VIRTUAL LIBRARIES
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Major Directories, Gateways, and Search Facilities
COPAC-- "Freely available library
catalogue, giving access to the merged online catalogues
of many major UK and Irish academic and National
libraries, as well as increasing numbers of specialist
libraries."
European Commission Central Library--
Central locator site maintained by the European
Commission's unit responsible for libraries and European
Documentation Centres, "an essential tool for librarians,
documentalists and researchers working on European
material." Here is the European
Commission Libraries Catalogue of bibliographical
references for hundreds of thousands of publications on
European affairs, but without document delivery or copy
service.
European Library-- "The European Library is a membership organisation for national and research libraries. Its members include 48 national libraries and an increasing number of research libraries. Through its [searchable] portal, it makes the resources of Europe's libraries, including many special collections, accessible to the public." Also offers a directory of links to the libraries of Europe.
Gateway to Library Catalogs-- From
the U.S. Library of Congress, allows access to and search
of the Library of Congress catalog, plus links to many
academic and national libraries.
JOLIS
Library Catalog-- On this site you can search the
joint library holdings of the World Bank Group and the
International Monetary Fund, the publications of these
organizations, and related resources.
LibGuides Community Site-- Enter a search term to access hundreds of thousands of bibliographic reference guides in thousands of libraries around the world that use the Springshare LibGuides system. Very useful. Two good examples are the LibGuides of NATO and the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources.
Lib-web-cats-- "Directory of libraries worldwide. Each listing includes links to the library's website and online catalog [and also] the geographic location, address, library type, current and previous library automation systems used, and the size of the library's collection."
Libraries, Catalogues and Publications
of the UN System-- "The premier web site which
provides a Web interface to the electronic resources of
the libraries of [the] UN system of organizations, and
offers powerful search and retrieval functionality...
provides a single point of access to library catalogs,
indexes and abstract databases, library holdings, links to
full-text resources, and archives." Excellent central
database to search for U.N. studies and holdings by
country, topic, or other terms.
Military Education and Research Library Network (MERLN)-- The searchable joint site of military education libraries in the United States (mainly) and Europe, providing access to the library holdings and online information resources of the "largest and most comprehensive collections of military information resources in the world." Note the section on online publications of MERLN participants. The Professional Military Journal Reading Room features annotated links to online U.S. and Canadian military journals. The Military Policy Awareness Links are current listings of quality online information and analysis sources, posted by the National Defense University Library as a current awareness service on major topics of U.S. military policy.
OpenDOAR-
From the University of Nottingham, UK, "an authoritative
directory of academic open access repositories... As well
as providing a simple repository list, OpenDOAR lets you
search for repositories or search repository contents."
Open Library-- With the goal of "One
web page for every book ever published," a massive and
searchable cataloging project (since 2007) that provides
online access to millions of scanned versions of books and
links to external sources when scanned versions are not
possible.
Policy Library-- An excellent social, economic, and foreign policy site, with a large database of free, online full-text studies from leading research organizations. Many international affairs papers included, plus links to major research sources.
Public Libraries.com-- By listing and linking all U.S. public, college, and presidential library websites, this site "strives to promote the use and support of local public libraries in every city across the United States."
UK
Public Library Dataset-- "Contains contact
information for 4,040 UK Public Library branches, each
with a unique identifier and has been published on data.gov.uk.
It is the first and most comprehensive openly-published
dataset of its kind, covering the whole of the UK and
containing branch-name, main postal address, telephone,
email and web address where known."
WorldCat-- "The largest library
network in the world. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to
providing access to their free resources on the Web, where
most people start their search for information... This Web
site lets you find an item of interest and then locate a
library near you that owns it." Also indicates location of
free and for-fee materials (such as books, music, and
videos) on the Internet-- a fine resource for materials in
many languages. See the WorldCat
Blog for tips on using this site.
Selected Major Libraries
• Australian Libraries Gateway--
From the National Library of Australia, a
directory of and access to the online catalogs of
nearly all the academic, public, and special
libraries in Australia, Australian publishers and
booksellers, and Australian subject gateways.
• British Library of Political and
Economic Science-- "The working Library of the
London School of Economics and Political Science and
one of the largest libraries in the world devoted to
the economic and social sciences." Note especially the
many papers posted at LSE
Research Online, "a [searchable] collection of
research produced by LSE academics: articles, working
papers, book chapters, conference papers and more."
The LSE Library's Bookmarks are also
useful.
• British Library Website-- Online
service of the British Library, where you can "Explore
the World's Knowledge."
• Combined Arms Research Library--
From the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College,
Fort Leavenworth, "The intent of this website is to
introduce the resources available at CARL and to
extend our services and support to military scholars
worldwide by providing access to a selection of our
resources." Note especially the Online Public Access Catalog.
• Library of the United Nations Office
at Geneva-- Site allows access to information on
Library holdings (searchable online catalog), recent
acquisitions, archives, bibliographies,
publications, e-resources, U.N. system
resources, special events, and more.
• U.S. Library of Congress site has a wealth of useful online
resources. The Global Gateway is a good place
to start. Try the Researchers page and the Online
Catalog. The Gateway
to Library Catalogs allows access to and search
of the Library of Congress catalog, plus links to many
academic and national libraries.
• University
of Ulster Library-- Especially helpful with
Northern Ireland and United Kingdom information. Look
for the CAIN Web Service (Conflict
Archive on the INternet), on the Northern Ireland
conflict since 1968.