Web collections by real people

There are many sites like INFOMINE with human-selected web resources. It's valuable to use these resources in your research; many have library subject specialists adding regular targeted content or highlight new resources that may not always show up near the top of a Google search. Experiment and see which interfaces and content will encourage you to return for another search. We maintain a Feedback form for INFOMINE and welcome comments and suggestions. INFOMINE links to many of these human-selected internet resource databases, below are several examples.

Intute
Description from Intute: "Intute is a free online service providing you with access to the very best Web resources for education and research. The service is created by a network of UK universities and partners. Subject specialists select and evaluate the websites in our database and write high quality descriptions of the resources." Nice site layout, plenty of browse and search options, and tutorials such as the Virtual Training Suite.

Librarians' Internet Index (LII)
Formerly the Librarians' Index to the Internet, this librarian-created database provides annotated links to both academic and general interest sites.

Internet Public Library : IPL
Website directory for general reference in many topics. Also offers pathfinders for several research topics, with internet and print sources.

DMOZ Open Directory Project
Nearly five million websites offered in this human-edited web directory, on the web since 1998. Sites here run the gamut from commercial websites to educational resources to chat forums. Worth a look, if maybe too glutted for targeted searches.

Employment info online

Don't limit yourself to Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com in your job search. There is a wealth of resources online for career research, employment listings, vocational training and occupational outlooks. Many of these resources are cataloged in INFOMINE, from professional societies' specialized job databases to the expansive database of available federal government jobs. Some noteworthy examples:

The Riley Guide : Employment Opportunities and Job Resources on the Internet
Huge metasite of employment information; everything from preparing a resume to networking to salary guides.

Occupational Outlook Handbook
For each of more than 250 occupations, information is given on the nature of the work done, working conditions, employment outlook, required training, and earnings. Current edition is 2008-2009.

Career Guide to Industries
Companion to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, with information on the job market in each state, job prospects, working conditions, training, advancement and earnings.

Career Voyages
Career guide designed for students and their parents.

USA Jobs
Search for notices of job openings throughout the U.S. federal government. Includes information on how to apply for federal jobs, information on federal government salaries and benefits, application forms, and a section dedicated to veterans' employment resources.

Some specialized job resources:
New Scientist Jobs
Database of science jobs.

Library Job Postings on the Internet
Guide to finding library job postings, libraries, archives and other jobs for information professionals online. See also LISjobs.com.

Health Occupations : MedlinePlus
Guide to careers in the health professions.

Browse the Jobs resource type in INFOMINE to find other websites containing employment information. Or search with your field of interest and jobs as keywords. We've even got resources for game development and animation jobs cataloged in INFOMINE.

Library blogs and more

Blogs present particular challenges in a resource catalog like INFOMINE. They are dynamic, generally jumping from one topic to the next and unified only by an institutional attribution or an author's voice. They are also very widely used by many libraries, for many different functions. Some detail the activities and events of the library or organization and serve to keep patrons informed, some comment on librarianship and information sciences, and others simply highlight notable resources.

Some interesting examples:

Library of Congress Blog
Check out the category index for a sample of the many topics explored in this blog.

WorldCat Blog
A multi-author blog from OCLC's WorldCat. WorldCat has recently introduced a new interface at WorldCat.org with many new user-centered features. Make book lists, similar to LibraryThing, build bibliographies, or download browser toolbars. All this in addition to the existing ability to find out what materials are in libraries near you. This is a very nice site redesign.

Sites and Soundbytes
This is a good example of a public library blog aimed at providing library patrons with interesting online resources.

There aren't a great deal of individual blogs cataloged in INFOMINE, but there are some, such as:
Everyday Sociology.
This multi-author blog explores issues in sociology by using real life examples, and is provided by W.W. Norton publishers.

To find other blogs in INFOMINE, try using the keywords blog or blogs combined with the topic of your interest. There are many blog search engines indexed in INFOMINE, many government blogs, and sources for library and information science blogs.

