Only a small percentage of web sites can claim a million visitors per month, and Hardin MD is one of them. This milestonetemp was reached recently when the Hardin Meta Directory of Internet Health Sources registered 1.1 million visits for January 2003, a 450% increase from July 2002 when the web site received 244,372 visits.

During the past year, Hardin MD has steadily grown from its roots as a "directory of directories." By focusing on strategic creation of "hot-topic" subject pages and "just plain links" pages, web site founder and librarian Eric Rumsey has tapped into one of the most active information-seeking streams on the Internet. The result has been a remarkable public service for consumers and health professionals seeking the most relevant web links on a myriad of subjects, from arthritis to yeast infection.

Hardin MD draws more traffic than any other web site in the University Libraries system. Rumsey has achieved high levels of visibility for the web site not only by creating new pages, but by tailoring existing pages so that they become highly ranked in Google and other popular search engines.

Hardin MD can be accessed on the web at: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/md/ For information about Hardin MD and its development, contact Eric Rumsey (eric-rumseytemp@uiowa.edu).