Ready, Set, Find It!
Recommended Internet Resources for Answering Reference Questions:
A Public Librarian's Suggestions
Search Engines and Indexes
This month's favorite Search Engine:
Infoseek - http://www.infoseek.com/ now has two
search engines
- Ultrasmart - allows
you to refine your search as you go!
- Ultraseek - use this
one for field searching and speed.
This month's favorite Index :
Berkeley Public Library's Index to the Internet - http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/bpl/bkmk//-
over 2,000 selected and annotated sites, organized by topic. With
a weekly What's New section. Not searchable.
Next month - still in beta:
The Internet Index - http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex/
(Berkeley Public Library's Index to the Internet, with a search
engine)
The Argus Clearinghouse
- http://www.clearinghouse.net/ (formerly the Clearinghouse
for Subject Oriented Internet Resource Guides) - Comprehensive
hypertexted bibliographies. Best when you really want to delve
into a subject. Searchable and rated.
Internet Search Tools Details
- http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Help/searchdetails.html Excellent
descriptions of Search Tools.
Recommended Search Tools
- http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/bpl/ref/srctools.html The
six best search engine forms on one page. The efficient way to
search.
Virtual Reference Desk Collections
Ready Reference Collection
- http://www.ipl.org/ref/RR/REF/ Excellent, annotated collection,
from the Internet Public Library.
Wired's Reference Desk
- http://www.wiredsource.com/wiredsource/refdesk.html It
has a great time-saving feature: Search blanks allow you to search
for answers directly from Wired's page. Organized by: Words, Numbers,
and Pictures.
Specific Ready Reference Resources for Those Everyday Questions
Current Events :
- Hot Spots on the Net
- http://www.library.ucsb.edu/hotspots.html From UC Santa
Barbara library. Up-to-date and excellent collection, and they
point to another current events favorite -
- Documents in the News -
http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/docnews.html
From the University of Minnesota Documents Library
Answers to practical questions:
Phone books:
- InfoSpace - http://www.infospace.com
The largest collection of white, yellow and blue pages on the
'Net.
E-mail addresses:
U.S. government information:
- GPO Access - http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/
Your one-stop point for federal government information. Unique
to this site - full-text search access to the Monthly Catalog
of Government Publications (MOCAT), with links to your local federal
depository library.
Company information:
- Infoseek's new site
now has a great company information search - http://guide.infoseek.com/Facts?pg=company.html
Find information on 45,000+ private and public companies in the
U.S. Data from Hoover's, CorpTech, newswires, and more.
Travel information:
Specialized subject information:
- Achoo On-line Healthcare Services
- http://www.achoo.com/ Catalogs, indexes, describes, and
evaluates healthcare information on the Internet. Searchable.
- FindLaw: Internet Legal Resources
- http://www.findlaw.com/index.html Full text searchable
database of all law reviews and journals on the Internet. Also
includes legal forms, organizations, law firms and lawyers, judicial
opinions and case law, consultants, and more.
Statistics:
- Bureau of the Census
- http://www.census.gov/main/www/srchtool.html Their search
page is a great example of an easy-to-use statistical resource.
Electronic versions of print documents:
- On-Line Books Page
- http://www.cs.cmu.edu/books.html Points you to all the
electronic versions of books.
Library holdings:
- MELVYL - http://www.dla.ucop.edu/
The University of California's online catalog system.
Computer technology:
- Supporthelp.com -
http://www.supporthelp.com/ Links to computer company home
pages and detailed company and product information.
Prepared for the California Library Association Annual Conference, November, 1996
by Carole Leita, leita@netcom.com, Berkeley Public Library.