User's Guide to the Internet
A User's Guide to the Internet was compiled in 2002 by Vivian Hutchison, an ALIC student library technician from the College of Information Science at the University of Maryland.Contents:
- History of the Internet
- Internet Tutorials
- Search Engines
- Categorized Internet Resources
- Tips for Searching the Internet
- Finding New Web Sites
- Evaluating Web Sites
- Creating Web Sites
- Web Policies
History of the Internet
- Hobbes' Internet Timeline
- A history of the Internet through a timeline design and various links to further information.
- Internet Archive
- Archives web pages back to 1996 and includes special collections dating back to 1903.
- Television Archive
- Beta release of the Television Archive's new clips featuring events of September 11, 2001.
- Weblogs: A History and Perspective
- Learn more about the evolution of weblogs in this article. A weblog is a filter for the mass of information packaged daily for our consumption. It displays the interesting, the important, the overlooked, and the unexpected on the Web.
- What's New with Web Search
- This article discusses the evolution of search engines.
- All About the Internet: A Weekly Column for Beginners
- This website contains an archives of articles published for a newspaper column titled "All About the Internet". Topics vary widely, but generally focus on techniques for using the Internet.
- Bare Bones 101: A Very Basic Web Search Tutorial
- University of South Carolina
The information contained in the following lessons is designed to get you started in the right direction with a minimum amount of time and effort.
- Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial
- (University of California, Berkeley)
This site contains information about search strategies for the Internet, search engines, and evaluating web sources.
- Internet Guides, Tutorials, and Training Information
- (Library of Congress)
This Library of Congress site contains Internet guides and courses, Internet glossaries, and resourses for Internet trainers.
- Internet Tutorials
- (University of Albany)
This informative web page contains many links to instructional materials about the Internet.
- Internet Tutorials
- (WebReference.com)
This site contains myriad of links to various introductory Internet tutorials.
- Web Searching: a tutorial on search strategy and syntax
- (Power Reporting)
A tutorial on search strategies.
- Web treasure hunt: 10 questions to test newsroom literacy
- (Power Reporting)
10 internet questions to test newsroom literacy.
- What's the Best Search Engine?
- This article describes how to choose the best search engine for your research.
Choose a Search Engine: Websites devoted to Search Engines:
- Fagan Finder's Blog
- Information about search engines and online databases.
- Major Search Engines
- This web page lists the major search engines available and the strengths of each.
- Specialty Search Engines
- This web page provides links to search engines that specialize in certain topics. Links include government search engines, legal search engines, and links to the "invisible web".
- Search IQ
- Directories of search engines in addition to databases accessible through the web.
- Searching the Net? Here are Places to Start
- The New York Times Navigator's selection of the best information resources on the web. Includes a selection of the best search engines, online directories, reference sites, and magazines.
- Web Searching: a tutorial on search strategy and syntax
- (Power Reporting)
A tutorial on search strategies.
- Associations on the Net
- Associations on the Net (AON) is a collection of over 2000 Internet sites providing information about a wide variety of professional and trade associations, cultural and art organizations, political parties and advocacy groups, labor unions, academic societies, and research institutions. This site is maintained by the Internet Public Library.
- Best Information on the Net
- This St. Ambrose University website is maintained by the O'Keefe Library. It highlights research resources in an effective and informative manner.
- Government sites
- Internet Quick Reference
- This Indiana University Bloomington Libraries website has Internet information resources categorized by topic. Topics include historical collections, electronic journals and texts, and societies and associations.
- Library Stuff: a weblog
- Stephen M. Cohen's weblog that provides a list of library-related blogs.
- Power Reporting: Resources for Journalists
- Thousands of free research tools for journalists.
- Searching for News Online and on the Web: A Head to Head Comparison
- This article features tips on how to effectively search for current news items.
- Subject Trees
- The University of Cleveland has created subject trees as an effective research starting point. The history subject site, for example, provides links within headers such as Journals, Internet Sites, Metasites, Primary Resources, Research Tools, and Selected Interest Areas.
- Useful Web Sites for Archivists and Records Managers
- This list of useful web sites for archivists and records managers was compiled from numerous submissions provided NAGARA members.
- Web treasure hunt: 10 questions to test newsroom literacy
- (Power Reporting)
10 internet questions to test newsroom literacy.
- Hypersearching the Web
- This article highlights ways to search the Internet using only authorities and hubs.
- iLOR Makes Google Even Better
- This article in Search Engine Watch discusses ways to enhance search results from Google searches.
- iLOR Search
- This is the "Research Engine" referred to in the Search Engine Watch article above.
- Search Engine Showdown
- This website describes search engines by features, analysis, learning, and current news.
- Search Engine Watch
- This webpage is devoted to learning how to search better, and how search engines work from a user's perspective.
- Search Tool Chart
- This chart highlights effective searching methods for various search engines based on their specialized features.
- Tracking the Net
- This article by John Garside discusses ways to track changes to web page content each time you revisit a site.
