Carolyn Brown
Acting Director Area Studies Collections
Library of Congress
Everette Larson
Head of Reference, Hispanic Division
Library of Congress
Portals to the World is an electronic resource created by Library of Congress subject experts. It contains links to Internet materials that provide authoritative, in-depth information about the nations and areas of the world. These links are arranged first by country or area, and then by a wide range of categories. Staff specialists use current Library of Congress selection criteria to choose useful links, and then enhance these links by providing annotations. The staff also has the option to forward the links to catalogers for inclusion in the Library’s OPAC. The project is intended to be of interest to both scholars and the general public and, when completed, will include all nations of the world. This session will describe the design concept, the prototype pages, the selection criteria, the subject categories, as well as the current status and future direction of this project.