EE-Link began as a service to environmental educators in 1992. At that time our server was strictly a Gopher service. Our web site began in 1993 and, since 1994, EE-Link has been a leading force in bringing environmental education to the Internet. Now, with over 10,000 users per week on average, EE-Link has become a comprehensive website for exploring environmental education on the Internet.

EE-Link has always been at the leading edge of making quality resources available to people interested in environmental education. In addition to a comprehensive array of links to quality web sites, EE-Link brought the GreenCOM Resource Library to the web in 1994. Around that same time, EE-Link began hosting the GAIN Directories (now the National Environmental Directory) a collection of databases listing over 13,000 environmental organizations. GreenCOM, along with a newer resource, Activity Finder, also represent excellent tools for finding classroom resources, books, and video resources for environmental educators. These databases can be searched individually depending on a user's needs.

On October 5, EE-Link unveiled a new version of this long-running EE web site. The new site features made EE-Link a resource for teachers, professional educators, and all people interested in EE more than ever before. The addition of technical highlights enhanced the process of adding new links, improved searching capabilities, and improved the ease of navigation on the site.

The most important new feature of EE-Link was the Link Management System (LMS). Through the LMS, EE-Link users can suggest links to be added to EE-Link and, through a stream-lined design, the link will be judged against link criteria and, if accepted, will be implemented within the EE-Link web site. The bottom line is that if an EE-Link user knows of good EE resources on the internet that aren't already linked to EE-Link, the add-a-link function will faciliate making these resources known to other users. The add-a-link page is only one click away from most pages on EE-Link at http://eelink.net/cgi-bin/ee-link/add_link.cgi. The LMS is a custom software tool designed jointly by Paul Nowak of EE-Link and Valerie Mates (http://www.valeriemates.com), a custom software designer. For more information and a complete description of the LMS, visit http://eelink.net/lms.html.

In addition to the LMS, EE-Link redesigned the content pages to reflect the huge expansion of EE information on the internet and to make the site easier to use. For example, EE-Link now features listings of topic-specific EE organizations and activities. An EE-specific search tools were also added to the site. Previously one had to rely on internet-wide search engines like Yahoo, Excite, and Infoseek when looking for EE information. Now, a multi-site search tool can simultaneously search dozens of quality EE web sites in just seconds...a great tool for researching just about anything having to do with EE. Begin at the main search page on EE-Link with: http://eelink.net/easysearch.html. There are also net-wide search tools specifically for EE-jobs and EE-grants information.

Lastly, EE-Link is doing more to connect visitors with similar interests to each other as well as stimulating groups wishing to discuss EE on the internet. EE-Link provides links to a comprehensive list of EE-related e-mail lists as a starting point.

In June 2005, NAAEE unveiled the latest version of the EE-Link web site. This version has vastly improved searching and is much more closely integrated with the http://NAAEE.org web site. We think you will enjoy browsing and searching both EE-Link and the NAAEE site more than ever with these changes.

EE-Link: the place for finding EE resources, people, and action on the internet.

Paul Nowak, NAAEE / EE-Link / NAAEE Technology Solutions NTS Chief Information Officer