Biblio-tech topics
by Barbara Kelly, Assistant Director

Fox Cities Online and Appleton Public Library

Did you know that there is a website that lists thousands of other Fox Cities websites in an easy to use classified and keyword searchable list? Did you know that there is a non-profit organization that will host a website and provide an email account for any club or organization in the Fox Cities area for only $25 per year? Did you know that the Appleton Public Library (APL) and the Outagamie Waupaca Library System (OWLS) are supporters of the non-profit organization that creates and maintains that directory and supports the web hosting services offered?

Fox Cities Online (FOCOL - http://www.focol.org) is the organization. It is a non-profit corporation, and has a board of directors with representatives from the Appleton Public Library, the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, Future Neenah, Calumet County, Lawrence University, UW-Fox Valley, the YMCA of the Fox Cities, the Fox Cities Rotary Multicultural Center, the Goodwill Community Campus, and more. Fox Cities Online and the Appleton Public Library have an agreement that allows the FOCOL server to reside on the Library’s network. I work with the FOCOL board, serving as their Executive Director as part of my responsibility to the Library, and our Technology Coordinator, Kurt Riechers, provides network support. The Library also provides some funding for FOCOL, money that comes to us from the Outagamie Waupaca Library System as part of our compensation for serving as the resource library for OWLS.

The Fox Cities Online directory contains listings for over 3,000 different websites. We make an effort to include every website of every business, club, church, organization, restaurant, government agency, hospital, etc. in the greater Fox Cities. If we don’t have a link, chances are they don’t have a website. Every week, an assistant hired by FOCOL scours newspapers, regional magazines, phonebooks, pamphlets and brochures, and other online directories to find new links. We add over 100 every month. And we also go through all of the ones we have to be sure they are still valid, removing any which have changed or gone away.

You can search FOCOL by keywords, using any part of the name of a company or the type of business. There is also a pull-down menu of categories that can be used to browse the site. Lists of links can be sorted by the name of the business or organization, or by city or by category. Links take users to the website of the business or organization. The beauty of FOCOL is that it is ALL about the Fox Cities. You don’t have to wade through links to things all over the country or world when you’re looking for something about your local community.

Search FOCOL:

 
Over 50 of the listed websites are actually hosted on Fox Cities Online. FOCOL offers low cost hosting to any club, organization or even business that joins at the “regular” membership level or above. Each hosted member gets a login and password and is able to maintain their own web pages. They also get one email address with a regular membership, or up to four with a supporting membership or above. If you are a member of an organization that needs a website, you can find out more at http://www.focol.org/howto.html or pick up a pamphlet next time you’re at the Library.

The Appleton Public Library is proud to support Fox Cities Online. It is clear to us that we have an interested in increasing the amount of information available on the web about the Fox Cities, and also to make it easier for people to access what’s there. Fox Cities Online is one way that we are able to do that. Take a look at www.focol.org today, and we think you’ll find it the fastest and easiest way to find local information. You might even call it the “Google of the Fox Cities!