My Favorite Library Reference Tools:

About.Com
Bartleby.Com's Reference Tools Online
Behind The Homefront
Best Places to Live (Sperling's BestPlaces)
Charleston Advisor
Dictionaries (One Look)
Dictionaries: YourDictionary.com
Evaluating Print Resources
Fact Finding on the Web
Fagan Finder
Information Please
Inside Higher Education News
Journalist's Toolbox
Landmarks for Schools
Law Librarian Blog
Librarian's Resource Center
Library Link of the Day
Library of Congress Twitter Feed
Library Spot
Link Popularity Check
Local Census Statistics
MittenLit
New Web Sites: Be Specific by Sabrina Pacifici
New Web Sites: Blogging for Michigan
New Web Sites: The Center for Michigan
New Web Sites : Chronicle of Higher Education News Blog
New Web Sites: College of William & Mary's Swem Library New Govt. Pubs.
New Web Sites : Council of State Legislature's Grasscatcher : State News Highlights
New Web Sites: Eldorado County Public Library What's New on the Internet
New Web Sites : Federal Computer Week Online
New Web Sites: Federal News Radio
New Web Sites: Federal Press Release Gateway
New Web Sites: FindLaw News
New Web sites: Google Blog
New Web Sites: GOVDOC-L Archives
New Web sites: Government Agency RSS Feeds
New Web sites: Government News for Montana
New Web Sites : Government Technology
New Web sites : Govexec.com
New Web sites : Govexec.com Fedblog
New Web sites : Great Lakes IT Report
New Web sites : Hot Documents in the News : Columbia University Libraries
New Web Sites : Infomine
New Web Sites: Internet Resources Newsletter
New Web sites: Librarian's Internet Index
New Web sites: Library News from Topix
New Web sites: Marylaine Block's Neat New Stuff on the Web
New Web sites: Memory Hole
New Web sites: MLC Blog
National Coalition for History Blog
New Web sites: National Security Archives News
New Web sites: Net-Gold (Yahoo Groups)
New Web sites: New Mexico News Plus
New Web sites: Open Access News
New Web sites: RefDesk.com Site of the Day
New Web sites: ResearchBuzz
New Web sites: ResourceShelf
New Web sites: ResourceShelf's DocuTicker
New Web sites: RightMichigan.com
New Web sites: Scout Report
New Web sites: Secrecy News
New Web sites: SOSIG What's New Page
New Web sites: TruthOut
New Web sites: University of Colorado at Boulder Government Publications Library Blog
New Web sites: University of Queensland Cybrary What's New
New Web sites: Wired News
New Web sites:WTOP Government News
New Web sites: Yahoo's What's New
New York Times Most Popular Articles
OpentheGovernment.org
Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary Sources
Reference Notes Blog
Research-IT!
Scholarly Journals, Popular Magazines, and Trade Publications
Scholarly versus Popular Articles
SCIRUS: Elsevier's Search Engine
SearchEDU.com
Study Guides and Strategies
Thesis Writing: MSU Formatting Guide
Thesis Writing: Writing and Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation
Tiny URLs
Town Hunter
Using Primary Sources on the Web
Virtual Reference Shelf
Wikipedia : The Free Encyclopedia


Library Reference Tools:

About.Com: the Human Internet Portal
http://www.miningco.com/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Bartleby.Com's Reference Tools Online
http://www.bartleby.com/reference/
Includes links to the Columbia Encyclopedia, World Factbook, American Heritage Dictionary of th English Language, etc.
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Be Specific: Sabrina Pacifici's Webblog on Government Documents, Information, Etc.
http://www.bespacific.com
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Behind The Homefront
http://www.rcfp.org/behindthehomefront/
A daily weblog by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. It's described as "a daily chronicle of news in homeland security and military operations affecting newsgathering, access to information and the public's right to know." (Last checked 02/11/09)

Blogging for Michigan
http://bloggingformichigan.com/frontPage.do
The only blog censored by Senator Mike Bishop?
(Last checked 02/11/09)

