Directories

The earliest search tools were human-created indexes, called directories. Each website or resource in a directory has been chosen by a person for inclusion, and the resources are arranged by topic, like the entries in the yellow pages of the phone book.

Examples of online directories range from simple listings like Indiana Wesleyan University's www.indwes.edu/ocls/reference to the database-driven Open Directory Project http://dmoz.org. Some directories give credit to the person organizing the material on a subject, so that the user can judge their authority - these include www.about.com and JoeAnt www.joeant.com.

Directories are most useful for researching topics of such general interest that the subject used as a category. For example, when using the Yellow Pages, once one finds the topic "Automobile", one can choose from a number or dealers and repair centers, all of which are highly relevant to automobile owners.

Directory usage can be frustrating if one is using the directory for an obscure term that is not used as a catagory (imagine searching the Yellow Pages for "crossbows") or if one cannot think of the term the directory makers used for the subject [for example, there is no entry in most Yellow Pages for the term "Cars."] Well-done directories offer "see" references to guide the searcher: for example, in the Yellow Pages, if one searches for "Car Dealers" one finds a note that says "Car Dealers see Automobile Dealers - New Cars; also Automobile Dealers - Used Cars".

_-DD