Internet Subject Directories

Unlike Search Engines, Directories are compiled by real people, often librarians, and are very good starting points when looking for academic resources on the Internet.  When you discover a reliable directory (hopefully like the one you're using now)  the first thing to do is bookmark it.

Search Tools Chart
From InfoPeople.

Academic and Scholar Search Engines and Sources
An Internet MiniGuide Annotated Link Compilation
By Marcus P. Zillman

BBC WebGuide - (dead link)
"Best of the Web"

Best Student Sites - (dead link)
"The Web sites in these pages are the most useful for UK students for academic purposes in terms of communication and information sources. Some are of general use; some illustrate types of Internet resource, while others are collections and directories to use to find the information you need."
By Ian Winship, University of Northumbria at Newcastle and Alison McNab, - Loughborough University

British Library Net - Internet Resources
Sections include: Subject Guides ; Search Engines ; News & Media ; Online Journals ; Online Newspapers ; General & Consumer Interest ; Library Catalogues ; Library Related Resources ; Museums & Art Galleries ; Official & Government.

BUBL LINK: Libraries of Networked Knowledge
A very well organized and selective collection of mostly academic resources. A nationally funded UK resource.
Andersonian Library, University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland

C&RL NewsNet Internet Resources - (dead link)
Internet resources published monthly by the American Library Association's College & Research Libraries News.

deff.dk
"deff.dk is a joint service of Danish research libraries. It gives a coherent access to important information resources, chosen because of their research relevance and quality. By searching and browsing deff.dk you can find links to subject-specific portals, databases, link collections etc. There is also access to the catalogues and home pages of the participating libraries."

Digital Librarian
A Librarian's Choice of the Best of the Web
Maintained by Margaret Vail Anderson

Direct Search
"...search is a growing compilation of links to the search interfaces of resources that contain data not easily or entirely searchable/accessible from general search tools like Alta Vista, Google, and Hotbot. Although general search tools are essential for the retrieval of Internet based data, often many do not realize that large amounts of information are not easily searchable and accessible via these search tools.  This 'hidden' from 'general search tool' material has become known as the "'nvisible web'". 
By Gary Price, MLIS, George Washington University

DutchESS - Dutch Electronic Subjec Service - (dead link) (Naderlands or English)
"...is a Dutch national subject gateway aimed at the academic community. Quality resources are selected and classified according to the Nederlandse Basisclassificatie (Dutch Basic Classification) ... The primary user group that DutchESS wants to serve, is the Dutch academic community. The service aims to meet the information needs of researchers, students and teachers in higher education. The European and international academic community in general are also considered as part of the DutchESS audience."
Koninklijke Bibliotheek (the National Library of the Netherlands)

EARLweb
"...your ready reference to information on the Internet. EARLweb is a ready-made collection of useful bookmarks assembled by EARL to help you find your way around in cyberspace."
Section include: Global Library ; Imagination and Memory ; Lifelong Learning ; Online Enquiry Desk ; Science and Technology ; Business Intelligence ; Citizen in Society ; The Public Librarian.
EARL: The Consortium for Public Library Networking

European Search Engines, Directories and Lists (English, Spanish, French, or Italian)

European University Institute Library - (dead link)

• Electronic Resources - (dead link) Includes both General and Subject resources.
• Directories for European Countries - (dead link)

FOCUS on the BEST on the NET ezine
"...popular online weekly public news magazine brings order into online chaos by reviewing 20 of the
best or top web sites (culture, science, health, education, leisure etc.) in each issue.

GeoURL ICBM Address Server
"GeoURL is a location-to-URL reverse directory. This will allow you to find URLs by their proximity to a given location. Find your neighbor's blog, perhaps, or the web page of the restaurants near you."

High School Hub
"The High School Hub is a noncommercial gateway to excellent free online academic resources for high school students. It features a reference desk, college information, and subject guides for English, mathematics, social studies, and science."
By Dyann K. Schmidel

Humbul Humanities Hub
"...aims to be UK higher and further education's first choice for accessing online humanities resources ... is part of the nationally-funded Resource Discovery Network (RDN)...The RDN as a whole aims to provides effective access to hand-selected Internet resources for the UK learning and research communities."

Internet Public Library (IPL)
A wonderful resource; with an online help desk, large listing of electronic newspapers and periodicals, pathfinders, and a lot more.

• IPL Pathfinders - (dead link) "IPL Pathfinders are home-grown guides written by IPL staff which are intended to help you get started doing research on a particular topic, both online and at your local library."

Internet Search Tools
The University of Queensland Library, Australia

Intute
The Best Web Resources for Education and Research
"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."

iTools
"Quick Access to the Best Internet Tools"
Sections include: Search Tools ; Language Tools ; Research Tools ; Financial Tools ; Map Tools ; Internet Tools.

