Criteria for Selection of MARS Best Reference Websites
- All nominated websites will be free or predominantly free, no-fee sites, in accordance with the current mission of the MARS Best Websites Task Force. The Task Force may consider sites that impose fees for specific types of information if a substantial and important amount of information is still freely available.
- Quality, depth, and usefulness of content
- Clear statement of the content, including any intended biases
- Appropriate for the intended audience
- Provides appropriate links to other websites
- Attention to detail; absence of grammatical errors, etc.
- "Ready" Reference; usefulness for reference to answer specific questions
- May also give a broad perspective of a particular subject
- Availability
- The website’s server is reliable and speedy; information is there when you need it.
- Ease of use
- User-friendly design; easy navigation
- Good search engine
- Attractive; graphic design leaves a good impression on the user
- Easy output (printing or downloading)
- Currency of content
- Links are kept up to date
- Update frequency is appropriate for the subject matter
- Customer service
- Contacts are responsive; email addresses are correct
- Authority of producer
- Authority and legality clearly stated
- If not easily recognizable, an explanation of the history and purpose of the organization
- Uniqueness of content
- Uniqueness of the resource as a whole; creativity
- Useful in a variety of reference settings
- Efficiency (Note: efficiency is affected by the user’s method of Internet access. Dial-up access will no doubt be less efficient for all sites. Evaluators should take such differences into account)
- Graphics load quickly or are not so intensive as to seriously degrade access.
- Any required plug-ins are available for easy download
- Reliable server
- Appropriate use of the Web as a medium
- Components are well integrated (audio, video, text, etc.)
- Useful information is still available, even if the user does not have all the plug-ins and media components.
- Effective use of Java, other newer technologies
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