Best Free Reference Websites for 2009 October 14, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: reference, websites
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Recently RUSA published their list of best free websites for 2009. Check out the list at RUSA.
World Digital Library October 9, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: history, primary sources
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At the World Digital Library, you can view primary sources of historical significance from around the world in multilingual formats. Gain inter-cultural awareness and understanding through manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recording, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings. Select your language. Click on a continent to begin your journey, Then browse by place, time, topic, type of item, or institution. Curator videos add interesting insights to many of the artifact descriptions.
Read.Gov October 9, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Books, Top Web Sites.Tags: reading
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The Library of Congress has announced the launch of a new multimedia website offering resources from throughout the Library designed to encourage the reading of books and to interest users in learning about the authors and illustrators who create them.
The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress is offering this site, Read.gov (www.Read.gov), as part of its mission to promote books, reading, literacy and libraries.
A highlight of Read.gov is the exclusive story “The Exquisite Corpse Adventure.” Its first episode will debut and be read by its author, Jon Scieszka, during the National Book Festival. Scieszka is the acclaimed author of “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales,” the creator of the website Guys Read (www.guysread.com/), a nonprofit literacy organization, and the Library’s National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The first episode is illustrated by Chris Van Dusen, who is the artist for Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson series, among other books.
Other authors and illustrators participating in “The Exquisite Corpse Adventure” are M.T. Anderson, Natalie Babbitt, Susan Cooper, Kate DiCamillo, Timothy Basil Ering, Nikki Grimes, Shannon Hale, Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), Steven Kellogg, Megan McDonald, Gregory Maguire, Fred and Patricia McKissack, Linda Sue Park, Katherine Paterson, James Ransome, and Chris Van Dusen.
“The Exquisite Corpse Adventure” is a project of the Center for the Book and the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance (www.thencbla.org). NCBLA, in collaboration with the Butler Center for Children’s Literature at Dominican University, will also offer an online educational center on its website to accompany the “Exquisite Corpse.”
Read.gov will offer “audience” pages designed specifically for Kids, Teens, Adults and Educators, and Parents. These pages will contain resources such as webcasts in which authors discuss their latest works, digitized classic books with extraordinary illustrations such as Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and Poe’s “The Raven,” and educational resources for parents and teachers. There will also be a Books & Beyond Book Club, based on the author presentations of the Books & Beyond series sponsored by the Center for the Book. The Book Club will be hosted on Facebook.
The Center for the Book (www.loc.gov/cfbook) was established by Congress in 1977 “to use the resources and prestige of the Library of Congress to promote books, reading, literacy and libraries.” With its many educational programs that reach readers of all ages, through its support of the National Book Festival and through its dynamic state centers in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Center for the Book has developed a nationwide network of organizational partners dedicated to promoting the wonders and benefits of reading.
Source: The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov
Top Websites October 5, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: flu, pesticides, right to die
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Organization: Public Agenda
“Over the past decade, we have gone from Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s first defiantly public assisted suicide to the first legal assisted suicide in Oregon. Although the central issue has been whether terminally ill individuals should have the right to ask a doctor to hasten their own deaths, a larger issue has been raised as well: about dying with dignity and what constitutes a ‘good death.’ Dying, for most Americans, is no longer a natural event, something that simply happens to us. In the majority of cases, people die in hospitals where physicians and nurses make a valiant effort to keep patients alive until there is no reasonable chance of recovery, often using the latest medical technologies.” (PUBLIC AGENDA) This site provides an overview of the debate over euthanasia and features data on public opinion.
Organization: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
“Get access to a variety of information on seasonal and pandemic [swine] flu… Included are succinct descriptions of NIAID-supported research projects; color illustrations; news releases; publications; NIAID congressional testimony; and helpful Web links.” (NIAID)
Organization: Environmental Working Group
This site provides information on pesticides found in fruits and vegetables and advocates the purchase of organic produce. Make a virtual fruit or vegetable salad to find out out how many pesticides would be in the conventional vs. organic versions. View data that show that some fruits and vegetables carry a heavier pesticide load than others.
Top Websites September 24, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: Antarctica, autumn, halloween, leaves changing color, mountain climbing
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Organization: Library of Congress (LOC)
“Halloween had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic peoples, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays.” (LOC) This page contains a brief history of Halloween and the origins of some holiday traditions.
