chosen by your "librarian without walls," Marylaine Block marylaine at netexpress.net

May 2

50 Best Cult Books
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/04/26/nosplit/boanotherlist126.xml
Here's exhibit and discussion material: "books that people wear like a leather jacket or carry around like a totem. The book that rewires your head..." This is the Telegraph's selection. What would you add to the list?

Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/
The Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy division "provides a wide range of information and resources to enable the use of alternative fuels," including the locations of alternative fueling stations, laws and incentives, fuel economy, emissions, financial opportunities, industry trends, a glossary, links to related resources, and more.

Better Than Roses
http://marylaine.com/myword/mother.html
My thoughts about the best mother's day present you could ever give her.

Factory Tours USA
http://factorytoursusa.com/
This site helps you find educational, inexpensive, entertaining, and near-at-hand ways to spend a vacation day, watching people and machines make kaleidoscopes, motion pictures, furniture, cigars, Lionel trains, Simplicity patterns, wooden shoes, you name it.

Financial Planning for 20somethings - US News
http://www.usnews.com/20something
If your kids are entering the workforce knowing little about living on a tight budget, the ins and outs of buying cars and houses, or managing credit, taxes, savings, and investments, here's an excellent place for them to start learning.

GreenBiz
http://www.greenbiz.com/
"the leading information resource on how to align environmental responsibility with business success. We provide valuable news and resources to large and small businesses." You can pick up lots of tips and good ideas from all the searchable stories about what hundreds (maybe thousands) of individual businesses, big and small, are doing. There are also job postings for "green careers."

Health House Tip Sheets - American Lung Association
http://healthhouse.org/consumer/tipsheets.cfm
If your home is bad for your breathing and your health, check out these tip sheets on how to mitigate the problems. See also Indoor Air Quality Tips, http://airqualitytips.com/.

Lighthouse Directory
http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/
"provides information and links for more than 9400 of the world's lighthouses." Whether you want to visit lighthouses or find out about their history or see lots of neat pictures, this is a good starting point.

Non-profit Guides - grant-writing tools for non-profit organizations
http://www.npguides.org/
Offers guidelines and examples of preliminary and full grant proposals, cover letters, and sample budgets, as well as FAQs and links to grantmakers, grant sources, and glossaries.

Patient Advocate Foundation
http://www.patientadvocate.org/
"Solving insurance and healthcare access problems," PAF provides research and resources, including links people to medical assistance programs in each state, direct co-pay assistance, insurance information, outreach programs for groups with special medical needs, and more. Among their reports: "Information for Reservists," "First My Illness, Now Job Discrimination," "Too Young to be Ill... A Practical Survival Guide for Caregivers of Children and Young Adults," "Your Guide to the Disability Process," etc. Also features an opportunity to ask a professional case manager about your specific problem.

Roadfood.com
http://www.roadfood.com/
If you're traveling by car, you'll no doubt be interested in the best inexpensive "sleeves-up food made by cooks, bakers, pitmasters, and sandwich-makers who are America’s culinary folk artists." Searchable by state and type of food - ethnic foods, delis, candy stores, drive-ins, oyster bars, pancake houses, small town cafes, etc.

The State of America's Libraries Report, 2008
http://www.ala.org/ala/pio/presscentera/piopresskits/2008statereport/execsummary.cfm#$468555
The news from this annual report is generally good for public libraries, and not so good for school libraries. You can read the executive summary and/or download the full pdf report.

April 25

50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time - Nerve Magazine
http://www.nerve.com/dispatches/nerveeditors/50GreatestComedySketches/01/
Links to greats from Monty Python, Your Show of Shows, Saturday Night Live, SCTV, and The Carol Burnett Show, among others. You should probably check this out at home, not work.

Academic Costume Code and Ceremony Guide
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=10625
With graduations approaching, this will answer many questions on proper protocol.

Allergy - MedlinePlus
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/allergy.html
If the pollen count is the most important part of the weather forecast for you, check out the info here on allergy symptoms, causes, treatments, prevention, and dealing with allergies in children.

BlogHer
http://www.blogher.com/
"The community for women who blog," featuring and archiving some of the best posts and responses, on a wide variety of issues. BlogHer also sponsors conferences, and offers podcasts and interviews.

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
http://evilmadscientist.com/
A blog that will appeal to fans of BoingBoing, with its focus on weird and fun gadgetry and math or science-based projects (like cookies with fractal designs, edible origami, How to make a Sawed-off USB Key, etc.

Find a Food Bank
http://www.secondharvest.org/zip_code.jsp
Escalating food prices may not be causing food riots in the US, as they are abroad, but they are further straining many families that were already in economic trouble. America's Second Harvest offers this food bank finder, as well as opportunities to help out the needy. Also, check out the federal government's Food Stamp Program Home Page, http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/

Green Libraries
http://www.greenlibraries.org/index.html
"A website dedicated to documenting the greening of libraries in the United States and beyond." Includes case studies and a webliography/bibliography of resources.

International Travel: USA.Gov
http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Travel/International.shtml
The federal government's regulations and advice on international travel, including passports, currency exchange rates, travel warnings, health information for travelers, international drivers license info, and more.

SI Vault: 54 Years of Sports Illustrated History
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
Searchable access to SI's articles, photos, covers, topical galleries, and video. Searches can be restricted by decade. The search engine is great at pulling up players and teams, not so good at searching for concepts like "farm team." This can provide a very nice history of your favorite teams in major sports leagues.

