The VL is the oldest catalog of the web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of html and the web itself.
Individual indexes live on hundreds of different servers around the world.
Each maintainer is responsible for the content of their own pages, as long as they follow certain guidelines. The central catalog pages are maintained by Gerard Manning . A database of VL sections and their maintainers is kept by Alan Thornhill and Jennifer Drummond, who also maintain the VL mailing lists . With that solid democratic foundation in place, we expect to greatly increase the breadth of the Virtual Library by recruiting and developing new sites, and to increase the quality of sites with technical and organisational support for all members. Many volunteers have given a great deal of time and effort to the VL, ever since the early days of the web.