Robert M. Brown's
Science & Reference Librarian Corner
Selected links to some useful science, general reference, and librarianship sites, plus some sites that are just for fun
JUMP TO LINK CATAGORIES ON THIS PAGE:
LINKS
Professional Librarian Links
ALA:The American Library Association's Official Website
The Digital Librarian: Librariana Section: A great site for links to websites on a huge variety of subjects relating to libraries, librarians and librarianship. This is a link to just the "Librariana" portion of this huge metasite of links, the overall site maintained by Margaret Anderson, a librarian in Cortland NY. The links have brief annotations and are arranged in alphabetical order. Subsections within each main link are also given as links under their main entry. See below, in the "General Reference Links" section, for a link to The Digital Librarian's main index page.
Librarians' Resource Centre: Excellent site divided into areas including "Service to our clients", "Professional Development",and "Technical Resources". Many useful links for library professionals. Maintained by the Toronto chapter of the Special Libraries Association.
Bookwire: In the words of the creators of the site: "BookWire™ is THE comprehensive online portal into the book industry. Our mission is to provide librarians, publishers, booksellers, authors, and general book enthusiasts with the resources they need. The site provides links to an array of Bowker products, including Booksinprint.com and Ulrichsweb.com. In the "Demand Depot" section, users can request obscure titles and subscribe to the site's free newsletter, BookWire Monthly. BookWire™ provides articles on the latest industry news, access to literary journals and reviews, and an expansive directory of book sites around the world. Users can also search updated bestseller lists, find listings of literary events, and read author interviews".
U.S. Copyright Office: Official web site of the United States Copyright Office. The site includes general information, updates on current legislation, answers to often asked questions, links to other sources for copyright information, application forms, and much more.
LISNews.com: News for Information Professionals: A current news site for library and information professionals. This site contains feature articles and news from around the globe dealing with many topical issues in libraries and library science. A quick and easy way to see what is happening in our profession and what others are doing about the challenges we all face. The site is well organized and easy to navigate, with the ability to search and gather articles on particular topics of interest. The site is created and run by Blake Carver and Steve Galbraith, librarians in New York State and Maine, respectively. The site is done in their spare time, but appears to be a very professional effort. They welcome submission of stories.
LibWeb: Well organized site where you can connect to library web pages all over the world. Currently provides access to over 3000 pages from libraries in over 90 countries. Includes sites maintained by Public, Academic, State, and Special Libraries. Also includes a useful list of web sites for companies that provide services and products to libraries.
Emergency Primer: "This primer discusses how to plan for, salvage, and care for paper objects in emergencies, such as fire, flood, and earthquake. The Primer was issued by the Smithsonian Institution, National Archives and Records Administration, Library of Congress, and National Park Service". The site is run by the Museum Management Program.
General Reference Links
Libraryspot: An online library reference collection with dictionaries, encyclopedias, a link to MapQuest for trip planning, and more. Created and maintained by StartSpot Mediaworks, Inc. as a "...virtual library resource center for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the web for valuable research information."
CNN: Connect to CNN's site for world and domestic news.
Encyclopedia Britannica: Portions of the Encyclopedia Britannica available online, plus the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, current news, and other useful information. The complete Encyclopedia Britannica is available if you wish to subscribe. The rest is free to use without payment.
Information Please Almanac: An online version of the Information Please Almanac, with information in a wide variety of subjects.
The Digital Librarian: Main Site Index: Main index page for The Digital Librarian, a huge metasite of links to a wide variety of topics. Links within topics are annotated. The site is maintained by Margaret Anderson, a professional librarian in Cortland, NY. See above under "Library Related Links" for a direct link to the "Librariana" section of the site.
Megaconverter: A conversion engine for converting one kind of units into another. Has a tremendous range of units for all kinds of things from the basic length and weight and volume to ancient systems of measurement and much more. If you want to know just about any conversion, you can calculate it here. Curious about how much you would weigh on another planet? You can compute it here too, quick and easy. A product of Ben-Cam Intermedia, an internet company that claims, in part: "Our mission is to provide the on-line world and the "soon-to-be on-line" world with useful products, valuable, time-saving services and educational resources".
Librarian's Index to the Internet: A massive link collection for almost any topic you can imagine, maintained by the California State Library. Of particular interest is the listing, under "Literature", of sites containing the full text of many literary classics and popular works, poetry, novels, short stories, etc.
The Nobel Prize Internet Archive: The Nobel Prize Internet Archive is produced by Almaz Enterprises. You can click on a Nobel
category (Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Peace, Economics, or Physiology & Medicine) and see an annotated, hyperlinked list of all of the Nobel laureates in that category. There are several special links for locating information on "Women Nobel Laureates" and "Why there is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics". There is also a link to the Ig Nobel Prizes, a humorous look at some very strange research projects, sponsored by "The Annals of Improbable Research". For a direct link to "The Official Ig Nobel Prize Homepage", look under the Fun & Relaxation Links catagory on this page.
Science Links
SciCentral: An excellent site for links to information in many sciences. Created and maintained by SciLink, Inc., a web based science information company. The site's stated purpose is to "... identify and centralize access on a timely basis to the most valuable scientific and technical resources, news, and information online."