The Center for Michigan
http://www.thecenterformichigan.net/website/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Charleston Advisor
http://www.charlestonco.com/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Chronicle of Higher Education News Blog
http://chronicle.com/news/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

College of William and Mary Swem Library
New Government Publications
http://www.swem.wm.edu/GOVDOC/docpage.html
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Council of State Legislature's Grasscatcher : State News Highlights
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/press/grasscatcher.htm
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Dictionaries (One Look)
http://onelook.com/index.html
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Dictionaries: YourDictionary.com
http://www.yourdictionary.com/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Eldorado County Public Library What's Hot on the Internet
http://www.eldoradolibrary.org/archive.htm
Courtesy of the Eldorado County Public Library, California.
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Evaluating Print Resources
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/assistance/page41013.html
Courtesy of Bowling Green State University.
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Fact Finding on the Web: A Look at Some Powerful Reference Tools
http://www.llrx.com/columns/fact.htm
Covers the SIC Manual, Chemfinder, Roget's Internet Thesaurus, Bartlett's Quotations, How Far Is It, Geographic Name Server, etc.
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Fagan Finder
http://www.faganfinder.com/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Federal Computer Week Online
http://fcw.com/Home.aspx
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Federal News Radio
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Federal Press Release Gateway
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/call/pressreleases.htm
A portal provided by the Federal Citizen Information Center, National Contact Center.
(Last checked 02/11/09)

FindLaw News
http://news.findlaw.com
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Google Blog
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Government Agency RSS Feeds
http://govpubs.lib.umn.edu/xml/rssfeeds.phtml
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Government News for Montana
http://mt-govinfo.blogspot.com/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Government Technology
http://www.govtech.net/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Govexec.com
http://www.govexec.com/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Govexec.com Fedblog
http://www.govexec.com/fedblog/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Great Lakes IT Report
http://www.glitr.com/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Hot Documents in the News : Columbia University Libraries
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/usgd/hotdocs.html
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Information Please
http://www.infoplease.com/
Information Please LLC provides this site, a cyber-ready reference library of information derived from its well-known publications, The Information Please Almanac, The A&E Information Please Entertainment Almanac, The ESPN Information Please Sports Almanac, The Information Please Kids' Almanac, and The Information Please Girls' Almanac, as well as the Columbia Encyclopedia, and the Random House College Dictionary. Users can search or browse by topic. Clicking on "Home" takes users to what amounts to an Almanac table of contents. Content at the site is current through 1997, except for the Columbia Encyclopedia, which has a 1993 copyright date. You can do a Quick Search (subject) or Full Text Search. Source: Scout Report, February 27, 1998.
(Last chekced 02/11/09)

Infomine : University of California Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
http://infomine.ucr.edu/
A cooperative effort by the University of California to index Internet resources of relevance to the academic community.
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Inside Higher Education News
http://insidehighered.com/news
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Internet Resources Newsletter
http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/irn.html
Focuses on items of interest to academic libraries.
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Journalist's Toolbox
http://www.journaliststoolbox.org/
Selected resources by the Society of Professional Journalists.
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Landmarks for Schools
http://www.landmark-project.com/index.php
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Law Librarian Blog
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Librarians' Internet Index
http://lii.org/search/ntw
(Last checked 02/11/09)

Librarian's Resource Center
http://www.sla.org/content/resources/index.cfm
The Librarians' Resource Centre is a compilation of internet resources organized for the practicing librarian.The web pages are hosted by Special Libraries Association, Toronto Chapter, and the searchable database is hosted by Andornot Consulting. Included are:

