Presentation for the NDLA 2009 conference

1. Is it all online for free?Free databases and electronic resources for your library

2. Teaching and LearningThe library is the people’s university.

3. Teaching and LearningDirectory of open access journalsThe Directory of Open Access Journals contains free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals in multiple subjects and languages. There are currently over 4300 journals in the directory, with topics ranging from agriculture to poetry. The Math Forum - Ask Dr. MathThis site provides answers and assistance with math problems for students of all ages. There is information and homework guides for everything from arithmetic to calculus. It is maintained by Drexel University. BBC - Languages - HomepageThe BBC Languages page will help you learn one of a variety of world languages through a series of online tutorials and videos. It is an amazing site!

4. Teaching and LearningConnexions - Sharing Knowledge and Building CommunitiesConnexions is “an environment for collaboratively developing, freely sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web.” It allows educators to create and share teaching modules with others. Inspiring Teachers Empowering educators around the world with classroom resources, tips, articles, newsletter, books, webinars, & free web pages

5. Free lectures and courses from universitiesWebcast.Berkeley: from UC-Berkeley, podcasts and video webcasts of current and archived coursesMIT OpenCourseWare: From MIT, this site contains audio, video, lecture notes, worksheets and handouts for a variety of current and archived courses. COOL McGill: Lectures and notes from current and archived classes at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Academic Earth: Academic Earth provides access to video lectures from a number of universities including Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Princeton.

6. Books & LiteratureWe know about Google Books and Project Gutenberg, but what else is out there?

7. BooksThe Online Books PageThe Online Books Page “facilitates access to books that are freely readable over the Internet.” It currently lists over 35,000 books that are available for free via the web. The Humanities Text InitiativeThis site contains a number of collections, all created and maintained by the University of Michigan’s Digital Library Production Service. Of note is the Making of America collection, which is an extensive collection of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.

8. BooksLibrivoxLibrivox provides free public domain audiobooks. It is a completely volunteer-run organization, so the quality of the readings may vary, but they provide a surprisingly high quality product. ScribdScribd is perhaps best described as “YouTube for documents.” Called a “social publishing company,” It allows people to upload and “publish” original writings, artworks, games, and other documents. It is used by everyone from first-time writers to major publishing companies like Simon & Schuster. The Questia Online Library Questia is primarily a fee-based research database, but they have over 5000 classic and rare books available for free.

9. LiteratureMark Twain Project :: HomeThe Mark Twain Project online contains authoritative digital texts, documents and research about the work and life of Mark Twain. The project’s goal is to create a “digital critical edition, fully annotated, of everything Mark Twain wrote.” ICDL - International Children's Digital LibraryThe ICDL provides access to children’s books from around the world. It contains books in a variety of languages. British Women Romantic Poets, 1789 - 1832 Poetry ArchiveThe Poetry Archive is a collection of recordings of poets reading their own works. Both contemporary and historical poets are included in the archives; it also includes guides for classroom use and an archive of children’s poetry.

10. Music and Recordings

11. Music and recordingsArchival Sound RecordingsArchival Sound Recordings is a database of recordings from the British Library which have been digitized and made available to the public. The collection includes music, oral history recordings, accent and dialect recordings, and sounds of nature and the environment. Gilbert and Sullivan Archive Home PageThe Gilbert and Sullivan archive contains a wealth of information about the music of Gilbert and Sullivan, and about other light operas of the 19th and early 20th century. Global Music ArchiveThe Global Music Archive is a “multi-media reference archive and resource center for traditional and popular song, music, and dance.” It provides access to indigenous music from Africa and the Americas, and is supported and housed by Vanderbilt University.

12. History collections

13. World HistoryWOMEN IN WORLD HISTORYThe Women in World History website is “an online curriculum resource center to help high-school and college world history teachers and their students locate, analyze, and learn from primary sources dealing with women and gender in world history.” Life After the HolocaustThis website is a oral history project of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It documents the experiences of six Holocaust survivors who immigrated to the United States. The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech UniversityThe Vietnam Center and Archive provides information, research and educational resources about the Vietnam War and the American experience with and of Vietnam.

14. u.s. historyThe Black Past: Remembered and ReclaimedThe Black Past is essentially an online guide to African-American history. It contains an online encyclopedia of figures in African American history, primary source documents about the African American experience, and speeches of activists and leaders from the last 300 years. Welcome to the Civil Rights Digital LibraryThe Civil Rights Digital Library contains primary sources and educational materials about the struggle for civil rights in the United States. Make History | National September 11 Memorial & MuseumMake History is a collective archive of stories, photographs and documents related to the September 11 attacks “through the eyes of those who experienced it, both at the attack sites and around the world.”

