Need information about libraries?

Volume 17, Number 7 • July/August 2000

Need information about libraries? — Web-enabled database lib-web-cats provides quick, thorough access
by Marshall Breeding

THE SYSTEMS LIBRARIAN column focuses on lib-web-cats, a database of libraries that the author has been working on for Vanderbilt University's library system. Discusses the search-and-retrieval features it offers and the technologies involved in creating this resource. Relates that lib-web-cats aims to facilitate Web access to libraries and to provide basic information about them. Notes that many Web directories provide listings of library Web pages, and others list library OPACs, but no major directory included both; also, a resource was needed to track the library automation systems that libraries use. Explains what records are contained in the database, how the database was built, and several options for accessing the information. Invites users of the database to offer feedback and to use the site submission form for any libraries that are not found.