  • Directories [telephone, postal, list forums & archives]
  • Ready Reference [acronyms, almanacs, biographical, calendars, currency, dates, gazeteers, quotations, weather] Topical Guides [arranged by subject, includes government, law, country reports, news media, patents, standards, statistical sources, etc.]
  • Business & Finance [Guides, news, companies, stock symbols, IPO, annual reports, finance, country reports]
  • Engineering, Science & Technology Databases [Database vendors and free stuff]
  • Citing Electronic References
  • Library and Information Science [Resources, humour, image, ethics, mission, policies]
  • Careers & Employment
  • Magazines & Journals [Links to professional literature]
  • Knowledge Management [KM, Competitive Intelligence, Learning Organizations]
  • Internet/Intranet web page development
  • Graphics,HTML,Intranets,Java/Javascript
  • Web Site Evaluation
  • Records Management
  • Cataloguing Resources
  • Computer Based Training
  • Publishers, Vendors & Out-of-Print Sources
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Library Link of the Day
    http://www.tk421.net/librarylink/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Library News from Topix
    http://www.topix.net/news/libraries
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Library of Congress Twitter Feed
    http://twitter.com/librarycongress
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Library Spot
    http://www.libraryspot.com/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Link Popularity Check
    http://www.linkpopularitycheck.com/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Local Census
    http://www.localcensus.com
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Marylaine Block's Neat New Stuff on the Web
    http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Memory Hole
    http://www.thememoryhole.org/
    Good source for government documents news.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    MittenLit
    http://mittenlit.com/
    All about books and authors with a tie to Michigan.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    MLC Blog
    http://mlcnet.org/blog/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    MSU Formatting Guide for Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations
    http://www.msu.edu/user/gradschl/format.htm
    A guide prepared by the MSU Graduate School.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    National Coalition for History Blog
    http://historycoalition.org/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    National Security Archives News
    http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/index.html
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Net-Gold (Yahoo Groups)
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    New Mexico News Plus
    http://www.stlib.state.nm.us/services_more.php?id=426_0_13_0_M64 (Last checked 02/11/09)

    New York Times Most Popular Articles
    http://www.nytimes.com/gst/mostpopular.html?nl=ep&emc=ep
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Open Access News
    http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/fosblog.html
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    OpentheGovernment.org
    http://www.openthegovernment.org/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Primary and Secondary Sources
    http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/assistance/page41012.html
    Courtesy of Bowling Green State University.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Primary Sources
    http://www2.lib.msu.edu/exhibits/primesource/
    Courtesy of Michigan State University.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    RefDesk.com Site of the Day
    http://www.refdesk.com
    Check out the site of the day.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Reference Notes Blog
    http://ref-notes.blogspot.com/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    ResearchBuzz
    http://www.researchbuzz.com/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Research-It
    http://www.itools.com/research-it/research-it.html
    A collection of online reference tools.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    ResourceShelf
    http://resourceshelf.freepint.com/
    Resources & News for Information Professionals & Researchers. Compiled and Edited By Gary Price, MLIS, e-mail: gprice@gwu.edu
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    ResourceShelf's DocuTicker
    http://www.docuticker.com/
    DocuTicker offers a hand-picked selection of resources, reports and publications from government agencies, NGOs, think tanks and other public interest organizations. Visit daily for the latest updates, or subscribe to our RSS feed. DocuTicker is also featured in the ResourceShelf Newsletter, a free weekly e-mail highlighting recent posts.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    RightMichigan.com
    http://www.rightmichigan.com/
    A conservative blog that supports Republican viewpoints.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Scholarly Journals, Popular Magazines, and Trade Publications
    http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/assistance/page41010.html
    Courtesy of Bowling Green State University
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Scholarly vs. Popular Resources
    http://www2.lib.udel.edu/ref/howto/schvspop.htm
    Prepared by Patricia Arnott, University of Delaware Library.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Scholarly vs. Popular Resources
    http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/tutorials/scholarlyfree/
    Camtasia presentation by Vanderbilt University.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    SCIRUS: Elsevier's Search Engine
    http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Scout Report
    http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/
    The Scout Report is the flagship publication of the Internet Scout Project. Published every Friday both on the web and by email, it provides a fast, convenient way to stay informed of valuable resources on the Internet. Our team of professional librarians and subject matter experts select, research, and annotate each resource.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    SearchEDU.com
    http://www.searchedu.com/
    Indexes over 15 million university and education web pages and ranks them in the order of their popularity.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Secrecy News
    http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    SOSIG What's New Page
    http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/whats-new.html
    Lists 50 most recent additions and provides search engine.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Sperling's BestPlaces
    http://www.bestplaces.net/
    This web page enables you to compare two cities, side-by-side. The site provides: population data by race, marital status, and occupational category, home ownership rates, median housing costs, educational attainment, school expenditures and demographics, health costs, water and air quality, rates of illlness, climate, cost of living, per capita and household income, unemployment rate, job growth, numbers and rates for property and violent crimes, commuting times, transportation methods, and place of work.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Study Guides and Strategies
    http://www.studygs.net
    This simple and practical guide, created by Joe Landsberger, offers straightforward study strategies to students. Students can select specific hints and strategies from six general categories (in English or six other language options):