NASA: NASA's official website for current events, future plans, and recent discoveries in Space.
USGS: United States Geological Survey's official site, a great site for resources in Biology, Geology, Mapping, and Water Resources, mainly U.S. but also worldwide. This site has factsheets on hazards and Natural Resources, and hundreds of links to other related sites. There is even a Kids Corner with activities for small kids in the Biology Section. Something for everyone here.
Athena Earth Science Links A link page to hundreds of topics in the Earth Sciences, nicely catagorized and maintained by the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Paleontology and Fossil Resources Excellent listing of many sites covering the broad spectrum of Paleontology, nicely catagorized.
Periodic Chart of the Elements: A direct link to a really nice interactive periodic chart of the elements, produced and maintained by the Los Alamos National Laboratory. A lot of good information available just by clicking on an element in the chart.
United States: National Weather Service: The United States National Weather Service's site for the latest weather related information and a variety of weather related trivia, history and safety tips. Includes weather reports for other countries too. According to their mission statement: " The National Weather Service (NWS) provides weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and
warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas, for the protection of
life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. NWS data and products form a
national information database and infrastructure which can be used by other governmental
agencies, the private sector, the public, and the global community. "
United States Naval Observatory: If you want to know the exact time somewhere in the United States this site will tell you, along with much more. According to the site: " The U.S. Naval Observatory performs an essential scientific role for the Navy, for the Department of Defense and for the United States. Its mission is to determine the positions and motions of celestial objects, to provide astronomical data, to measure the Earth's rotation and to maintain the Master Clock for the United
States".
Fun and Relaxation Links
The Hooper Virtual Natural History Museum: A tour through an online museum of natural history offering a wealth of good information presented with a touch of humor. According to the site, "the principle objective of this museum is to provide a state-of-the-art summary of items of geological interest, emphasizing areas currently being studied by our students and research faculty". The museum is the work of students and may include some errors in spelling and possibly even some errors in the science itself. The site warns that the information is presented "warts and all". Includes a detailed examination of the Creationism/Evolution controversy, well presented and logically analyzed, as well as exhibits on Extinctions, Dinosaurs, Mammals, and much more. The site is maintained by the Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
The Lost Museum of Sciences: A link site to museum websites of many kinds, not just in the sciences. Hundreds of museums, many with virtual tours and fascinating information in many fields. The sites are organized by broad topic. You can find links to natural history museums, fine art museums, technology museums, historical museums, military museums, and much more. According to the site: " The Lost Museum of Sciences is devoted to promoting awareness of world science museums and enjoyable serendipity." Warning: There are also some links to sites dealing with religious and philosophical topics apparently favored by the author(s) of the Lost Museum of Sciences site. These include sites trying to sell things. These can be easily avoided however, unless you are interested in them. This link site is a good portal to web sites of museums all over the world. It appears to have some outdated and bad links, but many are still good.
The Official Ig Nobel Prize Homepage: " The annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony honors individuals whose achievements cannot or should not be reproduced. Ten prizes are given to people who have done remarkably goofy things -- some of them admirable, some perhaps otherwise." This homepage contains, among other things, a complete list of past winners and what they did to win an Ig Nobel Prize. The Ig Nobel Prizes are sponsored by "The Annals of Improbable Research" and presented on the Harvard University Campus each year with the cooperation of several Harvard affiliated groups. This site will both amuse and dismay you with the things people have spent good time and money on in the never ending quest to expand the bounds of human knowledge.
ANYDAY: Today in History: Search for a list of famous births and deaths, historic events from around the world, and other facts and often obscure but fun trivia about a date. Easy to use search interface and a huge list of facts and events for each date. Fun to use to search for what happened on someone's birthday, or to impress the coworkers with your knowledge of history and trivia. This site is produced by Scope Systems, an electronics services and repair company.
The Shadowlands: A well organized and maintained site covering the paranormal and things that go bump in the night. From Bigfoot to UFOs and everything in between, including stories of obscure monsters and hauntings of which you may not have heard. If inquiring minds want to know, this is the place for them. A fun site with lots of links to other, similar sites.
The Museum of Unnatural Mystery: An interesting site organized as a museum of all kinds of strange and interesting topics. Also includes a link to topical science stories in the news and a children's page with stories. In the words of the site itself:
" Welcome to the Museum of Unnatural Mystery, a slightly bizarre, cyberspace, science museum for all ages. Are there really flying saucers? What killed the dinosaurs? Is there something ancient and alive in Loch Ness? The Museum takes a scientific look at these, and other, questions. Feel free to wander our halls and make some serendipitous discoveries."
Lileks.com:An interconnected series of humor pages from James Lileks, an author and newspaper columnist. Especially recommended is the Institute of Official Cheer. Other areas are excellent too. Humorous commentary on pop culture and other oddities of the American past, such as obscure advertising mascots of the past, Cheap and bizarre motels and restaurants that used to line the highways of America, and a gallery of regrettable food from real cookbooks of the past. Illustrated with numerous photographs and illustrations reproduced for your enjoyment and disbelief.
About the Author
( This site was last updated February 17, 2009)
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page