South Carolina State Library YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/scstatelibrary
This is a great idea: creating a channel on YouTube for your library to promote programs, campaigns, information literacy, and reading.

Titlepage TV: Passionate Conversations about Books
http://www.titlepage.tv/
"At Titlepage we feel we don't hear enough from the people who write the greatest stories of our time. So, we've created this virtual soapbox; a 21st century version of the Algonquin Round Table." Only a few episodes exist as yet, but there's also a blog, and open community discussions.

Virginia Tech University April 16, 2007 Prevail Archives
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/prevail/
The official site for VTU's historical materials on the mass shootings. Includes biographies of the slain, condolences received by the university, archived news and notices, and a video tribute.

April 18

The #1 Song on This Date in History
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm
For those ever-popular questions about what was happening in the world on the day you were born. Select the month, then the date, and arrow down to the year.

The 10 Pieces of US Infrastructure We Must Fix Now - Popular Mechanics http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4257814.html?series=53
Popular Mechanics addresses an issue that has somehow been totally absent from the discussions of our political candidates: the fact that our roads and bridges and dams are falling apart.

Budget Travel
http://www.budgettravel.com/
The website for this popular magazine offers a fair amount of free content: trip ideas, tips from readers and experts, tools for planning your travel, "real deals," "true stories," slide shows, videos, and more. Even those who will never budge from their comfortable chairs may enjoy this.

Climate Counts
http://climatecounts.org/
Those who prefer to spend their money with companies with responsible environmental practices can start here, where, so far, 56 companies are rated on their climate impact and efforts to reduce it. The FAQ explains the methods used to arrive at the rating.

Ex Libris - Bye Bye
http://marylaine.com/exlibris/
My final ExLibris piece is a retrospective of some of the columns I think are still valuable advice for helping libraries not only survive but thrive.

Library Use Value Calculator - Vermont Library Association
http://www.vermontlibraries.org/library-use-value-calculator
A do-it-yourself quiz that allows library patrons to calculate what the services they use are worth.

Low-Tech Magazine
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/
Invites us to consider the possibility that 20th, and even 19th-century ways of doing things may be as good as, or even better, than some of the things we're doing now. Also explores possible antidotes to technologically-induced problems.

Motorcycle safety - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.d7975d55e8abbe089ca8e410dba046a0/
Legislators and transportation policy planners will find this roundup of data and research valuable, including the review of state helmet laws, studies on the effects of repeal of helmet laws, costs of injuries from motorcycle crashes, and more.

The Public Software Foundation
http://publicsoftwarefoundation.org/
"Created to ensure that quality, Open Licensed software is available to borrow at public lending institutions." Includes info on existing software and available documentation, how to download for your library, and use the forum to solicit local volunteers to work with you.

Rotowire: Fantasy Sports Info and Games
http://www.rotowire.com/index.htm
Click on the sport of your choice and get loads of statistics, news, player information, injury and scouting reports, depth charts, expert opinion, and more.

Science Research Portal
http://www.scienceresearch.com/search/
Bibliographic access to content from publishers of journals and technical books as well as the LC catalog and science.gov. Search all, or restrict by discipline.

StoryTubes
http://www.storytubes.info/index.html
A contest for kids to make short videos about their favorite books. "Kids across the United States in Grades 1-6 are invited to participate in this national contest - and, each of the four winners will select a school, library or educational association to receive $1,000 in books."

April 11

Environmental Journalism Today
http://www.sej.org/news/index2.htm
"The source for journalists reporting on the environment." Of particular interest: current news stories on environment issues, and the "Tip Sheet" pointing to resources for possible future stories: documents, events, reports, trends, and other useful data.

Facing Up to the Nation's Finances
http://www.facingup.org/
Think tanks from both the right and left come together to discuss the long-term challenges of the U.S. federal budget.

Historic Baseball Resources, Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/topics/baseball/index.html
LoC has an extraordinary collection of biographical resources, baseball guides, cards and other images, sheet music about baseball, video, and more.

Home Inventory Guide
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0100-consumers/0060-information-guides/0040-residential/upload/Home-Inventory-Guide.pdf
You know how you're supposed to do an inventory of your possessions so in the event of loss, you can prove your ownership to your insurance company? The California Department of Insurance's wonderfully helpful collection of information guides (http://insurance.ca.gov/0100-consumers/0060-information-guides/) includes this fill-in-the-blank workbook for every room in your house, with space to attach photos.

infodoodads
http://infodoodads.com/
A collaborative blog by five information enthusiasts who "review and discuss existing and new tools, services, and technology for finding information on the internet."

InfoTubey Award Winners - Computers in Libraries 2007
http://www.infotoday.com/cil2007/InfoTubies.shtml
See the winners of this annual competition recognizing excellence in library-related YouTube productions. This year's best include a vlog, a library holiday song, and patrons who love their library. Since these are on YouTube, of course, each selection leads you to some other nifty library videos.

Making Web Sites Accessible for Everyone
http://www.washington.edu/computing/accessible/index.html
The University of Washington offers information of use to anyone operating a web site, including why accessibility should be a goal, how to achieve it, and answers to other frequently asked questions.

National League of Cities
http://www.nlc.org/
A place for city officials to share their best practices, advocacy, resources, research (including trend data and annual reports on the state of America's cities and fiscal conditions). Browsable by broad topics (public safety, transportation, sustainability, youth, inclusiveness, etc.), and searchable, though the results format is remarkably uninformative about the items retrieved.

