Explain LII annotation
For exercises, read site annotation for each question’s site
Show right-click, open in a new window
Bookmarks for Free, Fast, and Factual
Gateways
Different from a website, search for subjects. Examples: weight loss, animal shelters
INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
http://infomine.ucr.edu/
More scholarly
A multi-disciplined, annotated directory of tens of thousands of links to
Browse: Business,
LCSH
"university level research and educational tools on the Internet." Includes
Search:
"databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists,
ethnomusicology
online library card catalogs, articles ... [and] other types of information." Tens of
*INFOMINE tips*
thousands of records, some created by librarians, others generated by robotscoring
crawlers. Searchable and browsable. From the University of California, Riverside.
LII
Librarians' Internet Index
http://lii.org/
Browse: Animals
Recently re-designed and revised. Searchable, browsable website of Internet
Search: weight loss
Advanced search
resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to public
+new site
librarians and the general public. All entries are carefully reviewed and evaluated
notifications
before entry into the lii.org database and then maintained throughout their life
*Using LII*
cycle. The motto of lii.org: "Websites You Can Trust." LII
EXERCISE 1
Ready Reference
Answers.com
http://www.answers.com/
Browse: Places,
US Parks
Answers.com displays quick answers for factual queries. With one search,
Search: Greek
Answers.com will search content from over 100 encyclopedias, dictionaries,
mythology, Pope,
glossaries, and atlases and display results from matching entries.
World War II
Biographies Polysearch Engine
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jacso/extra/egyeb/poly-bio.htm
Watch out for popup blocker
"Access biographical information, sketches, and full biographies of famous and
Search: Patrick
infamous historical figures, politicians, scientists, authors, artists & athletes."
Stewart
Designed by library school professor and reference reviewer Peter Jacso.
Free Public Record Sites
http://www.brbpub.com/pubrecsites.asp
ILChampaign
Links to national, state, county, and city public record sites as well as Canadian
Circuit
and U.S. territories. LII
CourtTraffic
Erik Wise
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.
OneLook Dictionaries, The Faster Finder
http://www.onelook.com/
Cuniculous
Search hundreds of general and specialized English dictionaries simultaneously,
Fruitarian
Show CTRL+F
or select the ones you want to search. Millions of words indexed. LII
Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records: A Genealogy Guide
http://www.deathindexes.com/
CaliforniaYuba
This site "gathers together links to online death indexes by state and county.
City Death
RecordsSarah
Included are death indexes, obituaries, probate indexes and cemetery and burial
Hough (CTRL+F)
indexes." Browsable by state. LII
Reference - Bartleby.com
http://www.bartleby.com/reference/
Tabbed navigation
This site has a combined database of more than twenty respected reference works
at the top
and several anthologies and individual works of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.
Search: spleen
Search: Egypt
In addition to out-of-copyright editions of classic works such as Bartlett's,
Bulfinch, and the Cambridge History of English and American Literature the
collection also includes recent editions of the Columbia Encyclopedia, The World
Factbook, Roget's II: the New Thesaurus, the American Heritage Dictionary of
the English Language, Gray’s Anatomy, and much more. Fully searchable. LII
Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
*Wiki Article*
"Wikipedia is a free content encyclopedia that is being written collaboratively by
Search: peer to
contributors from all around the world. The site is a WikiWiki, meaning that
peer
anyone ... can edit any article. ..." Without editorial oversight, the quality of the
content on this site varies, but it is worth exploring. The English version has over
500,000 entries. Spanish, French, and Esperanto are among the dozens of other
languages offered. LII
EXERCISE 2
Health
Healthfinder
Sections: Health
http://healthfinder.gov
Care /
Federal website for consumers, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and
Organizations /
Human Services and other agencies, with links to information and websites from
Health Library
over 1,500 health-related organizations. Advanced search allows you to limit by
Search: diabetes
audience (teens, men, etc.). Also available in Spanish. LII
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.
MEDLINEPlus
http://www.medlineplus.gov/
Categories on left
This directory site is designed to lead the user to resources containing information
Search: diabetes
Surgery videos
that will help with researching their health questions. It includes information from
MEDLINE, links to self-help groups, the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) drug
database, medical dictionaries, directories of doctors and hospitals, access to
National Institute of Health consumer-related organizations, clearinghouses,
health-related organizations, and a search databases section with dozens of
databases on topics such as clinical trials, nutrition, AIDS, cancer, etc. Also
available in Spanish. LII
PubMed Central
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/
Free full-text articles from biomedical and life sciences journals. The database is
managed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information in the National
Library of Medicine. LII
Law
FindLaw: Internet Legal Resources
Public Section
http://www.findlaw.com/
Estate Planning,
FindLaw is the best place to start consumer-level legal research. Run by a private
Living Will
company, the site provides intuitive and easy access points to relevant information
Small Biz
SectionStarting,
for the public, students, legal professionals, business, corporate counsel, and legal
Business Plan
news sources. The site also features a lawyer search, legal forms, organizations,
Search: Tenant
and other valuable legal information. LII
Rights
Legal Information Institute
http://fatty.law.cornell.edu/
Sections on left
The best single starting point on the Web for doing research into all laws: case
Constitutions &
Codes
law, state and federal code, Supreme Court decisions, etc. Full-text, searchable
Court Opinions
database of all law reviews and journals on the Internet. Updated nightly. Another
Law by source
search interface, LawCrawler, helps you focus your search on legal issues on the
Search:
Web. Also includes Legal News, legal forms, organizations, law firms and
Bankruptcy
lawyers, judicial opinions and case law, consultants, and more. LII
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.