15. U.S. HistoryArchiving Early America: Primary Source Material from 18th Century AmericaArchiving Early America contains a variety of newspapers, maps, portraits, and writings from 18th century America, as well as games and discussions about the time period. Early Americas Digital ArchiveThe Early Americas Digital Archive is “a collection of electronic texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820.” Open Collections Program: Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930One of several great digital collections from Harvard University, this collection focuses on immigrants and their migration to the United States.

16. History Resources from the Library of CongressThe Library of Congress has a wealth of collections available online which are freely accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Here are a few of the best:World War I Resources (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress)Experiencing War (War's End: VE Day, VJ Day): Stories from the Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)Primary Documents in American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress)American Memory from the Library of Congress

17. Political Science and GovernmentOf the people, for the people, by the people

18. GovernmentOpenCongress - Track bills, votes, senators, and representatives in the U.S. Congress“OpenCongress brings together official government data with news and blog coverage, social networking, public participation tools, and more.” OpenCongress is a collaborative project of the Participatory Politics Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation. UNT Libraries: CyberCemetery HomeA joint project of the University of North Texas Libraries and the U.S. Government Printing Office, this website archives defunct government websites in order to provide permanent access to these publications and websites. Public Records Free Directory - Nationwide Directory of Public Record ResourcesThis site provides links to free public records searches throughout the United States. You can search by location or by public record type.

19. Political & Social Science UNdataThe UNdata website provides a single point of entry for the aggregated databases of the United Nations and its divisions. It includes information about AIDS worldwide, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and facts about the countries which comprise the UN. Annenberg Public Policy CenterThe Annenberg Public Policy Center conducts and publishes research about political communication, the media & children, health communication, information & society, and adolescent risk. There are a number of useful tools which come from Annenberg, such as FactCheck.org, which monitors factual accuracy in political media, and the Annenberg Classroom, which provides civics lesson plans and resources for teachers.

20. Job Searches

21. Job SearchesCareers and Career Information - CareerOneStop“CareerOneStopis a U.S. Department of Labor-sponsored Web site that offers career resources and workforce information to job seekers, students, businesses, and workforce professionals.” O*NET OnLine“The O*NET system serves as the nation's primary source of occupational information, providing comprehensive information on key attributes and characteristics of workers and occupations.”

22. Health and WellnessHealth and wellness are common search topics. Make sure your patrons are getting reliable and authoritative information.

23. Health and WellnessMedline PlusMedline Plus is a website maintained by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health which brings together authoritative and up-to-date information on medicine, health and wellness to help answer health questions. Drug Information Portal - U.S. National Library of Medicine - Quick Access to Quality Drug InformationA clearinghouse of reliable information on drugs compiled by the National Library of Medicine. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine [NCCAM] - nccam.nih.gov Home Page The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine provides research and information on non-traditional medical practices, and disseminates that information to the public. They are a part of the National Institutes of Health. Guttmacher Institute: Home PageThe Guttmacher Institute was formed to “advance sexual and reproductive health in the United States and worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education.” The site contains a variety of resources on reproductive health and related topics.

24. Science and Nature

25. Science and NatureDiscovery Now: Explore the newest advances from NASA and the aerospace community.Discovery Now focuses on video, audio, photography and educational resources for teaching and learning about aeronautics and space. The Photographic Periodic Table of the ElementsA pictorial version of the Periodic Table of the Elements, with information and photographs for each element. Home - NWF Green HourA website on nature for parents and children from the National Wildlife Federation. U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Digital Library

26. Staying currentFinding it hard to stay up on all the newest info? Here are a few sites which may help you learn about the latest and greatest.

27. Staying currentiLibrarianiLibrarian’s tagline is “News and resources on Library 2.0 and the information revolution.” It’s an invaluable resource for librarians trying to stay on top of technology and information online. Stephen’s LighthouseStephen Abram is the Vice President of Innovation at SirsiDynix, and he writes an insightful and very useful blog. MashableMashable, the “Social Media Guide,” has frequent articles and posts highlighting the latest and greatest in web technology. Download SquadDownload Squad provides lists, links, stories, information, and the occasional time-waster, all to help you “enhance your digital lifestyle.”