National Parks Traveler: Commentary, News, and Life in America's Parks
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/
Should be enjoyable to anyone planning to visit US national parks. Its articles, news items and book recommendations are searchable and browsable by date, topic, and "Fireside Reads."

PicAnswers: Post a Picture and Ask a Question
http://picanswers.com/
Here's one more way to deal with some of the hardest "what is it" questions we get. The archive of questions and readers' answers is searchable and browsable by broad category.

Sounds of America - National Museum of American History
http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/collections/music.cfm?key=1228
"an ongoing series of programs featuring music made and played in the U.S.A," including programs on African-American music traditions of New Orleans, Women in American Music, and Freedom Songs of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

WorldwideScience
http://worldwidescience.org/
"a global science gateway—accelerating scientific discovery and progress through a multilateral partnership to enable federated searching of national and international scientific databases." Primarily a bibliographic source, the document descriptions, abstracts and occasional full texts available within the 32 databases appear to be free.

April 4

100 Calorie Snacks http://www.uaex.edu/depts/FCS/EFNEP/Lessons/Healthy_Snacking_Children/
100_Calorie_Snacks.pdf
If you like the idea of limited calorie snacks but don't want to spend the money on the prepackaged ones, here are 20 ideas for do-it-yourself 100 calorie snacks. See the whole range of information on healthy eating at the parent site, http://www.uaex.edu/depts/FCS/EFNEP/Lessons/

America in 9 Innings
http://marylaine.com/myword/innings.html
Have you thought of celebrating the return of major league baseball with a display of baseball novels? If you need some suggested titles, you could start with this column, and with the recommendations in my annotated list of sports fiction, http://marylaine.com/bookbyte/sports.html

The Colors of Your College Degree
http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2007/11/06/the-colors-of-your-college-degree/
With college graduations approaching, the eternal questions are being raised again: what color should your hood and tassel be based on your major? While you're there, you may enjoy browsing through the rest of the ColourLovers site, which is full of visual treats.

The Documentary Blog
http://www.thedocumentaryblog.com/
For those of you glorying in the current explosion of documentary film, here's the place to be for news and reviews of new films,

eCycling - Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/recycle/ecycling/
If your spring cleaning includes getting rid of old electronic equipment, you'll be interested in the EPA's tips on safe and legal disposal.

The Elephant Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yihq8BIhL9c
If you have little ones, you should show them this delightful song and video, and give them the pleasure of correcting the silly grownup too.

EVoting Booth - Helping Make America a People's Democracy
http://www.e-votingbooth.com/
Suppose that YOU got to vote directly on bills before Congress. That's the idea behind this nonpartisan site: register, sign in, look for the legislation that concerns you, and cast your vote. "Then, e-VotingBooth provides the 'election results' to every member of Congress and the President before the Final Bill Vote in Congress."

Hear the Choirs Sing
http://www.geocities.com/hearchoirs/
A directory of sites offering choral music sound clips. Brose alphabetically by song title or search by composer or keyword. Also of interest: the Choral Wiki, http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page, with information on scores, composers, and texts and translations.

Library of Congress Webcasts
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/index.php
Listen here to events at the Library of Congress: lectures, symposia, poetry readings, performing arts events, and more. My readers will be especially interested in all the writers who spoke at last year's Book Fest series.

MetaCarta Geosearch News
http://geosearch.metacarta.com/
Wherever you are, find the news about the places that interest you. Search by place and/or keyword, and click on the headlines that interest you for the full story.

VietNam Veterans Memorial - the Wall
http://go.footnote.com/thewall
An interactive display allows friends and relatives to attach tributes, memories and photos to any of the 58,256 names on this virtual version of the memorial.

The World According to Newspapers - Online Journalism Blog
http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/03/23/the-world-according-to-newspapers/
These cartograms of the world distort the size of countries to reflect the amount of attention focused on them in 2007 by a variety of the world's newspapers.

March 28

Backpacker Magazine
http://www.backpacker.com/
If you can't wait to get out on the trails, this magazine offers a lot of free information to help you plan your next hike. You can find out about great hikes by city, state, or park, read trip reports, ear reviews, and selected articles from the magazine. There's also lots of information to improve your skills, as well as handbooks for "Backpacking 101," and "The Ultimate Fix-It Guide."

The Best Tools for Visualization - ReadWriteWeb
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_best_tools_for_visualization.php
I believe that the future for reference services is not so much finding information for people but helping them understand it, and visualization is one of the best ways of making complex information intelligible. There's a nice set of tools to try out here.

Broadband Opportunities for Rural America
http://wireless.fcc.gov/outreach/index.htm?job=broadband_home
One challenge for rural libraries has been providing broadband internet access. The information on loans and funding programs provided here may be helpful.

Changing Your Legal Name
http://answers.usa.gov/cgi-bin/gsa_ict.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=6522
USA.gov walks you through all the steps, and the agencies you need to notify, when you wish to change your name.

Clean Elections
http://www.publicampaign.org/clean-facts
Anyone interested in having elections publicly financed should take a look here to see how it can be(and has been) done. Check out the "Clean Elections 1-2-3" guide, read the news stories, and check out the resource library of research, articles, policies, and laws.

Exalead - Choose a New Search Engine
http://www.exalead.com/search/
Check out this search engine's Advanced Search to see some special ways you can narrow or expand your search. Bad spellers should take note of the "sounds like" search and the approximate spelling search. Retrieved items come with thumbnail images of the page.

ilike2learn
http://www.ilike2learn.com/
So, how much do you know about geography? Try to locate some of these countries and states on the maps and find out.