Religion
Encyclopedia Mythica
http://www.pantheon.org/
Quick Select:
Greek
An encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and religion, divided to six geographical
Search: jackal
regions: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania. Special
interest areas (Arthurian legends, Greek heroic legends, bestiary, genealogical
tables, etc.) will help your search. LII
Internet Sacred Text Archive
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm
Navigation on left
This site consists of "significant primary texts relating to religion and mythology."
Click on
There are Ancient texts including neolithic, Australian, Pacific, African, Ancient
“Mormonism”
Near East, Greek and Roman, Northern European, Egyptian, Native American,
and Modern Pagan. Eastern contains Shinto, Hinduism, I Ching, Taoism,
Confucianism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Western has a hypertext Bible
and other Christian texts, Judaism, Mormonism, Bahai'i, Islam, Zoroastrianism,
esoteric, occult, and fringe religions. There are also writings by freethinkers
Charles Darwin, Thomas Paine, Mark Twain, Clarence Darrow, and Albert
Einstein. LII
Religion -- BBC World Service
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/world_religions/
Click on
Each of the six religions covered -- Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism,
“Buddhism”
Judaism, and Sikhism -- includes the basic tenets of faith, history, and useful
links. Some also include contemporary issues, glossaries, or biographies of major
figures. LII
EXERCISE 3
Business
BigCharts
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/
Search: PRA V
BigCharts offers, among other things, historical stock prices dating from January
2, 1970 to present. LII
Hoover’s
http://www.hoovers.com/
Wal-Mart
Hoover’s offers extensive information about companies, industries, people, and
Show full record
products. It covers public and private companies, both nationally and
internationally. Many libraries pay to upgrade so their patrons can access more
in-depth information on the site. LII
Small Business Network Resource Library
http://smallbiz.infopeople.org/
Info Resources
A research center for all things related to small business. The most relevant part
Ed Tools
of the site is the “Information Resources” section, offering recommended
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.
websites for doing business with the government, demographics and market
research, laws and requirements, start-ups, and more. The site also offers a
Spanish version.
Directories
All Nations Expatriates & Travelers Telephone Search Engine
http://www.embassyworld.com/directories/global_telephone.html
From Australia to
USA
"It gives you the calling code instructions from each of the world's nations to any
Embassy in Spain
other nation. In addition this engine allows you to search every online telephone
directory in the world. (Over 700 directories) Plus it gives you an instant link to
all of the embassies of the nation you are calling, the lowest international rates for
your call, and a link to that countries voltage for those who are planning on
traveling or relocating to that nation." They also provide a great compilation of
maps of the world. LII
The Ultimates
http://www.theultimates.com/
R. Miller, Grand
White Pages, Yellow Pages, as well as a trip planner and an e-mail directory.
Rapids, MI
Massage, IL,
Search six separate directories from one page. Includes reverse look-ups and map
Hoffman Estates
look-ups. LII
EXERCISE 4
Government and History
CIA World Factbook
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
Drop-down:
Country profiles, flags, and reference maps for the popular print version. LII
Ireland
FirstGov
http://www.firstgov.gov/
Citizens: Change
FirstGov is the official U.S. gateway to all government information. It provides a
Address, Soc.
search engine and topical links to millions of webpages from federal and state
Sec., Fam&Home
Biz: Licensing,
governments, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. FirstGov also
Exporting
provides a Spanish-language web portal. LII
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.
