INTERNET CONTROL

[Bob Hicks <aknaton@arkcity.com>]

PROBLEM 1. A student searches the internet and wastes valuable classtime
sifting and interpreting the hundreds of hits/sites.

PROBLEM 2. Students cite questionable/unreliable internet sources in his
research paper.

Is there "software" which would allow the librarian to customize and/or
create a searchable and selective website "bank."  Inotherwords, the
program would not only block "access" to the hits/sites(like filter
programs), but the citations themselves.  If you typed a topic/term into
your favorite search engine, you would get zero hits unless you had
loaded specific URLs.

For instance, the librarian researches "Dinosaurs" and selects "5" good,
authoritative websites including two recommended by "Booklist." Instead
of the student confronted with a hit list of hundreds of citations of
varying, unknown, and/or dubious quality,  she only gets the "5"
programed URLs which is more than sufficient for her 10 page
paper--quality over quantity.

Building and developing the subject website bank would be an continuous
process: 100 sites, 500, 1000, and etc. The customized, edited "mini"
internet web would support and be compatible with the curriculum,
faculty, and student needs.

Does such "web/internet management" software exist?  Is this what
programs such as Web Whacker and Junkbuster are?  Remember, I  want a
program which not only blocks access, but also eliminates sites from the
hit list.  No, I do not have a hidden "censorship" agenda.  Using the
usual, established "selection" protocols, I wish to control the quality
and relevancy of not only the library's book collection, but also its
"website" collection.

I would appreciate any discussion and/or comments.

Bob Hicks, Librarian
High School Library
Arkansas City, KS 67005
aknaton@arkcity.com

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