Read The Words
http://readthewords.com/
a free online service that will allow you to upload English, French or Spanish text, in Word or PDF or HTML, and have it read aloud to you, or made available as a download for your MP3 player.

Ripoff Report
http://www.ripoffreport.com/default.asp
"By consumers, for consumers" who've been wronged. Search by company name, register to file your own complaint, or check out the Consumer Resources guide to the most common types of scams.

SourceWatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch
We're going to be seeing a lot of ads sponsored by groups with high-minded names. If you wonder who they are and what their agendas are, this wiki from the left-leaning Center for Media and Democracy identifies PR firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that aim to "influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests."

To: Lions. From: Christians
http://marylaine.com/myword/lions.html
I wrote this column a long time ago to explain why librarians are willing to risk their careers to defend their users' right to the information they need - a topic that's still distressingly relevant. I'll be pointing to some of my other favorite columns in the future. I've recently realized that after writing three books and more than a thousand columns and articles, I've pretty much said everything I wanted to say. But some of them are, I think, worth revisiting. Check out the subject index to all the columns, http://marylaine.com/myword/subindex.html.

Welcome Stranger: Public Libraries Build the Global Village
http://www.urbanlibraries.org/publications/details.html
An Urban Libraries Council Report on how urban libraries are helping immigrants assimilate into American life.

March 21

2007 Legislators' Scorecards on Middle Class Issues
http://www.themiddleclass.org/browse/legislators
Assesses how US legislators voted on issues of importance to the middle class. Browse or search by state, by name of legislator, or by issue. Click on each candidate and get a rundown of what he/she voted for and against to earn the grade.

2008 Library Journal Movers and Shakers
http://www.libraryjournal.com/toc-archive/2008/20080315.html?section=Movers+%26%+Shakers
Rachel Singer Gordon and I had the privilege of writing the profiles of 50 inventive, community-building librarians who are expanding library services to an ever-wider comunity.

BookPALS Storyline Online
http://www.storylineonline.net/
Members of the Screen Actors Guild read favorite children's books aloud, while the books' wonderful illustrations display. Titles include The Polar Express (read by Lou Diamond Phillips), The Night I Followed the Dog (read by Amanda Bynes), Romeow and Drooliet (read by Haylie Duff), and more.

Compfight - a Flickr Search Tool
http://compfight.com/
Has some unusual search capabilities, including the ability to restrict your search to Creative Commons licensed images and for originals. Results appear as a wall of thumbnail images. The SafeSearch feature is automatic. My search on "library" got some great results (I especially loved the sign that said, "Questions answered here - even the silly ones").

The Credit Crunch - BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/business/2007/creditcrunch/default.stm
Backgrounders and analysis on the global spread of the financial crisis caused by the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown.

Gallery of Graphic Design
http://graphic-design.tjs-labs.com/index.php
Images of ads from 13 magazines published between 1930 and 1969. Search, or browse by magazine, product, advertiser, or year. It's fascinating to see how the advertising of a product or service, like air travel, changed over time.

Final Thoughts from Sir Arthur C. Clarke - IEEE Spectrum
http://spectrum.ieee.org/mar08/6075
The last interview with the great science fiction writer who came up with the idea of communication satellites. See also this video of Sir Arthur's reflections on his 90th birthday, http://infoblog.infopeople.org/2008/03/arthur_c_clarkes_farewell_mess.php.

GeekDad - Wired Blogs
http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/
This collaborative blog has plenty of both fun and useful ideas about kids and toys and games and tech stuff. I loved the entry under "Hacking Kids" on "What's the Right Time To Do Anything," from traveling with kids to grocery shopping with them to buying baby's first shoes.

Google Transit
http://www.google.com/transit
Google Maps for users of public transit. If your city is included, when you type in a starting point and destination, it will tell you how to get where you're going by transit.

Interconnections: the IMLS Study on Use of Libraries, Museums, and the Internet
http://interconnectionsreport.org/
Some of the highly encouraging findings here include the high level of trust people have for information provided by libraries and museums, the per capita increase in visits to both museums and libraries, and the way that visits to library and museum web sites stimulate more in-person visits.

Match It for Pratchett
http://www.matchitforpratchett.org/
If you're among the fans of Terry Pratchett's DiscWorld books who've been saddened by his announcement that he's suffering from Alzheimer's, you may want to contribute here to the goal of matching Pratchett's own million dollar donation to Alzheimer's research.

Obama's Speech: a More Perfect Union
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords
You'll probably have lots of requests for this at the reference desk. Both text and video of the speech are available here.

U.S. Religious Landscape Survey - Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
http://religions.pewforum.org/
Based on interviews with 35,000 American adults, this report offers the best available data on religious affiliation in the US, as well as the geographic distribution and demographic characteristics of each denomination.

March 14

2007 National Environmental Scorecard - League of Conservation Voters
http://www.lcv.org/scorecard/
Search by state, zipcode, or legislators' names to see how your representatives and senators have voted on key environmental legislation. Then click on each vote for a fuller explanation of the legislation in question. Since who's elected to Congress matters as much as who's elected President, I will continue to post scorecards for legislators on a variety of issues as compiled by various interest groups.