HyperHistory Online
http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html
PeoplePlato
Short biographical sketches of famous people in history (browsable by time
History1000period or alphabetical index), timelines for world civilizations (browsable by time
Events1911
Daily 20th century
period), key historical events by year, and a decent collection of historical world
calendar
maps. A lot of things are cross hyperlinked, so you can get more information and
MapsWII
move from one section of the site to another. LII
NationMaster
http://www.nationmaster.com/
Show CTRL to
A central source for graphically comparing nations by data from the CIA World
select multiples
Factbook, United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, World
Top 10: Taxation
contribution
Resources Institute, UNESCO, UNICEF, and OECD. Also includes data for
Catholics Top 10
individual countries, including maps and flags. LII
Mexico missing
Statistics
Bureau of Labor Statistics
EmploymentOcc
http://www.bls.gov/
upation/unemploy
Easy entry into the full range of economic data and analysis produced by BLS.
ment/wages
Here is where you'll find the statistics and reports on employment and
Industries at a
unemployment, price (such as the Consumer Price Index), living conditions,
glance: education
compensation, productivity, and more. LII
and health
Population Reference Bureau
http://www.prb.org/
Navigation on left
The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) website provides a comprehensive
Population Trends
virtual gateway to data and reports on population trends. Most useful to first-time
Datafinder: Africa
users is the access by topic, available from the left sidebar menu, which includes
Pick various and
display
16 subjects ranging from education to gender to income and race. Also found here
are menu options for the six major regions of the world, and links for quick access
to PRB's main focus areas of health, environment, and population trends. Other
features of interest on this site are the "DataFinder," which offers searching by 95
demographic variables for 220 nations of the world, as well as for the United
States and individual states. Also useful is the extensive "Glossary of Population
Terms," which includes dozens of definitions related to the study of
demographics. LII
Sports Statistics
http://www.amstat.org/sections/sis/sports.html
Baseball:
How do TV commentators know that Barry Bonds' batting performance in the
Baseballref.com
first two weeks of May was the worst ever by a player who had hit over .400 in
April? The web offers an embarrassment of riches in sports statistics, and the
American Statistical Association, which normally concerns itself with weightier
matters, offers a portal with links to a couple dozen statistical sites covering
sports, major and minor.
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.
United States Census
http://www.census.gov/
Categories in
Census 2000 statistics in the following categories: people, business, geography,
middle
Datafinders on
newsroom, and special topics. The site includes complete access to the Statistical
right
Abstract of the United States and quick access to information by location using
Stat Abstract at
the American FactFinder. LII
bottom
American FF (on
left)94901
News
Home Town News
http://www.hometownnews.com/
FloridaJacksonv
Links to more than 2,600 daily and weekly U.S. newspapers. Many of these
ille
newspapers don't have archives on the commercial databases but will have small
date range archives on their own website. LII
Weather Underground
http://wunderground.com/
Navigation on left
Weather conditions and forecasts from around the globe, as well as hard to find
Air quality
Zoom satellite
daily historic weather records from airport weather stations. Use FastForecast to
Zip code
"enter a city, state, country, zip code, or station code for the current National
searchhistorical
Weather Service forecast." Includes links to hundreds of weather sites; weather
data
cams with live pictures of current weather conditions in hundreds of locations;
Wunder Photos
tropical storm-related sites; ski reports; radar and satellite imagery; and
temperature, jet-stream, and upper-air maps. LII.
world-newspapers.com: World Newspapers, Magazines, and News Sites in English
http://www.world-newspapers.com/
Iraq
Massachusetts
A searchable directory of online world newspapers, magazines, and news sites in
Magazines on left
English, from the customary to the bizarre, including alternative online
publications. In addition, the news is searchable by magazine, newspaper, news,
and television photo galleries. LII
EXERCISE 5
Art
Artcyclopedia
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/
Search options on
Online index to exhibits searchable by artist, and browsable by movement,
right
medium, subject, nationality of artist, or women artists. Painting and sculpture
Search by title:
are most heavily represented, but other media are also included. LII
David
Browse:
NationalityChile
Art movements
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.
AskArt
Free and for pay
options
Artist info
Various directories
http://www.askart.com/AskART/index.aspx
The free content available on this site (which also contains for-pay content)
includes directories of artists, dealers, auction houses, galleries, and museums in
the U.S. Basic information about artists is also available: birth, death, museum
holdings, etc. LII
Music
All Music Guide
http://www.allmusic.com/
Simple search:
Artist: Pet Shop
From the publishers of the standard print reference by the same name,
Boystabbed
AllMusic.com provides ratings and reviews of over 700,000 albums. Searchable
entries
by artist, album, label, song, or style. There are music maps that track the
Song: Enjoy the
Silence
evolution of music genres, articles, and an extensive glossary. Artist entries are
exhaustive—complete discographies, history, influences, reviews, and more. LII
ArkivMusic.com
http://www.arkivmusic.com/
BrowseCompos
erCarl Orff
Detailed information on thousands of classical recordings, both in and out of
Browseoperas
print, and opera DVDs. The site is "browsing" only, unless you know the label
Die Zauberflote
catalog number. Can browse by composers, conductors, performers, ensembles,
operas, and record labels.
