Virtual Libraries
 

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 webservice is a portal which offers access to the combined resources (books, magazines, journals...both digital and non-digital) of the 43 national libraries of Europe. It offers free searching and delivers digital objects - some free, some priced." 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.

Global Library-- Very useful "reference collection of online texts for students of the social sciences. It links open-access texts from across the web." From the Global Site of the University of Sussex, a fine "critical gateway to world politics, society, and culture," with online texts, reviews, global library, subject guides, and links.

Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog-- "Meta search interface which allows you to access library catalogs via WWW. It starts a simultaneous search in the German union catalogs and gives you a standardized hit list," from scores of millions of book and serials titles holdings in major libraries and book trade catalogs in several European countries and the United States. From the Library of the Universität Karlsruhe, Germany.

Library Spot-- From StartSpot, listings of many types of online libraries, plus links to reference sites.

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.

Libweb: Library Servers via WWW-- Links to thousands of libraries in scores of countries, maintained by Thomas Dowling.

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.

National Library Catalogues Worldwide-- From the University of Queensland Library, Australia, a listing of online national library catalogues alphabetically by country, with instructions on how to connect to each catalogue.

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.

UNESCO Libraries Portal-- Links to library and library association websites worldwide, and to topics of interest to librarians. Searchable.

Universal Library-- From Carnegie Mellon University, a major directory for online access to a wide variety of literature (books and periodicals), images, multimedia, lectures, and bibliographies.

Web Accessible National and Major Libraries-- From the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, a large listing of links, including digital libraries.

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-- an excellent resource for materials in many languages.

WWW Library Directory-- Indexes thousands of online libraries and library-related Web sites in over 130 countries.

• British Library Website-- Online service of the British Library. Note especially the British Library Integrated Catalogue that lists "over twelve million items in the British Library's outstanding collections."

• Electronic Books-- From the University of Texas Libraries, a directory of annotated links to books available online, including in languages other than English.

• INFOMINE-- From the University of California, a comprehensive virtual library and reference tool with highly useful scholarly Internet resources, including databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, listservs, online library card catalogs, articles, and directories of researchers, among many other types of information. Built by librarians.

• Internet Public Library-- Answers for questions in many subjects, sponsored by the School of Information at the University of Michigan.

• 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, with its Research Guides and Databases and Portals to the World, "selective links providing authoritative, in-depth information about the nations and other areas of the world." Look through the Country Studies books and the Country Profiles series ("brief, summarized information on a country’s historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security"). Try the Researchers page (particularly "International Collections") 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.