Nature and field guides

With spring fast approaching, it's time for a look at some of the guides to nature that can be found in INFOMINE.

eNature : Field Guides
Field guide to more than 5,500 animals and plants. Birds section includes audio.

What Tree is That? Tree Identification Guide
Guides for tree identification in the Eastern and Western United States. Each module includes a step-by-step guide, illustrations and descriptions in a list of trees for each region, and a glossary. Also featured is an animated tree identification tutorial.

All About Birds
Cornell University's Ornithology Lab presents information on locating, identifying, and appreciating bird species. Features include birding basics, online bird identification guide and multimedia.

Audubon's Birds of America at the University of Pittsburgh
Complete digital edition of Audubon's Birds of America includes 435 high-resolution color plates and accompanying text. Search, browse plate names or browse image thumbnails.

PLANTanswers
Questions and answers, growing information, videos, crop variety trials data, and gardening guides for flowers, fruits, house plants, vegetables, trees, shrubs, and ground cover.

U.S. National Park Service : Visit Your National Parks
Find visitor information for individual U.S. national parks. Select parks by: name, location (state, distance from zip code), topic, interests and activities using the "Find a Park" search tool.

See our post on Bugs!! for resources on creepy crawlies.

Library using INFOMINE

The UCR Libraries have launched a new Online Reference Shelf that offers useful internet resources in 10 categories: almanacs, biographies, calculators, citing, dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, maps, quotations and weather.

The resources offered were all pulled from the INFOMINE database, or added to INFOMINE to accomodate the project's needs. This is one example of how INFOMINE content can be used in the creation of custom collections.

More on election 2008

INFOMINE offers many resources on the current presidential election as well as past elections. We'll link to a couple of the newly added resources in this post, and add in a few other interesting election resources from INFOMINE's database.

Vote 2008 : NewsHour Online
PBS's NewsHour feature page on U.S. presidential election of 2008. Includes news reports, candidate profiles, interviews, and more.

The Campaign Legal Center
"The Campaign Legal Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which works in the areas of campaign finance and elections, political communication and government ethics. The Legal Center offers nonpartisan analyses of issues and represents the public interest in administrative, legislative and legal proceedings."

Pew Social and Demographic Trends
Public opinion research on a variety of topics. Of note is coverage on race, ethnicity and campaign 2008.

See also Pew Research Center Reports on Election '08

Some other interesting elections resources

The Living Room Candidate : Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952-2004
A very well-designed site. View videos by election year, candidate, issue and type of commercial.

Printable Maps : Presidential Elections 1789 - 2000
From the National Atlas. Maps of "electoral votes won, by political party, for the fifty-four Presidential elections from George Washington in 1789 to George W. Bush in 2000."

CNN Political Ticker
Political and campaign news blog from CNN.com.

The Great Debate and Beyond : The History of Televised Presidential Debates
Explore the history of presidential debates, and then check out one of the new paradigms at YouTube.

Many media outlets report that late-night TV is where some people are getting their news. It's not in the INFOMINE database, but Comedy Central's Indecision 2008 is a well known example.

Recently added sites in Government Information

From the 2008 presidential election to tax information, here is a selection of recently added resources from INFOMINE's Government Information.

US Elections 2008 : BBC
BBC News feature page on U.S. presidential election of 2008. Includes articles, candidate profiles, video clips, and more.

Census Atlas of the United States
The Census Bureau has released a fulltext PDF of "the first comprehensive atlas of population and housing produced by the Census Bureau since the 1920s." More than 800 maps in 300 pages.

NIH Public Access Policy
Site offers the text of the NIH Public Access Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research, information on compliance, policy details and frequently asked questions.

IRS Newsroom
Tax news and hot topics for businesses and consumers from the Internal Revenue Service.

Tax History Project
Documents, images and exhibition on the history of taxation in the United States. Also offers selected presidential tax returns.

U.S. Agricultural Research Service Video Archive
Brief videos on a wide range of recent scientific discoveries and the U.S. Agricultural Research Service.