- Un-Tangling the Web of Cold War Studies; or, How One Historian Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Internet
- Robert Griffith, history professor at American University, describes his experience integrating the Internet into his scholarly work. Includes suggestions on specific websites of value to historians.
- Web Search Engine FAQs: Questions, Answers, and Issues
- This October 2001 article by Gary Price was published in Searcher magazine. It includes suggestions and tools for Internet searching, including a "Priceless Tips" section.
- Awesome Lists: Practical Info 4 Pros
- Practical information for professionals seeking information on the web. A compilation of great websites by John Makulowich, a former USA Today columnist.
- Digital Librarian
- This site sends e-mail updates to users about new authoritative resources on the Internet, as well as listing new sites on their website.
- Fagan Finder's Blog
- Information about search engines and online databases.
- Incredibly Useful Sites
- This site is updated daily and offers a new, authoritative site each day. The archives are divided by subject matter, including reference and government sources.
- Keeping America Informed
- This Government Printing Office website offers announcements of new government documents on the web.
- Leah's Law Library Weblog
- Provides the latest information related to Law Librarianship.
- Library Stuff: a weblog
- Stephen M. Cohen's weblog that provides a list of library-related blogs.
- New York Times Navigator
- A selective guide to the best resources on the Internet.
- Best of the Today's Web: Greatest Hits and Hidden Gems
- More than fifty of the best websites, from new and little-known sites to powerful features buried in your everyday bookmarks.
- The Peanut Gallery
- Pointers for computer and internet programming problems.
- Research Buzz
- ResearchBuzz is designed to cover the world of Internet research. This site provides almost daily updates on search engines, new data managing software, browser technology, large compendiums of information, and Web directories.
- Scout Report
- The Scout Report began in 1994 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It continues to spotlight worthy new web sites to date. Each weekly report contains four sections: Research and Education, General Interest, Network Tools, and News. An ALIC favorite.
- The Shifted Librarian
- Provides a list of blogs and suggested resources for internet research.
- Stay Current in Cyberspace
- A page devoted to ezines and websites that highlight new web sources.
- The Virtual Acquisition Shelf & News Desk
- Gary Price's weblog for Information Professionals. An ALIC favorite.
- Web-Saavy: Keeping Current with Web-based Resources
- This page highlights new web sources in the form of newletters, and E-publications.
- Evaluating Internet Resources
- (University of Albany)
This web page explains the importance of evaluating web sites, and offers a tutorial on the subject.
- Evaluating the Quality of Information on the Internet: A Checklist
- A checklist for evaluating websites with examples and in-depth explanations.
- Evaluating Information Found on the Internet
- This document discusses the criteria by which scholars in most fields evaluate print information, and shows how the same criteria can be used to assess information found on the Internet.
- Testing the Surf: Criteria for Evaluating Internet Information Resources
- This article surveys criteria that have been published on the Web and in print literature and proposes a set of criteria (a toolbox) that can be used by researchers to evaluate Internet information sources.
- Getting It Right: Shortcuts for Busy Practitioners to Evaluate Web Content
- This March 2002 article by Paul Petruccelli, Chief Marketing and E-Commerce Counsel for Kraft Foods North America, discusses website authenticity using legal sources as examples.
- Getting It Right: Verifying Sources on the Net
- This March 2002 guide provides strategies and tools to assist you in the task of evaluating website content. When considering whether to use a site with confidence, consider that the criteria for evaluating web site content has similarities to the methodology used for print publications, including newspapers, magazines and newsletters.
- What Makes a Web Site Credible?
- An in-depth report on the authenticity of websites.
- Congress Online: Assessing and Improving Web Sites
- The purpose of this web site is to assist government offices in developing effective Web sites. Five building blocks that are most critical to building effective Web sites are discussed.
- Keeping Your Users Happy
- There are many facets to Web usability. This article skims the points found by the authors to be the most overlooked and the most valuable.
- Fitt's UI Law Applied to the Web
- This article about web site design discusses Fitts's Law as it is applied to the way people interact with a mouse or other pointing device.
- The Role of Flow in Web Design
- This article by Scott Berkun of Microsoft discusses the concept of flow as it applies to web site design.
- Tips on How to Build Traffic to Your Web Site
- Step-by-step pointers to successful web site promotion are illuminated in this article.
- Usability Testing...:How to Let the Users in on the Design
- This University of Arizona article describes way the library restructured its web site into a more user-friendly interface.
- Web Site Promotion Tactics and Tools
- Procedures, tools, products, links, and descriptions to help create a broad based marketing-focused web site is explored in this article by Bruce Clay Internet Business Consultants.
- Web Site Strategy
- This site is maintained by Bruce Clay Internet Business Consultants. This article describes in-depth steps involved in optimizing a web site, focusing on designing for promotion.
- Laws, Policies, and Performance Measures Relating to Federal Agency Web Sites
- (Law Librarian's Society)
This Law Librarian's Society of Washington D.C. has compiled this list of laws pertaining to Federal web pages.
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