Organization: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
“In this companion Web site to the NOVA program Mountain of Ice, about a climb to the top of Antarctica’s highest mountain, Vinson Massif, read an interview with explorer Jon Krakauer, go behind the scenes with producer Liesl Clark, see what coastlines around the world would look like if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed, and explore the life cycle of a glacier.” (PBS)
Organization: NASA/Langley Research Center (LRC)
“Trees that have leaves that change color in the fall and drop to the ground are called deciduous trees. Many people think deciduous trees lose their leaves because of cold weather and frost, a common misconception, but actually the length of the day determines when trees begin the process of dropping their leaves…. Pigmentation in the leaves and the length of the days are just two factors that affect the color of leaves in the autumn.” (LRC) Learn why leaves change color at this quality website, chosen by ProQuest’s SIRS editorial team.
Wowbrary – free emails to patrons about new books & DVDs September 21, 2009
Posted by virtual01010101 in Did you know?, Top Web Sites.Tags: keep informed, new books, new dvds, new materials
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Check out Wowbrary at www.wowbrary.org. Wowbrary is a nonprofit service that sends the public free weekly emails and RSS feeds about their local library’s most recent acquisitions. Wowbrary is a free service supported by grants, donations, sponsorships, book sale commissions and volunteers.
The Wowbrary service reaches both avid library patrons and those who haven’t used libraries in years. Wowbrary serves as an online version of the new-book shelf, but one that spans all library branches, includes items that are checked out, and comes by convenient email and RSS feeds for those who don’t visit the library website or facilities regularly. By showcasing the latest arrivals and allowing patrons to click through directly to the library website, Wowbrary makes it easy to scan quickly what’s new and encourages greater library use.
Wowbrary extracts information about a library’s newest acquisitions from the library’s OPAC (Open Public Access Catalog) and/or via Z39.50. Information is collected without any effort by staff or interference with the OPAC’s function. Wowbrary’s service works with ILS (Integrated Library System) products from major vendors, including Millennium from Innovative Interfaces.
Once you sign up for the service, you get a get a weekly email, or you can subscribe to an RSS feed. Click here to see a sample Wowbrary email for the New York Public Library.
National Indian Law Library August 31, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Reference Work, Top Web Sites, Uncategorized.Tags: native americans, indian law, tribal law
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The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) and West, a Thomson Reuters business work to improve access to Native American tribal law available through NARF’s National Indian Law Library (NILL). Selected tribal law content will be editorially annotated by West for Westlaw and will be cross-linked to court opinions and other law on Westlaw when available. Unannotated tribal law will be freely available through the NILL website. Select materials may also be published in West print products and law books.
Content includes tribal codes, ordinances, constitutions, and intergovernmental agreements.
Top Websites August 24, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: assisted suicide, euthanasia, flu, pesticides, right to die, swine flu
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Organization: Public Agenda
“Over the past decade, we have gone from Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s first defiantly public assisted suicide to the first legal assisted suicide in Oregon. Although the central issue has been whether terminally ill individuals should have the right to ask a doctor to hasten their own deaths, a larger issue has been raised as well: about dying with dignity and what constitutes a ‘good death.’ Dying, for most Americans, is no longer a natural event, something that simply happens to us. In the majority of cases, people die in hospitals where physicians and nurses make a valiant effort to keep patients alive until there is no reasonable chance of recovery, often using the latest medical technologies.” (PUBLIC AGENDA) This site provides an overview of the debate over euthanasia and features data on public opinion.
Organization: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
“Get access to a variety of information on seasonal and pandemic [swine] flu… Included are succinct descriptions of NIAID-supported research projects; color illustrations; news releases; publications; NIAID congressional testimony; and helpful Web links.” (NIAID)
Organization: Environmental Working Group
This site provides information on pesticides found in fruits and vegetables and advocates the purchase of organic produce. Make a virtual fruit or vegetable salad to find out out how many pesticides would be in the conventional vs. organic versions. View data that show that some fruits and vegetables carry a heavier pesticide load than others.