FreeScores.com
http://www.free-scores.com/index_uk.php3
Browsepiano
Browsechorus
A directory of links to sheet music for dozens of instruments—wind, string,
show a sample
keyboard, voice, and other. Currently boasts over 2,300 fully free pieces of sheet
site for each
music. LII
EXERCISE 6
Books
Fantastic Fiction
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/
Gaiman, Princess
Searchable by author or book title, this free site gives biographical,
Bride by Goldman
bibliographical, and award information for authors and excellent information
about various print editions, as well as links to purchase the books from retailers
or second-hand.
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.
Gnooks
http://www.gnooks.com/
Gnod’s
Suggestions
Gnooks is a reader’s community that helps you discover new writers you will like
(Rice, Gibson,
based on the books and authors you already like. Their ever-changing “Map of
Card)
Literature” is the chief attraction—pointing you to new authors based on authors
Map of Lit: Koontz
you already know and enjoy.
Juvenile Series and Sequels
http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/series/juv/
From the Mid-Continent Public Library in Missouri, the most comprehensive list of
Tolkien,
Montgomery
books in a series that I’ve found. Covers children’s and YA titles, and is arranged and
Lewis
accessible by series title, series subject, book title, and book author.
Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/
Author: Cory
Project Gutenberg is the longest existing producer of free eBooks. Their
Doctorow
collection totals over 15,000 eBooks produced by volunteers. Most of the Project
Adv Search:
Gutenberg eBooks are works that are in the public domain, at least in the United
subject:
psychology
States. All may be freely downloaded and read, and redistributed for nonFull text search in
commercial use. LII
beta
Multimedia
Internet Movie Database
http://us.imdb.com
Basic search opts.
More search opts.
The most complete collection of movie and film information you’re going to
Fun stuff
find—search for movie titles, characters, quotes, plots, people working together,
and more. LII.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Reading Room
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html
Search: NOW
Search: slave
Access to approximately 2/3 of the LOC’s prints and photographs, approximately
trade
one million digital images. The site warns fairly obviously that “not all images
displayed in this catalog are in the public domain.” LII
NPR Audio Archives
Search: Kent state
http://www.npr.org/archives/
book, TotN
Search audio archives of NPR radio programs from 1996 to date. LII
Picsearch
http://www.picsearch.com/
Search: pig
Adv Search:
“A search engine for pictures and images with a relevancy ranking they claimed is
books, animations
unrivalled among other web image search engines. Picsearch also claims to be
100% family friendly due to its filtering of “offensive material.”
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.
SingingFish
http://www.singingfish.com/
Audio:
"Singingfish offers the world’s largest index of streaming media, with currently
thunderstorm
Video: Seinfeld
over 10 million streams, mp3s, and downloads, and 200,000 to 300,000 files
added monthly." Streaming media is content delivered over a network that can be
played on a receiving computer prior to the delivery of the entire file.
EXERCISE 7
Consumer Resources
Better Business Bureau
http://bbb.org/
BizBob’s
CharityGuide
The Better Business Bureau provides consumer and business tips, information on
non-profits, e-commerce, and consumer ratings of various websites. LII
California Department of Consumer Affairs
http://www.dca.ca.gov/
License &
Look up a company or individual in an occupation licensed by the CDCA
Complaint
(accountants, acupuncturists, architects, chiropractors, dentists, doctors,
Look up a
veterinarians, and much more). Also check out the Bureau of Automotive Repair,
category
that registers and regulates over 30,000 California automotive repair facilities, and
Auto Repair
licenses smog check, lamp and brake inspection stations. LII
ConsumerSearch
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/
Health &
FitnessEllipt.
Product reviews in over 800 categories, both browsable and searchable. Their
House &
reviewers include "former writers for Consumer Reports, PC Magazine, & The New
Homesew.ma
York Times."LII
EXERCISE 8
Additional Techniques and Tools
Clusty
http://clusty.com/
A search engine offering clustered search results grouping similar items together.
Google Search Features and Shortcuts
http://www.google.com/help/features.html
Search shortcuts for books, a calculator, definitions, file types, products, movies,
news headlines, phonebook entries, street maps, travel info, weather, & more. LII
Librarian in Black
http://www.librarianinblack.net
Sarah Houghton’s site about library tech, reference websites, & virtual reference.
NoodleTools
http://www.noodletools.com/
Citation tools (MLA & APA), NoodleQuest (develop a search strategy based on
your topic), and recommendations for search tools based on your needs. LII
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.
ResearchBuzz
http://www.researchbuzz.com/
Tara Calashain’s site about search engines, library technology, & more. LII
ResourceShelf
http://www.resourceshelf.com/
Gary Price’s site about search engines, government information, and libraries. LII
Yahoo Search Shortcuts
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/tips/tips-01.html
Search shortcuts for airport information, area codes, dictionary definitions,
exchange rates, stock quotes, traffic reports, current weather, & more. LII
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2005 and Beyond Spring-Fall 2005 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita and Sarah Houghton for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library
Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use
of this material should credit the authors and funding source.