Setting Up a WWW Service

UKOLN has developed a new set of public library pages which are available at http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/public/. The links below are no longer maintained. For the latest information about UKOLN's public library activities please visit the new set of pages.

Once libraries have got their Internet connection they must confront a number of issues - learning to use it, deciding what to do with it and working out policy issues that the Internet raises. The following collection of links touch on all of these issues - starting with training and writing WWW pages moving on to ideas for services to policy problems to the more technical issues of running a service. If you work through all this lot you'll be well on the way to being able to setting up your own WWW service.

Internet Training Courses Available on the WWW

• Back To School - Thirty online and free classes on getting to grips with the Internet - specifically designed for librarians.
• MMLC Internet Training - A course of seven lessons for novices on the Net - again aimed at librarians.
• Netskills - a high profile UK project that is one of the ELib projects. Offers a series of easy to use and understand classes on how to make the most of the Internet - again its free!

Getting To Grips With Writing WWW pages

• Writing For the WWW: A Primer For Librarians - An introduction to HTML by Eric Schnell - not really a 'how to' guide but more of an introduction to the world of WWW for librarians.
• A HTML Primer - an another extensive guide to HTML writing

Useful Collections Of Icons

• Websoc Graphics- A good site for a wide selection of Icons and backgrounds etc - it is based in the UK and is consequently much faster to load than many of the USA based sites.
• Icon Bazaar - an excellent selection of high quality icons - but it is a very slow site.

Ideas for Services

• Innovative Internet Applications In Libraries - a good place to start from although the examples used are mainly from academic libraries.
• Net Notions for librarians - bright ideas and resources for public libraries. Another useful site from the Hardens.

Policy Issues

• Information Policy Resources - put together by IFLA.
• Public Library Internet Access Policies - the librarians at the library of Lake Oswego have also collected together a whole list of access policies.

Other Useful Stuff

• Web4Lib - Information about a very active discussion group that deals specifically with issues concerning the WWW and libraries - both how to set up a WWW site and how to manage a publically available WWW service.

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Content by Sarah Ormes of UKOLN
Last updated on 24-Apr-1998