Top Websites August 14, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: earth science, hispanic, science
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- National Science Digital Library - great resources for teachers who teach science and math. Includes Literacy Maps, articles by experts, and search results provide vetted websites with activities and lesson plans. You can scope results to grade level and formats which include podcasts and videos.
- Online Collections – Hispanic Reading Room - contains historical information about people, places and events. Encompasses Latin America, the Caribbean, Hispanics and Portuguese in the United States, the Iberian Peninsula, and other places where Iberian culture dominated and has survived.
- American Museum of Natural History presents Ology - A fun site for kids to learn about the Earth. Includes activities, experiments and ask the scientist.
All these links and other Top Websites can be found on del.ico.us at Las Vegas – Clark County Library’s Bookmarks.
Top Websites July 24, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: architecture, art, explorers, health, Leonardo da Vinci, websites
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Check out the new additions to Top Websites on the Library’s del.icio.us page.
They include bookmarks for:
- Health
- Art
- Explorers
- Architecture
- Leonardo da Vinci
Top Websites June 1, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: Every Mother's son, Industrial Revolution, Police brutality, Victornian Britain, World Digital Library
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- Every Mother’s Son
Organization: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)“In the late 1990s, three victims of police brutality made headlines around the country: Amadou Diallo, the young West African man whose killing sparked intense public protest; Anthony Baez, killed in an illegal choke-hold; and Gary (Gidone) Busch, a Hasidic Jew shot and killed outside his Brooklyn home. ‘Every Mother’s Son’ tells of the victims’ three mothers who came together to demand justice and accountability.” (PBS) Read a synopsis of the film, go behind the scenes, learn about community policing, and read excerpts from the NYPD patrol guide. Take a quiz to see how you would act as a mayor, a police officer and a citizen in different situations.
- History Trail: Victorian Britain
Organization: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)Find articles, activities, and quizzes on Victorian Britain and the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain.
- World Digital Library
Organization: United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)“The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world… The WDL makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures from around the world on one site, in a variety of ways. These cultural treasures include, but are not limited to, manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings. Items on the WDL may easily be browsed by place, time, topic, type of item, and contributing institution, or can be located by an open-ended search, in several languages. Special features include interactive geographic clusters, a timeline, advanced image-viewing and interpretive capabilities. Item-level descriptions and interviews with curators about featured items provide additional information. Navigation tools and content descriptions are provided in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Many more languages are represented in the actual books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and other primary materials, which are provided in their original languages.” (UNESCO)
Top Websites April 29, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: digital tv transition, President facts, silk road project, white house blog, white house facts
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Organization: Executive Office of the President (EOP)
Daily articles about what is happening at the White House. Many of the articles include videos. There are also facts about the White House and the Presidents.
Organization: Silk Road Project, Inc.
“The Silk Road, a vast network of trade routes, linked the people and traditions of Asia with those of Europe. These historic routes served as a major conduit for the transport of knowledge, information and material goods between East and West and resulted in the first global exchange of scientific and cultural traditions. It is the Silk Road Project’s hope that the Internet and, in a small way, this website, will serve as the newest vehicles for such global exchanges with the potential to usher in a new era of creativity.” (SILK ROAD PROJECT) This site provides the history, map and fun facts of The Silk Road. The schedule, events and artists of the Silk Road Ensemble (featuring Yo-Yo Ma) are offered. Photos and descriptions of Silk Road instruments are featured.
Organization: MusariumTM
“Digital television (DTV) is a new type of broadcasting technology that will transform television as we now know it. By transmitting the information used to make a TV picture and sound as ‘data bits’ (like a computer), a digital broadcaster can carry more information than is currently possible with analog broadcast technology. For example, the technology allows the transmission of pictures with higher resolution for dramatically better picture and sound quality than currently available (called High Definition Television) or the transmission of several ’standard definition’ TV programs at once, called ‘multicasting.’” (FCC) This site provides information and resources about the looming Digital Television transition, including FAQs, glossary, and a shopper’s guide.
Top Websites April 17, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: animal rights, endangered species, movies
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Organization: Walden Media, LLCClick on your state to learn about its endangered species. This interactive map also shows the locations of the different biomes in the country.
