About the Gateway

| Coverage and structure | Criteria for selection | websites exclusively available to Westminster  Library members | Disclaimer |

The purpose of the Westminster Libraries Gateway to Websites is to provide a 'quick reference' set of links to useful and informative Internet sites for the customers and staff of the library service. It has been developed and is maintained by staff in Westminster Libraries - information professionals who work with the public and with the Internet on a daily basis.

You can find out about latest amendments on the What's New on the Gateway page. For Gateway highlights, news, and buried treasure, take a look at the Web Treasure Hunt posts on the Books & the City blog.

Coverage and structure of the Gateway:

As a public library service, we have tried to cover a full range of information topics. At the same time, the aim of the Gateway is to be a usable information tool. For this reason we attempt to keep it manageably small. We aim to keep the number of topics limited while comprehensive, and provide key links and links to subject gateways rather than linking to a large number of sites on any single topic.

To help people to make quick choices about what to use, and to highlight aspects of the sites that may be beyond expectations, we give descriptive annotations for the vast majority of sites listed.

A clearer picture of the organisational structure of the Gateway may be found by looking at the Expanded category list and the A-Z list of subcategories.

How we choose sites for inclusion

The Westminster Libraries Gateway to Websites is designed primarily as an information tool for the customers (and staff) of Westminster Public Libraries. The resources have been selected by information specialists using the following criteria:

Authority and reliability:

Where possible, we recommend sites that come from a known and authoritative source. Where such an 'official' source is not available, we carefully consider the credentials of any site included.

Accuracy and currency:

We look for evidence that sites we include are accurate and regularly maintained. However, we acknowledge that frequent updating is more important in some subject areas than others.

Relevance:

Resources are included only if they contain substantive information of relevance to Westminster Library customers. For this reason we try to highlight good quality sites with a local focus (Westminster / London) where we can. As a public service we cannot limit our audience to a particular group (by age, ability or other criteria) so we try to provide access to sites that are of broad appeal. There are academic sites and sites for children included, but the wider the potential audience the more likely we are to include a site.

Accessibility and usability:

It is important to us that sites are accessible and relatively easy to use. For this reason we tend to exclude sites that require registration or subscription (with the exception of the subscription sites paid for by Westminster Libraries for the use of our members - see below - of course!), as well as sites whose information content is obscured or compromised by advertising or 'pop-up' boxes, unless there is no alternative. This also applies to the language used and technical features (eg: if the site requires plug-ins or is inaccessible using disability technology).

Sites exclusively accessible to Westminster Library members

If you see [24/7] next to a link on the Gateway, it means that the resource listed is a subscription site, ie: Westminster Libraries have paid a subscription in order for our members to have free access. All of the sites include remote access and by typing in your library membership number you can use them from anywhere with an Internet connection. There are links to sections of the subscription sites on most pages of the Gateway, and you can also see a full list of remotely accessible subscription sites on our Exclusive Resources page. This list includes In-House Specials, these are only available within selected Westminster Libraries and are listed on the Gateway with [IHS] next to them. You can see a full list of these resources with which libraries they are available in on our in-house specials page.

Disclaimer

Most of the links in the Westminster Libraries Gateway to Websites are links to external websites. The Library Service takes all reasonable measures to ensure that the information provided by third parties is not defamatory or offensive, but we cannot control the content or take responsibility for pages maintained by external providers. Although we use the Gateway to recommend sites for information purposes, we do not endorse the quality of any services, products or materials obtained by you from external providers as a result of using this site.

Westminster Libraries reserve the right to make improvements and remove or add listings to this site without notice.

We welcome any comments about the site and in particular reports of any errors. You can also help to maintain the quality of our external links by letting us know what you think. Your comments will be carefully considered.