Joanna Clark

1

• Joanna Clark
• (Essex Libraries)
• Paul Hollands
• (Bristol University)

2
What is Euroguide?

• A subject gateway to quality websites which
  contain information on the European Union
• Content
• List of categories
• A to Z list of websites
• Whats New?
• Suggest a site
• Ask us a question

3
Who developed Euroguide?

• Earl Task Group on European Information
• Essex Libraries
• Sixtyeight Creative Solutions
• Hosted by UKOLN

4
Objectives

• Guide the public through the maze of European
  information on the web to authoritative sources
  of EU information
• Provide Public Library Authorities with an
  efficient, cost effective alternative to creating
  their own European library links

5
Who is it aimed at?

• Aimed at users who might have limited experience
  of using the Internet
• Users who might have little understanding of the
  EU and European information
• Other Public Library Authorities

6
Design Considerations

• Had to be easy to use
• Important that it looked visually attractive and
  interesting
• Own identity and domain name
• Participative, encouraging users to recommend
  useful websites and ask questions about European
  information

7
Usage of Euroguide

• Since Euroguide was launched in October 1998 the
  usage rate has been impressive. Example of
  enquiries include
• Why is Croatia not part of the EU? from Croatia
  
• Im moving to Norway and want to take my rabbit.
  What are the quarantine laws? from Canada

8
Future Developments

• We need suggestions for new sites to include on
  Euroguide
• Brief descriptions about the new and existing
  sites so that users can judge the relevance of
  the sites
• Planned publicity campaign

9
Introducing ROADs

• Euroguide has recently transferred from its
  original software to ROADs software
• ROADs has brought us in line with other subject
  gateway providers
• Updating Euroguide is now much faster

10
Updating Euroguide

• New categories can be added and the contents of
  existing categories edited
• Entries can be added or edited at any time and
  the website is updated immediately
• A link checking report can be run at any time,
  identifying error messages and URLs that no
  longer exist