EatWild
http://www.eatwild.com/index.html
With the USDA in the process of degrading the definition of what constitutes "naturally raised" animals (see <http://www.ams.usda.gov/Lsg/stand/E8-1722.pdf>), organic food fans will appreciate this handy guide to providers of "safe, healthy, natural and nutritious grass-fed beef, lamb, goats, bison, poultry, pork, dairy and other wild edibles." See also the Organic Consumers Association site, <http://www.organicconsumers.org/>

Grey Matters
http://www.ucsd.tv/greymatters/archives.asp
Videos from leading brain researchers explain what scientists have learned about the workings of the mind - and how they made their discoveries. Topics include how we make decisions, how we predict the future, language development, and more. Each presentation comes with a study guide, a "meet the scientist" feature, links, and teacher resources.

Ironic Sans
http://ironicsans.com/
This blog by photographer David Friedman, full of interesting graphics, animations, and ideas, is one of PC Magazine's Favorite 100 Blogs. Sample entries: valentine's cards for scientists, glamour mug shots, 60 seconds in the life of a puddle.

Newseum - Today's Front Pages
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/default.asp
Displays 582 front pages from newspapers in 55 countries. Choose from list or from the map, where you get mouseover displays of pages (certainly a quick way to get an overview of what's going on in your state or country as viewed from multiple sources). The site also maintains archived pages for a variety of topics.

NPR/Kaiser/Harvard Survey: The Public on Requiring Individuals to Have Health Insurance
http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/upload/7753.pdf
This poll investigates Americans' feelings about requiring Americans to purchase health insurance. Useful data in terms of the presidential candidates' proposals, but since the survey didn't ask for opinions on federally financed health care, this may not be a full representation of American views on the issue.

Post-it Note Art - WebUrbanist
http://weburbanist.com/2008/01/24/more-unusual-art-from-everyday-materials-16-post-it-note-pranks-sculptures-and-murals/
Take a look at these 16 artworks and/or pranks composed entirely of post-it notes.

Spoken Alexandria Project - Free Audio from Telltale Weekly
http://www.spokenalex.org/
Creative Commons audiobooks. "The Spoken Alexandria Project is creating a free library of spoken word recordings, consisting of classics in the public domain and modern works (with permission). AAC, Ogg Vorbis, and MP3 audiobooks available for free download and redistribution." There's not a whole lot here as yet, but you can subscribe to the podcast or to a newsletter notifying you of new titles.

State Legislative History Research Guides
http://www.law.indiana.edu/library/services/sta_leg.shtml
Surely one of the most difficult reference questions librarians ever get is tracking what happened to pieces of legislation as they moved through state legislatures' committees and amendments. This site links in legislative tracking guides created by law librarians in all 50 states.

The State of Working America - Economic Policy Institute
http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/
This biennial research report does much to answer the question about why so many Americans believe the US economy is already in a recession. You can read select chapters here, download tables and figures, browse economic snapshots from the book, or order the entire report.

What To Read When You've Finished Harry Potter - Freakonomics
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/that-damn-harry-potter/
Steven D. Levitt read them all in a row and asks what he could read next. His readers' comments constitute an intriguing reading list.

WomenWatch - UN Information and Resources on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/
UN news and research on internation issues including violence against women, women in power, human rights of women, and more.

March 7

30 Creative Bookshelf Designs
http://freshome.com/2008/02/25/30-of-the-most-creative-bookshelves-designs/
My guess is that you're going to covet at least one of these unusual shelving units, for yourself or for your library. Some of them would look really nifty in children's services.

Beadage - Make beaded jewelry
http://www.beadage.net/
There's something here for newbies and longtime practitioners alike - step-by-step tutorials, galleries, a glossary, guides to supply sources, gemstones and selling jewelry online, and more.

Eye Level - Smithsonian American Art Museum
http://eyelevel.si.edu/
A collaborative blog from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. "Using the museum’s collection as a touchstone, the conversation at Eye Level will be dedicated to American art and the ways in which the nation’s art reflects its history and culture."

Foodsel
http://www.foodsel.com/welcome/
Here's a site to aid your new year's resolutions. Its unusually informative look at the nutritional value of foods offers not only nutritional breakdowns for 7500+ foods, but also a visual display of the energy, sugar, and fat content of the recommended serving size, and the amount of time you'd have to spend in a variety of activities to work that off (for instance, 4 hours of walking or jogging or boxing, or 10 hours of childcare to work off that 12 inch super supreme pizza and its stick-of-butter-equivalent fats).

Grading the States, 2008 - Governing
http://www.governing.com/gpp/2008/index.htm
Every year Governing measures the performance of the 50 state governments on management of information, personnel, money, and infrastructure. Provides a summary of overall performance in these categores and detailed analyses of individual states.

Great American Cleanup Campaign - Keep America Beautiful
http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pressreleases_GAC2008
More than 30 million volunteers will be participating in this effort from March 1 through May 31. The site links interested people to local affiliates.

How To Think - Technology Review - Ed Boyden's Blog
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/boyden/21925/
A short but powerful set of suggestions for going beyond digesting information to using it productively.

Mind Matters - Scientific American Community
http://science-community.sciam.com/blog/Mind-Matters/300000977
An intriguing blog where "top researchers in neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry explain and discuss their fields." Among the topics: "Your Brain's Spam Filter," "How Stereotypes Affect Performance," "How Babies Know What You're Up To (or Not)," "Attention! How your brain manages its need to heed," "The Neurobiology of Dread," etc.

