Web Subject Guides / Web Directories

These are directories of selected Web sites. For the most part, real-live people have chosen the links on these pages; they are not the machine-generated lists that you get from search engines. Search these sites when you are looking for a broad topic.

Many of these sites provide updates by e-mail or RSS.

This page:
Library-Style Subject Guides | Academic Subject Guides | Popular Subject Guides | Web for Kids

Library-Style Subject Guides

Web guides compiled by or for librarians or using library classification schemes. For how-to advice, see Cataloging the Internet.

• IPL2 - "Information you can trust" Note: No longer updated. (Internet Public Library)
• Subject Collections
• Pathfinders - Guides to specific subjects
• Michigan Electronic Library (MEL)

• New York Public Library: Best of the Web
• Sage - Resources selected by librarians at UC San Diego. Some resources are restricted to UCSD.
• The Virtual Chase - "Teaching legal professionals how to do research." This site by a law librarian covers more than just legal research, including using search engines, researching companies, finding people, and finding factual information in many areas. Frequently updated.
• Virtual Reference Library - General collection of links with an emphasis on Ontario and Canada (Toronto Public Library)

Dewey Decimal Classification:

• By Dewey: A Research Guide for Students - Includes research advice as well as a virtual library ordered by Dewey number
• Cyberdewey
• Suite 101 - Like About.com, has editors for different subject pages
• Webrary by Morton Grove Public Library

Library of Congress Classification:

• CyberStacks (Gerry McKiernan, Iowa State)

Academic Subject Guides

• Encyclopædia Britannica's Internet Guide
• Telson Spur - An unusual arrangement of subjects
• WWW Virtual Library

Popular Subject Guides

• December.com: Works
• Finding Dulcinea - No longer updated
• LookSmart
• StartSpot - A collection of directories, such as BookSpot, GenealogySpot, GovSpot, PeopleSpot, and ShoppingSpot
• Zenome

Web for Kids

• KidsClick - Sites chosen by librarians
• 4Kids.org
• Ask for Kids
• Blue Web'n - Web sites recommended for teachers and school librarians
• Great Web Sites for Kids (American Library Association)
• Internet Public Library (IPL2) (No longer updated):
• KidSpace
• TeenSpace
• Mrs. Gray's Research Sites for Kids - A Google custom search engine that searches the major kids' sites
• Quintura for Kids - Search engine for kids
• ThinkQuest Library - A collection of 5,000 sites built by kids for kids as part of ThinkQuest's Internet Challenge