Organization: University of Pennsylvania”For 4000 years, a legal wall has separated humans from the rest of the animal world… but now some are trying to tear that wall down. Given that they share 99 percent DNA with humans, should chimpanzees be treated as people with basic rights? What would that mean for medicine? For science? …for zoos and circuses? Should the U.S. constitution say ‘we the people, and other animals?’” (ANNENBERG CLASSROOM) Visitors to this site can listen to a National Public Radio (NPR) program that includes a debate on this issue.
The Library of Congress has created their own YouTube channel which contains 74 videos but it is just a start. The site will continue to grow as they convert their archived films. One of the very first movies ever made – Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze, Jan. 7, 1894- is now available for anyone to view online. In addition viewers can rate videos and make comments; they can also embed them into their websites, blogs or reports. The possibilities of using these videos are endless.
Nevada Nuclear Energy April 3, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: environment, nuclear energy
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Leo passed along the following link pertaining to Nevada nucluar energy. We will be adding it to our Las Vegas and Nevada InfoGuide next week.
EM News Flash Articles:
http://www.nv.doe.gov/emprograms/environment/public/emupdate.aspx
Free Television Online March 13, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: esl, television
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From the Librarian in Black – Another entry to the free television online fray, LiveStation.com offers access to free international television, some which you might not have access to through your satellite or cable package (or even because of geographic differences in offerings). These include AlJazeera, BBC World News, Euro News, France 24, and more. What an awesome thing to point your immigrant or second-language speaking users to!
Top Websites March 6, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: big cats, drugs and sports, women's history
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Organization: National Women’s History Project
What have women contributed to American society? This organization is dedicated to honoring women who have made significant contributions to society and whose achievements have inspired others. Each past honoree has a brief biography on this site.
Organization: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
This site provides an in-depth look at drug use in the sport world through BBC news articles and features. Read arguments for and against the use of drugs in sports, learn about nandrolone, view a history of drugs in sports, and look at the science of drugs and sports.
Organization: Big Cats Online
“Big Cats Online offers both a general and more detailed introduction to the various species of cat living in the wild today. It not only covers the ‘Big Cats’ — Leopard, Lion, Tiger, Jaguar, Cheetah, and Puma — but also introduces all of the lesser known ‘Wild Cat’ species.” (BIG CATS ONLINE) The website offers profiles and photographs of over 40 species.
Digital Manuscripts Catalog February 11, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: digital collections, medieval manuscripts
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The Catalogue of Digitalized Medieval Manuscripts contains over 5,000 manuscripts and is growing.
For history researchers this is a wonderful site. For the lay person it opens up manuscripts which have never been seen by most. Read more about it in The Chronicle of Higher Education – The Wired Campus
Top Websites January 26, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: aftican americans, animal kingdom, internet safety, origins of life, science
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Organization: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) African American World is a guide to National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) sites about African American history, arts and culture, and race and society, as well as profiles of African Americans. Visit the “Reference Room” for profiles of important African Americans, click on “Timeline for a great list important events or go to the Kids section for games.
Organization: Wired Safety” We offer special information designed to teach younger Internet users how to surf safely and how to have fun doing it. We have a report line so that you can report bad sites, or get advice if you’ve found something online you don’t know how to deal with. Do you think surfing can be dangerous? Do you know what the dangers are and how to avoid them? What about Instant Messaging? Read on if you’d like to know the answers!” (WIRED SAFETY)
Organization: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) This site “reveals the dramatic rise of the animal kingdom through the breakthroughs of scientific discovery.” (PBS) Explore the origins and progression of life on earth from sponges to man.
Picturing America January 16, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: american history, art
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Picturing America is a new website which tells the story of America through study of its art. The site also includes lesson plans for teachers.
This site along with other great resources can be found on the InfoGuide – American History and Homework Help website.
Science Website January 10, 2009
Posted by virtualnotes in Top Web Sites.Tags: science
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While researching for upcoming article on The Librarian’s Brain I ran across this excellent website - Vision Learning produced by the National Science Foundation. The website contains science resources designed for students, teachers, parents or anyone interested in learning. It features a free, bilingual library of learning modules that integrate text, multimedia, and other resources to make learning science exciting. It has been added to the Science Project and Homework Help InfoGuides as well as the Homework Help website for Middle/High School students.