Politicker.com: Inside Politics for Political Insiders
http://politicker.com/
Still in its developmental stages, the site aims to cover presidential, Senate, House, and gubernatorial races, add a sprinkling of opinion and editorial cartoons, and, eventually, blogs covering politics in all 50 states (so far 10 are represented). It looks promising.

The Skills Exchange
http://www.the-skills-exchange.org/
"A place for librarians and information workers to meet and exchange ideas."

Technabob - cool gadgets, gizmos and weird science
http://technabob.com/
Almost as neat a blog for gadget lovers as BoingBoing <http://www.boingboing.net/>. Search or browse by categories - digital imaging, future tech, strange and unusual, etc.

WhaleNet
http://whale.wheelock.edu/Welcome.html
This interactive educational web site on whales and marine research offers a student resources page (including an Ask a Scientist feature) and a teacher resources page, with curriculum units, data files, and case studies.

February 29

60 Little-Known Technology Web Sites
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=205917062
Information Week's "guide to great blogs and Web sites worth adding to your bookmarks." Includes sites for Macs, hardware, software, Microsoft, tech ideas, open source, security, tech careers, and more.

America's 50 Greenest Cities
http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-02/americas-50-greenest-cities?page=1
Popular Science examined cities with populations over 100,000, using data in 30 categories, including air quality, electricity use and transportation habits, to rank the cities that are using innovative ideas to lessen their energy demands and footprint on the earth.

Ask.com IQ
http://about.ask.com/en/docs/iq/iq.shtml
The current week's top searches on Ask.com.

EZ2Find
http://ez2find.com/
A metasearch engine that searches multiple appropriate utilities for your choice of web sites, directories, images, news, or shopping. For each category, a different set of appropriate search utilities is consulted; for instance, while the general web search combines results from DMoz, MSN, Yahoo!, WiseNut, and Ask, the image search yields results from Corbis, AltaVista images, Lycos pictures, NASA image exchange, and PicSearch. Includes both a straight results list and clustered results.

Free Writing Courses Online
http://education-portal.com/articles/10_Universities_Offering_Free_Writing_Courses_Online.html
Links to self-study modules offered by 10 universities to teach various kinds of writing: technical, news, essays, fiction, academic prose, and more.

Murder in the Library
http://blogs.britannica.com/blog/main/2007/03/murder-in-the-library-part-i-a-%E2%80%93-h/
Those who combine a love of libraries with a love of murder mysteries should enjoy this annotated list of mysteries featuring librarians and libraries.

National AgLaw Reporter
http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/reporter/
Links to farm bills, a glossary, and "reading rooms" with overviews and links to resources on 33 agriculture topics - animal feeding operations, food safety, food labeling, pesticides, sustainable agriculture, etc.

Post-Apocalyptic Juvie Lit
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2008/02/like_endless_ra.html
Both Joshua Glenn's own favorite apocalyptic and dystopian fiction and the recommendations offered by readers make for an interesting reading list for YAs and adults alike.

Scientific Commons: a Community for Scientific Information
http://www.scientificcommons.org/
Using the Open Archive Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, this site has found and linked over 13 million scientific publications scattered across hundreds of individual repositories.

Singing Kittens - BankWest, Australia
http://www.happybanking.com.au/
Try this on the kids or just enjoy this yourself: Type in a simple short name, and the kittens will fit it into their song.

Stateline.org
http://www.stateline.org/
I've mentioned this site before as a key resource on state government and policy. It's searchable and browsable by issue or by state. Particularly check out the backgrounders on hot topics, the links to state data resources and graphics, and the links to political and issue blogs for each state.

Waiters World
http://waitersworld.com/
Whether you're waiting tables while working on degrees or careers in other fields, or making a career of excellent service to diners, you may appreciate the information here on food, restaurant slang, tipping, taxes on tips, table settings, training, wines, and more.

February 22

25 Awesome Beta Research Tools from Libraries around the World
http://www.collegedegree.com/library/college-life/25-awesome-beta
"From academic libraries like that at MIT or renowned research centers like the Library of Congress, the following beta research tools feature innovative tricks to connect you with the most relevant, valid results" - including books (real and digital), articles, documents, web sites, and more.

Citizen Media Law Project
http://www.citmedialaw.org/
Many bloggers and citizen journalists face legal risks they're not aware of. This site has just launched a legal guide, as well as a database of legal threats and litigation. It also includes a detailed primer on immunity for third-party content.

CrimeReports.com
http://www.crimereports.com/
Enter an address, a city/state, or a zip code, and get a map of criminal activity in the area over the past weeks.

Deciphering Food Expiration Dates
http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/entry/deciphering_food_expiration_dates
The GovGab bloggers take on the difference between "sell-by" dates, expiration dates, and "best-if-used by dates." Read, and then go check out what's in your refrigerator.

Digital TV 2009
http://www.dtv2009.gov/
All TV will be digital effective February 18, 2009, and those using antennas will have to have a TV converter box for their TV to recognize signals. Apply here for up to 2 coupons worth $40 each on the cost of those converters.

Doodle 4 Google
http://www.google.com/doodle4google/
A competition for K-12 students to enter their own version of the Google logo. Schools need to register by March 28; their students' entries are due by April 12. The winning logo will appear on Google on May 22.

Flu (Influenza) - CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/
It's a bad flu season, so check here for weekly flu activity reports, ways to prevent flu, symptoms and treatment, and advice for parents, schools and childcare providers, employers, etc.

