Copyright © 1996 by The University of Missouri-St. Louis

Teaching on the Internet:
Internet Resources

Concentric Circles of Information

The First Circle ...

MERLIN
telnet to merlin.missouri.edu (login: library)

The Missouri Education and Research Libraries Information Network is the gateway to an array of local resources. The online catalog is availa ble to everyone. Faculty, staff, and students using the University of Missouri networks can access a number of licensed databases, including some of which have the full text of articles. Using the Internet to access resources purchased and maintained by t he University Libraries is an overlooked resource.

The Second Circle ...

Home Grown UM-St. Louis Resources

The Libraries have been acquiring, organizing, and maintaining Internet resources since 1993. Oft overlooked, but still available, is a solid core of full-text items on the UM-St. Louis "The Library" gopher (URL gopher://gopher.umsl.edu:70/11/library/). The major part of the online collection is the Government Information section. A more sophisticated World Wide Web site for UM-St . Louis acquired federal information is being developed (URL http://www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/) and would ideally be driven by faculty input. This second circle can include ALL resources developed an d maintained locally.

As an example of what individuals can do to contribute to UM-St. Louis' "virtual" holdings, see Reference Librarian Anne Taylor's African Missouri site on the World Wide Web (URL http://www.umsl.edu/services/library/blackstudies/afmoindx.htm).

Expanding Outward ... The Third Circle

Other Libraries' Catalogs

• Hytelnet
  http://galaxy.einet.net/hytelnet/HYTELNET.html
  
• Innovative Interfaces' Web Catalogs (URL http://www.iii.com/screens/opacintro.html#users)

A lot of human knowledge is still found in books which are in libraries. With access to online catalogs via the Internet, the barrier of geography has fallen.

Some of the most useful catalogs:

• Library of Congress (telnet to locis.loc.gov)
• Harvard University (telnet to hollis.harvard.edu)
• University of California (telnet to melvyl.ucop.edu)
• OhioLink's Web-based Catalog (URL http://olc1.ohiolink.edu/screens/opacmenu.html)

The Outer Limits ... Circling the Internet

Search Engines

Search engines give the illusion that human beings aren't needed to retrieve information from the Internet. Try out the Search Engines document which accumulates information about each tool. Don't discard th e utility of "print based search engines" either!

To infinity and beyond! -Buzz Lightyear

Meta-Search Pages

Tired of nibbling at pieces of the Internet? Use these tools which accumulate a number of different search engines in single documents (kind of like the one I created above). Once you're ready, use the hydrogen bomb of search tools:

SAVVYSEARCH!!!