Librarians' Index to the Internet
"...a searchable, evaluated, and annotated subject directory of more than 9,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. It's meant to be used by both librarians and non-librarians as a reliable and efficient guide to described and evaluated Internet resources."
Coordinated by Karen Schneider on the Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE

The Library Card - (dead link)
Book Catalogs, Website Indexes for Library Users
A well designed general reference center with two wonderful additions: LibraryCareers, "...a Career Center for libraries and the library service industry. Fill your vacant positions or find new opportunities." and CyberStacks, Search our comprehensive bibliographic database for library books."

Library of Congress - Alcove 9: An Annotated List of Reference Websites
"The Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress has eight alcoves. This ninth "virtual alcove" is a collection of websites selected and annotated by Humanities and Social Sciences Division subject specialists. All of these websites have components that are free and available to the public; some might require user registration, or may have links to fee-based services."
- Humanities and Social Sciences Division

LibrarySpot
"The best libraries, newspapers, encyclopedias, maps and more...Includes a Librarian's Shelf with tools for the professional...LibrarySpot.com is 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."

OAIster - (dead link)
"...is a Mellon-funded project of the University of Michigan Digital Library Production Services. Our goal is to create a wide-ranging collection of free, useful, previously difficult-to-access digital resources that are easily searchable by anyone."

PedagoNet
Learning Material & Resource Center
"The focus of our classified information is to facilitate the exchange of educational resources. Our classified database contains resources posted by educators and resources wanted by other educators."

Ready, 'Net, Go! Archival Internet Resources
"This service is an archival "meta index," or index of archival indexes. That is, from here we refer you to the major indexes, lists, and databases of archival resources."
Special Collections Division, Howard Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University

Reftools - (dead link)
"...contains hundreds of calculators, specialized searches and other reference tools on a wide variety of topics.  Visitors to the site can create their own custom pages filled with the tools they most frequently access."

Repositories of Primary Sources
"A listing of over 3500 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar."
University of Idaho Library, Special Collections

Scout Report Archives
"The Scout Report Archives is a searchable and browseable database to over seven years' worth of the Scout Report and subject-specific Scout Reports."

Toronto Public Library - Virtual Reference Library
"...is designed to deliver reference and information services through the use of advanced information and telecommunications technologies. It will permit all Ontarians to take advantage of the collections and staff expertise of Toronto Public Library (TPL), the Province's largest public library."

University of Edinburgh - Academic Information Gateways (UK)
Sections include: Data Centres ; Resource Discovery ; Learning & Teaching ; Miscellaneous.

Virtual Ready Reference Collection - (dead link)
Longwood College Library

The WWW Virtual Library
Really a directory of directories. Each subject guide is an independent directory maintained by librarians or specialist in the field.

Zimbio
"Our network of public portals are designed to help people quickly get down the learning curve on any topic of interest by seeing what other people are reading, saying, and recommending about the topic. Public portals are interactive, dynamic websites that offer a range of features including group blogging, member photos, links to favorite websites, RSS headlines, tracking of search results, and discussion forums."

Academic Libraries Internet Subject Directories
The following are all compiled by librarians at college or research libraries and are usually the most current and reliable Internet directories.  If your school library has an Internet subject guide and Academic Info is not listed please request them to add it / Thanks.

Bloomsburg University Andruss Library - Internet Collegiate Reference Collection
"Selection is based upon the contribution of the site to general undergraduate learning in the United States, and not aimed at the needs of any particular institution or geographic location within the United States. Most sites are selected for their contribution to undergraduate research and writing, but a few are chosen for students' personal needs."

Alpha Search - (dead link)
Gateway to the Academic Web
Hekman Library, Calvin Theological Seminary, Calvin College

Columbia University Libraries - Selected Subject Guides & Resources

City University of New York Mina Rees Library - Selected Web Sites - (dead link)

The Webliography
Internet Subject Guides from LSU Libraries

Web Resources Organized by Subject
MIT Libraries

The Gateway to Information - (dead link)
"...guides you to hundreds of important information sources (print, online, and World Wide Web) suggested by OSU Libraries subject specialists."
Ohio State University Libraries

THOR+: The Virtual Reference Desk - (dead link)
The Libraries of Purdue University

Rice's Subject Guides to Internet Resources
Fondren Library, Rice University

Internet Resources Arranged by Subject Category
Rutgers Libraries

Internet Resources Guide
University College London

INFOMINE
University of California Library System

Virtual Information Center - (dead link)
Internet Sources by Academic Discipline
UC Berkeley

University of San Diego Libraries - Subjects A-Z

Search the Web - Subject Resources
University of Canterbury Libraries, New Zealand

Penn Library - Resources by Subject - (dead link)
University of Pennsylvania

Electronic Information Sources
University of Southern Queensland, Australia

University of Washington Libraries Information Gateway: Resources by Subject

UWELib Resources by Discipline
University of Waterloo, Canada

WSU Libraries Internet Links - (dead link)
Washington State University

www.invisible-web.net - The Invisible Web Directory
Searchable Databases and Specialized Search Engines

Continue on to Search Engines or back to Finding Info