H@OUSE: Water Saver Home
http://h2ouse.org/
Click on any room in the house diagram for links to water-saving tips. Also includes a water budget calculator, a garden guide to water-conserving planting, and the top 5 actions you can take to save water.

National Museum of American History - Collections
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/index.cfm
The Museum is closed for renovations through the fall of 2008, but you can continue to view digital samples of its collections on a wide range of topics: advertising, food, domestic furnishings, military, transportation, etc.

Race, Racism and the Law
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/
As has become clear during this election season, race i an issue that continues to confound and confuse Americans. This site "considers race, racism and racial distinctions in the law." Topics addressed, with introductory essays and links to statutes, case law and other key documents, include institutional racism, racial groups, citizenship rights, justice, etc.

StrangeUSA.com
http://www.strangeusa.com/Default.aspx
"Consolidating the vast amount of 'Strange Stuff' out there into 1 easy to use place. Haunted buildings, places, Urban legends, cemeteries, weird places, cool places, ghost towns, and anything else that is worth your time to visit." Click on a state and then browse by town name or by type of weirdness; you'll get descriptions of the incidents, soe with links to news stories.

A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/Holocaust/
"An overview of the people and events of the Holocaust through photographs, documents, art, music, movies, and literature." Includes a timeline (accompanied by photos and documents), a guide to the people involved (victims, perpetrators, resisters, etc.), and suggested educational activities for elementary, middle and high school students.

February 15

2008 Dog Show - Westminster Kennel Club
http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/
If Uno the Beagle's triumph at the dog show this year made you curious about the event itself, check it out here: the news, the finalists, the best in all the other breeds, the show's records and history, videos of some events, and more.

Academy Award-Winning Cartoons/Short Subjects on YouTube
http://m-matos.blogspot.com/2008/02/academy-award-winners-for-cartoonshort.html
These are among the awards that we're least likely to have seen, so it's handy to have this cheat sheet to the ones that have been mounted on YouTube.

Best Sandwiches in America - Esquire Magazine
http://www.esquire.com/features/food-drink/sandwiches
Consider this side by side with the Men's Health article on the 20 Worst Foods <http://www.menshealth.com/20worst/>

BirdCentral
http://birdcentral.net/index.htm
A good place for birdlovers, with photos and natural history of birds from the conmtinental United States, a glossary, ideas and lesson plans for grades 5-12, pictorial essays on birdwatching trips, and more.

Child Safety Seats Ratings - Ease of Use
http://www.nhtsa.gov/portal/nhtsa_eou/info.jsp?type=infant
Not the least of your problems in buying the right child safety seat is figuring out how to install it. Fortunately NHTSA has analyzed that for us.

Common Sense Media
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/
Includes ratings, reader-submitted reviews, and analysis of the violence, language, message, and sexual content, if any, in each theatrical or DVD release. Also reviews TV shows, games, and music.

Evolution of Security
http://www.tsa.gov/blog
A new blog from the Transportation Security Administration keeps you up to date on changes in the rules of air travel. And apparently gives passengers a chance to talk back.

GIS Data Sets by state [US Fish and Wildlife Service]
http://www.fws.gov/data/statdata/
Select a state and find geographical data sets from the Fish and Wildlife Service, US Geological Survey, and other sources. Also includes links to other major repositories of geospatial data sets.

Muppets for President
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmzKADYpGq0
If you haven't thought about which muppets most resemble which presidential candidates, somebody on YouTube did.

Oamos
http://www.oamos.com/
This "meta-search engine with audio-visual display interfaces" offers a unique search experience, though I haven't played around with it enough to know how useful it is. A search on "Marylaine" opens with photos of my son with his son Donovan in his arms. Search in English or German.

Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Information
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
Answers to pretty much any question you could have about a bicycle, for every level from complete amateurs to aficionados. No word on whether this revered source will continue after his recent death.

Spring Training Online 2008
http://www.springtrainingonline.com/ or 2008 Spring Training Online http://springtrainingmagazine.com/
For those who like to take a break from winter by following their favorite baseball teams to Florida or Arizona, either of these sites offer info on the ballparks, team schedules, how to buy tickets, and more.

February 8

19th Century Schoolbooks
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/n/nietz/
Searchable full texts of 142 American textbooks of the 19th century offer insights into what 19th century American students were taught about history, arithmetic, art, geography, and other topics.

100 Things To Do with Google Maps Mashups - gmapsmania
http://gmapsmania.googlepages.com/100thingstodowithgooglemapsmashups
I believe that the future of reference service lies not in finding information, but in helping people understand it through visualization. These Google Maps mashups demonstrate things like finding wi-fi hotspots, a public toilet, world hostels, webcams, etc., and tracking packages or US or Canadian flights in real time.

Access Newspaper Archive Institutional Version
http://access.newspaperarchive.com/InvalidIP.aspx
"a new program that gives public libraries and K-12 schools around the world FREE access to NewspaperARCHIVE.com's historical newspaper database. Students and library patrons can browse tens of millions of newspaper pages in our archive for free through your institution. This free version of Access NewspaperARCHIVE will allow users to view, save and print full-page newspapers dating from 1759 to 1977." For obvious reasons, I wasn't able to try this out, but it certainly seems worth the effort for school media specialists to download the application form and send it in.

Ballot Box
http://governing.typepad.com/ballotbox/
If you can't get enough political news and analysis, check out this new politics blog from the experts at Governing.com who routinely track federal, state and local government.

