Fundamentals of Reference

Websites 13

was “to provide a well-organized point of access for reliable, trustworthy,
librarian-selected websites, serving California, the nation, and the world.”^3
There were five main criteria used in the selection of entries, known as LII’s
“Big Five Factors”:

1. Availability


2. Credibility


3. Authorship


4. External links


5. Legality^4

In addition, potential LII entries were examined for

1. Authority


2. Scope and audience


3. Content


4. Design


5. Function


6. Shelf life^5

If any of these criteria look familiar, and they should, remember that they were
used by teams of librarians in the same way they might use Kenneth Kister’s
or Reference Books Bulletin’s benchmarks (see chapter 2) in the selection of an
encyclopedia. The Librarians’ Internet Index lived up to its motto, “Websites
you can trust.”
In 2008, LII began to be hosted at The iSchool at Drexel College of Infor-
mation Science and Technology as part of the process of its merging with the
Internet Public Library (IPL).
The IPL originated in a graduate seminar at the University of Michigan’s
School of Information and Library Studies in 1995. In its mission statement
it was defined as

a global information community that provides in-service learning

and volunteer opportunities for library and information science

students and professionals, offers a collaborative research forum,

and supports and enhances library services through the provision

of authoritative collections, information assistance, and information

instruction for the public.^6