Euroguide Gateway, April 1998

Euroguide, a directory of web sites of EU related information, is an innovative project aimed in particular at the general public. Currently being tested, it was announced at the EIA meeting by Mary Rowlatt of Essex County Libraries and is due to go live at the address http://www.euroguide.org in April. Developed by a group of public libraries under the project EARL banner, it categorises the information under sixty three subject headings which try to avoid Eurospeak and makes links not just to homepages but to specific pages of information. Similar to the concept of the SOSIG gateway for the social sciences, it aims to create links to authoritative official sources (not all EU). The site seeks to be interactive so as well as the A-Z subject listings and a 'What's new' section, there is a form for suggestions of good sites for inclusion, comments are sought through the 'Contact us' option and there is even the opportunity to ask a question. The plan is to gain volunteers from a number of the Public Information Relays to create a rota responsible for answering these queries. As the site is under construction, contributors to its development would also be welcomed. Comments can be submitted directly through the link provided once the site goes live.