The Open Directory is a huge links catalog all run by dedicated volunteers. DMOZ offers some of the *highest Page Rank* – all available for free. Google loves this directory and seems to give it a higher mark of importance over other large directories.
Although its not required to be in the “Odp”:http://dmoz.org/ , its certainly well worth the time to *submit your site there as soon as possible.* If listed your site will have a good starting point and rankings will only improve over time.
Many smaller directory also pull form the Odp. Over time you’ll find a more and more incoming links pointing directly at you from sites you thought never existed.
Although searching though the directory is a bit cumbersome and sluggish, getting listed is of the utmost importance -(especially for new and un established sites) – Google seems very aware of whether your site is listed in it.
For example I have seen Google pull page descriptions directly from the Odp directory and then *base your Page Rank* accordingly. This seems to be more attributed to whether or not your site had a good enough content to index in the first place though.
For example pages with terrible content on their index page may benifit more from the directory listing than one with filed with top of page useful and related content.
The big problem is that the directory is scarce with volunteers and sometimes (well almost 100% of the time) the wait is unbearable. Its not uncommon to wait 8 months to a year to get listed.
Submitting to the appropriate directory is super important. If done incorrectly your link will be rejected. I recommend first finding the most relevant place to list your site, and second look for a volunteer at the bottom of the page for faster inclusion.
Its to your advantage when launching a new site to do your best to *get listed in the Odp*. The long wait may be worth it!