As the sheer volume of information we can access continues growing at an exponential pace, how do you find the information you need and ensure that it is accurate and suitable? While Google and other sites open the door to mountains of information, their search rankings do not list websites in order according to accuracy.
Locating quality material can be a daunting task. Luckily, you do not have to be alone in your quest. Skilled, professional information mediators with knowledge of a vast array of sources are available to help – they are called librarians. Librarians are experts at collecting and managing information resources and making them available to people. If you need medical advice, go to a doctor; for legal advice, see a lawyer. If it is information advice you need, talk to a librarian, who can guide you to high-quality, trustworthy resources that will best satisfy your needs.
Given the amount of time librarians spend helping people locate information, they tend to discover “little gems” – interesting, useful, and content-rich resources others may not be aware of. Below is a short list of Web resources on a variety of topics I’ve discovered in my travels.
American History
American Memory
• http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse
Produced by the Library of Congress; provides free and open access to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.
Art
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah
Produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world, as illustrated by the Museum’s collection, from prehistory to the present day.
Countries and Regions
The World Factbook
• https://www.cia.gov/library/ publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
Provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.
E-books Project
Gutenberg
• http://www.gutenberg.org
Download over free e-books to read on your PC, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android or other portable device.
Health/Medical
MedlinePlus
• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus
Produced by the National Library of Medicine; contains reliable, up-to-date information about diseases, conditions and wellness issues for free.
Lifelong Learning
Academic Earth
• http://www.academicearth.org
Free video courses and lectures from leading scholars.
Politics
FactCheck.org
• http://www.factcheck.org
A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. A nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that monitors the accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.
Scholarly Journals
Directory of Open Access Journals
• http://www.doaj.org
Provides access to free, full text, quality-controlled scientific and scholarly journals. Browse for journals by subject or search for articles on a particular topic.
Science
The National Science Digital Library
• http://nsdl.org/search
The National Science Foundation’s online library of resources and collections for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and research.
Sports
Sports-Reference
• http://www.sports-reference.com
A combination of sites providing statistics and resources for seven sports – baseball, football, basketball, hockey, college football, college basketball and the Olympics.
Shelly Davis is the head librarian at Wellehan Library on campus.
