Chris Rusbridge asked about:
> http://www.yahoo.co.uk
> First glance: looks interesting, but have they sized it right? Veerrrry
> slow!
> Do we now have some serious competition for the eLib ANR projects?
Yahoo UK looks like a fine collection of links, covering a wide
range of subjects, with some usefully pragmatic headings. BUT their
descriptions are always very brief, and the entries are nearly
always at a server level. They do not often get down to individual
documents or databases on servers. I'm unclear what lies behind
their searching, but I don't think that entries are indexed in any
depth, and certainly not using a thesaurus that could match the
richness of specialised subject thesauri. Yahoo! is a cut above
your average URL listing service, but only just.
They will provide some competition, but we do not fear that. It is
good to have a competitor lurking, just to make sure you stay ahead
of them! They are probably competing more directly with NISS -
another wide ranging directory service - than with ANR projects which
are all exploiting their specialised subject knowledge to add value
in one way or other.
I wonder whether Yahoo! UK will be producing an evaluation of their
user base and impact on HE ... ?
Frank Norman National Institute for Medical Research
Deputy Librarian The Ridgeway, Mill Hill
OMNI Project Coordinator London NW7 1AA
tel 0181 959 3666 ext 2380 UK
fax 0181 913 8534
email [log in to unmask]
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