You want to be very careful with links. Google and other search engines may not even list you if your site is full of links to other sites that are not back-linked to you. A famous American newspaper was blacklisted for that reason.
On the other hand, Google gave one of my sites top ranking because the 2,500 links were part of my very comprehensive directory. Their bots do look at how much supporting information you supply with your links and may consider your site a valuable contribution. It's a delicate balancing act.