serials. I give two locations, one the actual web address and one a copy of the file housed on our server in case the Internet is down (or the file disappears). I also have library web pages for reference which link directly to web sites. In addition, I am in the process of changing one section of my library pages (on job search and employment issues) into a relational database which I will put both on the internet and hopefully on the Internet for the public to use. This relational database will include both Internet and print resources in one resource. Finally, for my own reference use, I have extensive bookmarks (of course, all classified in folders - I did, after all, start my librarian life as a cataloger). While this is not perfect, it does seem to work for me. The bookmarks I seem to use most often are my organizations file which I try to keep in alphabetical order (but Internet Explorer is not great about keeping them this way).

Editor's note: At the Montague Institute we organize all our resources — contacts, interview notes, e-mail messages, Internet resources, hard copy resources — in a relational database. The database also includes billing information, passwords and access levels, and a taxonomy with thesaurus, authority file, and controlled vocabulary. We use this "knowledge base" not only for our own research and content management, but also as a teaching lab for our Web-based courses.

Edited on September 14, 2005