Essex Internet Gateway
Help
Introduction
Organisation of websites
Star Rating
Descriptions
Searching the Gateway
Finding a specific website
Searching the whole Internet
Internet searching tips
Contacting Us
Introduction
Essex Libraries Internet Gateway has been set up to aid navigation
through the vast resources of the Internet. Library staff have evaluated
a wide range of Internet sites and selected the most valuable, accurate
and up-to-date.
Organisation of websites
The selected sites have been arranged in 14 broad subject categories.
These have then been further sub-divided into more specific topics. e.g.
Education
Clicking on any of these topic headings will take you to the list of relevant websites.
Star Rating
Although all sites on our gateway have been selected for their quality,
some are recommended as being particularly useful and have been awarded
a 
.
This indicates that the site has a special value either because it
presents unique information of a particularly high standard or because
it is an authoritative source among many other sites on the same
subject. An example of this is the NHS website.
Descriptions
Each site included in the gateway has been annotated with a description
of its main features and details of the organisation responsible for the
creation of the material. Clicking on 'More..' will provide details of
any special requirements for accessing the site. Such requirements might
include registration or passwords, essential plug-ins (free software,
such as Realplayer, Shockwave or Adobe Acrobat to access certain files),
or details of subscription sites that can only be accessed from a
library venue. e.g.
The Community Information Database
contains contact details for over 5000 local community, voluntary and
self-help groups, clubs and societies, along with other local resources
and facilities within the districts of Essex. More...
Searching the gateway
There are two ways of using the gateway:
The Internet gateway uses a controlled language with a limited number of keywords. e.g. 'Hydraulic engineering' is not indexed because it is too specific. However, a search on the term 'Engineering' will find a number of sites where a more detailed search can be conducted, with a guarantee of relevance and authority.
Please note: Keyword searching on the gateway is not the same as searching the whole web. Internet search engines index a vast amount of information and return a lot of results. This is both a strength and a weakness. The advantage lies in the fact that almost anything can be found with the right search terms. The disadvantage is that it can be difficult to select the right search terms and a lot of superfluous, inaccurate or irrelevant information will be retrieved.
Finding a specific website
If a web address (URL) is already known
Searching the whole Internet
If the required information cannot be found using the Gateway, or a
wider search is preferred click on the link at the bottom of the
category list, on the home page:
| Click here to search the whole of the Internet. |
(This option will also appear if a keyword search has been unsuccessful)
Select the search engine you wish to use, type in your search term(s), and click on 'search'.
Internet searching tipsContacting Us.
If you notice that any of our sites are persistently unavailable contact
us using our online form. We are also interested in hearing of any
sites you find useful.
Click here to search the whole of the Internet.
Keyword Search | What's New | Help | Contact Us/Add a Listing