Of course this is the time of year when reflection is rampant and “best of…” lists beset us. So why should the library be any different? So here’s a smattering of selected websites popular with some IU East library staff. Enjoy!
Lora uses the Charity Navigator http://www.charitynavigator.org/ as a reliable way to research a charity to see if it is legit and how they spend their monies.
For searching 20 different English versions of the Bible Lora recommends the BibleGateway.com
http://www.biblegateway.com/ and for a gateway to local U.S. and international newspapers, she suggests NewsVoyager http://www.newspaperlinks.com/home.cfm
Several library staff count on Snopes.com http://www.snopes.com/ and Truth or Fiction
http://www.truthorfiction.com/ to verify urban legends and all those email scams before you forward to everyone you know.
Mandi enjoys a reading aficionado’s site www.shelfari.com because you can document what you’ve read, what you enjoy, and what other people with your interests are reading. You can even join or start book clubs or discussion groups.
A visual database that Matt recommends is the Tin Eye http://www.tineye.com. It’s a reverse photo lookup search engine where you can track who’s used your images, find higher resolution versions of pictures, or trace where a picture came from – regardless of whether they have been resized, cropped, or photo-manipulated.
Want to learn Yiddish? Frances thinks http://www.sbjf.org/sbjco/schmaltz/yiddish_phrases.htm is a good place to look, for as the site claims, it has “Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases – impress your friends and family.”
Marcia is very interested in geology and why the earth shakes so she enjoys http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php and she keeps current on local weather at http://www.weather.com/weather/today/Richmond+IN+47374?lswe=47374&lwsa=WeatherLocalUndeclared&from=searchbox_localwx
Her love for food leads Marcia to recommend http://www.christmas-cookies.com/ and while you’re munching you can find out about your family’s history at http://ohgenweb.net/.
Well, that’s just a few of the gazillion (I think that’s the official count) sites out there, so take some time to explore something new in 2011!