Build a Network, Not a Destination - Readership Institute
http://www.readership.org/blog2/2007/04/build-network-not-destination.html
This advice for news media on building websites that attract and retain readers would apply equally well to libraries' websites.

Butterfly Lab
http://www.naturemuseum.org/online/thebutterflylab/index.htm
Lots of information, pictures and diagrams on butterflies and their anatomy, life cycle, behavior, and interdependence. Browsable by species. Includes an Ask the Expert feature and suggested activities.

Government Information Online - Ask a Librarian
http://govtinfo.org/
Sometimes the answers you need are only available in hard-to-find government publications, so if you don't have a government documents librarian right at hand, you can use this "free national online information service supported by nearly thirty public, academic, and state libraries throughout the United States. Participating librarians specialize in finding government information sources of all kinds, and will try to answer your questions through chat or email."

Hairstylesdesign.com
http://www.hairstylesdesign.com/
The hairstyle galleries may help you find young men and women find a great hairdo before a visit to the stylist. Choose from men's or women's, short, medium, or long, formal or celebrity styles. Also check out galleries from Oscar and MTV award shows. There's not much here for older customers, though.

The Industry Standard
http://www.thestandard.com/
If you were in on the early heady days of the world wide web, you were almost certainly reading The Industry Standard for the latest news. It folded as a print publication, but still exists online here, as a source of industry news and predictions.

Movie Toolbox: 85+ Tools and Resources for Movie Fans
http://mashable.com/2007/09/16/movie-toolbox/
Includes online catalogs, recommendation engines, master indexes, encyclopedic sources, review sites, free streaming video sites, and more.

Online Collections from the Wisconsin Historical Museum
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/collections/online/
The online collections provide hundreds of images of Children's Clothing, Needlework Samplers, Quilts, Moccasins, and Dolls.

Top 25 Web 2.0 Search Engines
http://oedb.org/library/features/top-25-web20-search-engines
Engines that use Web 2.0 technologies to improve relevance. "Some offer functionality that's slowly making its way into traditional search engines. Others further the attempt to traverse the invisible Web and index other previously unsearchable research sources."

February 1

AsianWeek: the Voice of Asian America
http://www.asianweek.com/
Calls itself "the oldest and largest English language newspaper serving the Asian/Pacific Islander American community." Includes general, California and national news regarding Asian Americans. Also news on Asian-American arts and commerce, and regular columns like Voices from the Community, The Small Business Advocate, AskQ, and more.

BeyondIntractability.org - University of Colorado Conflict Research Consortium
http://www.beyondintractability.org/
"A Free Knowledge Base on More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict." This extraordinary collection of documents includes case studies, online courses and educational simulations, conflict news, and expert interviews. Most importantly, it offers a collection of essays, rich with historical examples, that help you understand the causes and dynamics of conflict, and the way intervention strategies work.

Bioethics Topics - University of Washington School of Medicine
http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/index.html
While directed primarily to the needs of healthcare providers, these are useful backgrounders for public discussion of a wide variety of topics in medical ethics, including some of our hottest buttons. "Each topic begins with an overview and a series of commonly asked questions. In addition, there are several case-based scenarios with discussions linked to each topic. Links to additional readings and related websites are included at the end of topic."

Exploring the Nanoworld
http://mrsec.wisc.edu/Edetc/index.html
A good starting place for amateurs trying to understand nanotechnology, and for those who are teaching it. Includes a collection of introductory lectures, lesson plans, demonstrations and resource slides, a video manual, news, and outreach activities and exhibits.

Greatest Duets of All Time - Retrocrush
http://retrocrush.buzznet.com/archive2008/duets/index.html
You couldn't ask for a wider range of musical style in these 25 great duets captured on video - Gershwin, country, power pop, romantic ballads, punk, Seattle sound, rap, and more. Watch, listen and argue: my all-time favorite, for example (and one of the greatest riffs ever), is their #13.

Greener Buildings Resource Center
http://www.greenerbuildings.com/
Anyone planning a green building, addition, or adaptive reuse of an existing building, can start here for backgrounders on all the issues involved (building materials, energy and water use, waste management, etc.), case studies, tools and resources, news, and more.

Highway Bridges: Conditions and the Federal/State Role - a CRS Report
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL34127.pdf
A backgrounder for Congress on the issues to be considered in order to fix the US's structurally deficient bridges.

Migration Policy Institute
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/
Policy research from an "independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank devoted to the study of the movement of people worldwide." Search, or browse by broad topics like US immigration, European migration, refugee protection, news & events, MPI data.

OrganDonor.gov
http://www.organdonor.gov/
An excellent starting place for anybody who's considering organ donation, with FAQs, donation and transplantation basics, risk reduction info, policy guidelines, legislation, and more.

Project for Excellence in Journalism Study
http://www.journalism.org/node/7493
Here's food for thought about the news business: in comparing the stories mainstream media consider important with the stories readers are bookmarking, the PEJ staff find very little overlap. Moreover, readers are bookmarking more news from blogs, websites, and YouTube than from mainstream news sites.

The Secret Life of the Brain - PBS Nova
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/
Includes excerpts from the series (each with links to relevant resources), and web-only features like history of the brain, mind illusions, 3-D brain anatomy, and scanning the brain.

World Animal Net
http://worldanimal.net/index.html
"The world's largest network of animal protection societies" offers a database of 16,000+ organizations, and guides to resources on animal testing, animal protection law and treaties worldwide, grants, humane education, and more.


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