What libraries are available on the Internet?

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7.24. What libraries are available on the Internet?

You can't even begin to believe how many different libraries are accessible through the Internet. The majority of large Universities have their entire catalog system available online. One great resource is MEYVYL, the University of California online library system (holding over 7 million volumes). A list of online libraries is available through the FTP service.

ariel.unm.edu:/library/internet.library

It's a huge file--more than 8,800 lines of text, so make sure that you have room on your computer disk before you attempt to grab your own copy.

Here's the introduction to this document:

Internet-Accessible Library Catalogs and Databases is coauthored by Dr.
Art St. 
George of the University of New Mexico and Dr. Ron Larsen of the University
of 
Maryland. Dr. St. George says this document, "began as an effort to provide

additional service to the network community locally. However, it became 
apparent that the library resources were of broader appeal than that."

It contains a listing of over 100 online library catalogs and databases 
available within the United States and beyond. It contains listings of U.S.

and international library catalogs and databases, dial-up libraries,
Campus-
Wide Online Information Systems, and bulletin board systems. Each listing

gives a brief description of the resource and instructions on how to access

it, as well as places to contact for more information. Listings include such

material as Columbia University's online library catalog (CLIO),
Pennsylvania 
State University's online card catalog system (PENpages), and the Colorado

Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL) and its 25 individual resource
listings 
of libraries and information databases, such as the Metro Denver Facts 
database. This catalog is an ongoing project. If you have any suggestions,

comments, or additions, please send them to Dr. Art St. George by electronic

mail to stgeorge@unmb.bitnet or stgeorge@bootes.unm.edu.

If you're at all interested in libraries on the network, this is a great place to start. If you just want to try one or two, here are a couple I use.

MELVYL. The University of California Library System; Telnet to melvyl.ucop.edu
CARL. The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries; Telnet to pac.carl.org
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Telnet to library.mit.edu
The National Library of Australia. Telnet to janus.nla.gov.au

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