VIRTUAL LIBRARY

     The VIRTUAL LIBRARY is a collection of high-quality listings of websites in a number of specialized areas. Of course, no one can begin to keep track of everything on the web, but this site comes closest by letting “experts” from many areas list their sites.

http://vlib.org/

SCHOLARLY INTERNET RESOURCES

     A Mother Lode of scholarly resources in the sciences, business and economics, social sciences, humanities, and more.

http://infomine.ucr.edu/

PANDIA’S SPECIALIZED SEARCH TOOLS

     PANDIA’s POWER SEARCH lists the best directories on the net, along with images, radio search, podcasting, TV and videos:

http://www.pandia.com/powersearch/index.html

     For specialized search engines, click on custom search under This Page and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You’ll also find, as you scroll down, “links to essential business and finance resources.”

http://www.pandia.com/powersearch/index.html#custom

SECRETS OF THE “INVISIBLE WEB”

     ROBERT LACKIE says there’s an “invisible web” you can search when you have a particularly broad or narrow topic, OR want selected, evaluated, and annotated collections, OR prefer quality over quantity. You’ll find a good deal of this information on PANDIA.COM, but it seems to me that LACKIE lists some things that PANDIA doesn’t.

http://www.robertlackie.com/invisible/index.html

LIBRARIANS’ INTERNET INDEX

     Find a wealth of online links on many topics at the LIBRARIANS’ INTERNET INDEX. The sites are, as they say, “websites you can trust.”

http://lii.org/

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

     This site enables you to locate information in the Library of Congress.

     And let me add that Americans can go to their local librarian and request the loan of a specific book from regional libraries and from the Library of Congress. This is a little-known perk that could be of help to many.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/faid/

CLASSICS YOU CAN DOWNLOAD

     A vast directory of source documents on philosophy and religion, all available for free download. For example, you will find here the complete Confucian Analects and the writings of Aristotle and Camus.

http://ivzhao.com/plato/

GATEWAY TO COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD

     The LIBRARY OF CONGRESS has also given us this easy-to-use portal to the countries of the world, containing authoritative and in-depth information.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/portals.html

WORLDWIDE COUNTRY STUDIES

     “This website contains the on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress as part of the Country Studies/Area Handbook Series sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Army between 1986 and 1998. Each study offers a comprehensive description and analysis of the country or region's historical setting, geography, society, economy, political system, and foreign policy.”

http://countrystudies.us/

MAKING LANGUAGES EASY

     This master page for language study starts with “How to Learn Basic Phrases In Any Language” and moves on from there. It has a special section for those learning English as a second language.

http://mahalo.com/Category:Languages

NATURESERVE EXPLORER

     NATURESERVE EXPLORER is “an authoritative source for information on more than 70,000 plants, animals, and ecosystems of the United States and Canada. Explorer includes particularly in-depth coverage for rare and endangered species.”

http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/