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Web Linking Guidelines Policy

King County Library System's mission is to provide quality web resources that we feel will be of interest to KCLS users. KCLS web pages do not grow beyond the number of links that can be maintained on a regular basis. The KCLS web page is a starting place, which prefers quality rather than quantity.

KCLS Librarians consider the following questions when deciding to link to a World Wide Web site from any of the King County Library System web pages. A negative response to a question does not automatically mean KCLS should not link to that site. If there are a number of negative responses, however, an effort is made to find a better site for the topic.

Where appropriate, KCLS links to local (King County and Washington State) information.

Navigation

Is the site intuitive?
Can you find your way around with relative ease?
Is there a site map or a tool to search the site?
Can you tell when you are leaving this site and entering another?

Content

Is the information accurate and current?
Does the page have a posting and/or revision date?
Is the information likely to change on a frequent basis?
What is the overall quality of information provided by the site?
Does it have sufficient information to make it worth visiting?
Do the links from the page lead to related useful sites?
Are those sites maintained?
If it is a commercial site (.com), does the value of the content outweigh the advertisement? Or does the advertising considerably detract from the content?
Is there an educational (.edu) or an organizational (.org) site that offers the same or similar information?
Is the information on this site unique? Or does KCLS already provide a link to another site with this type of information?

Authority

Is the author, company or organization responsible for the site identified?
Is the author qualified to provide information?
Has the author or organization provided contact information (email address, mailing address, phone number)?
Is the information on the site copyrighted? Does the author appear to have the legal right to display the information?

Accessibility

Does the page load within a reasonable amount of time on a variety of computers? Test this out on your public machines.
Does the page provide text alternatives to images, i.e., do words pop up when you put your mouse over the image; <Alt> tag)?
Is the site viewable from any browser or does it require a specific browser?
Does this site require plug-ins for audio, video or special effects?
Is the information on the site free? If there is a fee, is there enough free content to justify a link?
Is this site using frames?
Is registration required to access the sites content or services? If so, is the registration procedure short and simple?

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Last Updated: July 23, 2007