Intute is a free online service providing access to web resources for education and research. Created in partnership with university subject specialists, it provides more than 100,000 links to academic content on the web, as well as a suite of virtual training tutorials and internet information services. Intute’s origins lie in the 1996 Electronic Libraries programme, where a group of librarians and researchers won JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) funding to develop their ideas for new internet gateway services. The service has always actively pursued original ways of working online, and is now a thriving concern.

The award was presented at the Online Information Conference at London’s Olympia in December. Adrian Dale, editor of the Journal of Information Science and Online Information conference chairman, said: ‘Intute is a great example of the UK library community taking a long-term, pioneering role in the internet information environment. Through effective collaboration, it has developed a national service which now has a global reputation.’

Emma Place, Intute Training and Outreach Manager at ILRT, said: ‘We are delighted and honoured to receive this award. Intute is a community-driven service. Its success depends on input from staff in universities across the UK, who work collaboratively to build an internet service that can benefit the whole higher education community. The expertise of these people ensures academic credibility, which is absolutely essential for a service aimed at those users who are trained to be sceptical of unaccredited or unreliable sources as a matter of professional necessity. It’s great to see the value of this work formally recognised through this award.’