Internet Search Tools and Starting Points

General Searching Resources

• An introduction to Searching the Internet
• Earnest Ackermann's web site on [Searching and Researching on the Internet and the World Wide Web].
• [Search the Internet and Find Websites] from UC Berkeley Library in California
• [US Library of Congress]
• [Government Resources on the Web] from the University of Michigan
• [FedWorld] - a comprehensive inventory of information disseminated by the US Federal Government
• [Florida Department of Management Services] (State Government Server)
• Interactive Mapping Services: [Google Maps], [MapQuest], and [Windows Live® Local]
• [PCL Map Collection] from the University of Texas Online Library
• [The Virtual Tourist] - a map-based directory of all the WWW servers in the world
• [Refdesk.Com] - one of the best starting points on the Net
• [Wikipedia articles about search tools]
• [W3.ORG] - The WWW Consortium (Official Home of the WWW)

WWW Search Engines

Literally thousands of search engines are available on the Internet, each one unique, with its own limitations and rules of syntax. Remember to read the help pages before performing a search.

Multiple Search Engines (Meta-search Tools)

• [Ask Jeeves] - A natural language meta-search tool
• [Dogpile] - Searches the Web and other Internet Services
• Yahoo!'s [Index of Documents Comparing WWW Search Engines]
• [MetaSearch Search Engine]
• [Multiple Search Access via Search.com]
• [Webcrawler] - full meta-search capabilities are explained by selecting "Help" on their site, and itemized on their "Advanced Search" page.

Directories (Channels, Subject Trees, Topics)

• [Excite Channels]
• The [Google® Directory] from [Google]
• The [Yahoo!® Directory] from [Yahoo!]

Virtual Libraries

Virtual Libraries are directories that contain collections of resources that librarians or other editors have selected and organized in logical ways.

• [Internet Public Library]
• [LII.org] - the Librarians' Internet Index
• [Open Directory Project (a.k.a. DMOZ)]

Social Bookmarking Sites and Intelligent Search Tools

• [Delicious.com] - a tag-based web search tool.
• [StumbleUpon] a relevance-based search tool for finding websites based on your recorded interests.

Online Discussion Tools (Blogs, Newsgroups, RSS Feeds, etc.)

• [Blog Search Engine] uses Google to search the blogosphere.
• [Technorati] - Real-time search for user-generated media (including weblogs) by tag or keyword. Also provides popularity indexes.
• [Blogdigger] - an RSS Search Engine that searches syndicated.
• [Groups.Google.Com] (formerly Dejanews) - searches Web-based Newsgroups (Pull-based Asynchronous Discussion Boards)
• [Topica] - indexes Internet Discussion Lists (Push-based Asynchronous Discussion Boards)

People and Businesses

• IRSC Faculty - An Email Directory of IRSC Faculty
• General E-mail and Telephone Directory Services:
  • AT&T's [AnyWho] with Reverse Search and Toll-free Number Search
  • [Four11]
  • [Switchboard]
• Whois Database Interfaces from [Network Solutions (InterNIC)] or [Whois.Net] - search domain registration databases.

File Catalog Sites - with software ratings and reviews

• [Download.Com] - for buyers and sellers of try-before-you-buy software
• [Simtel.Net] - offering free downloads of freeware and shareware
• [SysInternals.Com] - provide advanced utilities, technical information, and source code related to Linux and Windows
• [TUCOWS] - The Ultimate Collection Of Winsock Software
• [Winfiles.Com] - Previously Windows95.Com