Electronic Resources
STLS provides access to several subscription products for our member library cardholders, accessible 24 hours/day with a valid library barcode.
We are pleased to recommend the following web-based resources, however STLS is not responsible for the content of linked sites.
Resources For & About
Libraries/Librarians
Would you like to recommend a site? Let us know!
Directories of Library Resources
Free Stuff: Bookmarks, certificates, posters and templates from the Gale Group.
Overdue: A daily comic strip about a library.
Fundraising Training Kit from the Southern Ontario Library System
Fundraisers - Past and Present - Winston Sahlem State University
STARCat: The Southern Tier Automated Regional Catalog. Public library collections in Allegany, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben and Yates (NY) counties.
Penn Yan Public Library: The combined catalog of the Penn Yan Public Library and Keuka College's Lightner Library.
Library of Congress: Mother of all (U.S.) libraries.
WorldCat, from OCLC: The world's foremost bibliographic database with over 46 million records of electronic and traditional materials in library collections around the world. Subscription resource, log-in with your library card.
New Century Libraries Regents Legislative & Budget Initiative
New York Library Association: Legislation for Libraries in New York State
New York State Library: Library Laws, Funding and Regulations
AllReaders.com: This site's search engine sorts and displays fiction by requested plot, character types, structure, prevailing themes, and other attributes. The grist for this reader's advisory mill is provided by volunteer reviewers. While the breadth of popular fiction published in the past quarter century is impressive, the terminology used to conduct the search is more familiar to librarians and editors than to general readers.
BookBrowser: The Guide for Avid Readers: Excellent readers advisory site. Includes Reading Lists; Series and Sequels, in story order; The Best of... (award winners); If You Like... Try...; and fiction arranged by Place and Time. Also, close to thousands of book Reviews, and Readers' Resources includes General Fiction and Genre Fiction sites, Listservs for Readers, Authors' Pseudonyms, and Review Sources. Contributed to by lots of librarians led by Janet Lawson.
Which Book: Try the UK's Chief Librarian's Council's database developed by public library staff. Search for books by mood, including happy/sad, safe/frightening, gentle/violent, funny/serious, optomistic/bleak; as well as areas such as conventional/weird, easy/demanding, romantic/realist, sex/no sex; and types of characters, plots, and settings. Each book has a reader comment, sometimes an extract, and the option to search for similar titles.
Overbooked: A good site for readers advisory in libraries and for readers themselves. This site includes recommended booklists in genre fiction, a discussion area, "hot lists" of forthcoming hardcover fiction releases, and lists of books that received at least one "starred review" in a major journal.
The Webrary: Web Sites for Book Lovers: An annotated directory of online bestseller lists, booklists, book awards sites, book discussion resources, genre fiction sites, and much more. There are also links to other libraries' reader's advisory pages. From the Morton Grove (IL) Public Library.
STLS has compiled a variety of web-based training and learning resources in categories including library skills, computer skills, and Microsoft products. Enjoy!
Web Directories Designed By/For Librarians
Digital Librarian: A Librarian's Choice of the Best of the Web: An excellent directory of online resources, organized by topic, and maintained by a librarian. Although most of the many links are only briefly annotated, the "see" and "see also" references assist searchers.
Internet Public Library: A general Web portal that includes an excellent Reference Center, a great section of pathfinders to research on specific topics, and a place to ask a reference question via e-mail.
Librarian's Index to the Internet: "Information You Can Trust." A searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 10,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries.
Steele Memorial Library: Reference staff compile a recommended links page as well as a monthly "Best of the Web" feature.
Would you like to recommend a site? Let us know!
updated 03/12/2008