  • Study Preparation,
  • Studying,
  • Writing Skills,
  • In the Classroom,
  • Reading Skills, and
  • Testing Skills.
    Landsberger lists his references in each selection; these include David B. Ellis's _On Becoming a Master Student_, Walter Pauk's _How to Study in College_, and Steven Covey's _Seven Habits of Highly Effective People_, among others. A list of links to study tools and guides from other universities completes the site.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Tiny URLs
    http://tinyurl.com/
    Paste in a very long URL and "tinyURL" converts it (for free) to a sweet little URL that you can paste into your email.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Town Hunter
    http://www.townhunter.com/TownHunter/home.aspx
    Finding the right place to live isn't always easy. There are many factors to consider, and these factors are different for different people. A couple with young children probably considers schools important. A retiree might consider climate, low real estate taxes, and access to medical care. Someone on their own for the first time might want access to theatres and restaurants. Town Hunter lets you choose the factors which are right for you, and shows you the best matches.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Truthout
    http://www.truthout.org/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    University of Colorado at Boulder
    Government Publications Library Blog
    http://cubgovpubs.blogspot.com/
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    University of Queensland Cybrary What's New
    http://www.library.uq.edu.au/internet/new/webnew.html
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Using Primary Sources on the Web
    http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources/index.cfm
    Students and researchers now have greater access to primary source materials for historical research than ever before. The traditional use of sources available in print and microfilm continues to be the foundation for research, but in some cases documents, letters, maps, photographs of ancient artifacts and other primary material are available online in different formats from free websites or subscription services on the internet. Users of primary sources have always needed to examine their sources critically, but now with the proliferation of electronic resources from a wide variety of web site producers, evaluation is more important than ever before. Users of web resources must now consider the authenticity of documents, what person or organization is the internet provider, and whether the electronic version serves their needs. This brief guide is designed to provide students and researchers with information to help them evaluate the internet sources and the quality of primary materials that can be found online. Courtesy of RUSA, History Section.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Virtual Reference Shelf
    http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/virtualref.html
    Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Wikipedia : The Free Encyclopedia
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Wired News
    http://www.wired.com
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Writing & Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation
    http://www.learnerassociates.net/dissthes/
    Intended for Master's or Ph. D. candidates, this is a guide to the "quasi-political aspects" of the dissertation process. Topics also include selecting a supportive advisory committee, and preparing thesis and dissertation defense. Prepared by S. Joseph Levine, MSU Department of Agricultural and Extension Education.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    WTOP Government News
    http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=115
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

    Yahoo What's New
    http://dir.yahoo.com/new/
    Each day, Yahoo! publishes a list of all the new and notable sites that have been added to their directory. Ordinarily, there will be between about 100 and 500 new sites listed here (except on the weekend). The caveat to using the sites listed at Yahoo! is that all links are submitted by those wishing to have their Web pages indexed here and no attempt is made by that publisher to check for the reliability of the information on the submitted site.
    (Last checked 02/11/09)

     

    Google
    WWW http://staff.lib.msu.edu/harris23/general/
     

    Ownership Statement
    Jon Harrison : Page Editor
    Michigan State University Libraries
    100 Library
    E. Lansing, MI 48824-1048
    E-mail: harris23@mail.lib.msu.edu
    Last revised 02/11/09