A common critique of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the Internet in general is that while there are numerable and usefulness information resources that are accessible, identification of these resources is not as efficient and effective as many desire. We believe that the application of a well-established system for organizing other types of information sources - the Library of Congress Classification Schedules - offers the context and structure which can facilitate identification of relevant WWW and other Internet resources. The Schedules denote not only subject coverage and content, but information format and conceptual relationships as well.

There were several sites, individuals and other prototypes that had a direct influence on the creation of the CyberStacks(sm) service. We benefited from a series of listserv and newsgroup discussions relating to the general issue of organizing Internet resources during April 1995 and summer 1994. Many of the issues raised in these discussions were coincidentially considered by Britten in his excellent review paper on building and organizing Internet collections prepared for the 1994 Charleston Conference (Britten, 1995: 243-249).

The listserv and newsgroup discussions and comments that focused on the use of the Library of Congress classification scheme, as well as addresses and description provided for specific sites, greatly influenced the development of the original idea. The Engineering Electronic Library, Sweden (EELS) project was a major influence, as was the OCLC Internet Cataloging Project and its demonstration database. The CATRIONA project, the feasibility project of the British Library to investigate the technical, organizational and financial requirements to enable the cataloging, classification and retrieval of documents and other networks, had a general, indirect, influence.

Of special note is a initial prototype that was created by staff affiliated with MountainNet, Inc. We sincerely appreciate their continued interest and support for the original concept discussed in various electronic forums in Spring 1995.

More recent influences include CyberDewey, a guide to Internet resources using Dewey Decimal Classification codes, established and maintained by David A. Mundie, Tartan Inc., and various existing or planned Internet resource management projects undertaken by various universities, agencies and societies underway in the United Kingdom.

William A. Britten, "Building and organizing Internet collections," Library acquisitions: practice and theory 19(2): 243-249 (July 1995).