Organising access to free Internet resources: an overview of selection and management issues in large academic and national libraries with a view to defining a policy at Oxford University

Abstract

Internet resources are increasing in number and importance. This paper reports on the practices and policies adopted for organising access to free Internet resources in a number of large university libraries and national libraries. References are given to some general printed literature on the topic as well as to websites exemplifying particular approaches. The paper is intended to give an impression of how libraries are integrating free Internet resources into their descriptions of information which their users can access, which resources should be included, and how they should be treated. It concentrates on the integration of free Internet resources, although the division of electronic resources into “free” and “paid for” is not usually made at the institutions studied.