Who is cataloguing the web? Documentary work as big business and voluntaryproject

Along with search engines, web directories are the crucial navigation tools in the Internet. Link lists that at first have been edited by hobbyists ha ve evolved to large Internet portals such as Yahoo! or Web.de. These direct ories have grown to over two million entries within few years; development of the taxonomy and quality of their entries are influenced by this rapid g rowth. It is important to understand that the know-how of librarians and in formation science professionals has played only a minor role in the develop ment of the main directories. The best example for that is the non-commerci al Open Directory Project, which has built the largest web directory within the last three years. Due to the competitive situation on the portal marke t and the high staff expenditure, a market shakeout in the United States ha s left on only three large web directory providers; these factors will also influence the future of directories in the German-speaking countries. Time to sum up and report on the trends within this area.