Fellow librarians, I'm moving and perhaps this webpage could be YOURS! If you'd like to maintain these hotlists, please email me.
Here's so much library stuff even a librarian will choke on it...in fact, I did! I've broken it down into several pages...click on your choice above. Or...are you looking for my new page on Reader's Advisory? Do you want to find a library on the Internet outside Southern California? Are you confused by classification schemes or book preservation in libraries? Or are you trying to find a good library school, a library organization, or other resources, like newsgroups? And if you're really surfing, visit some friends who've linked to this page: Cal State Long Beach, the California Pioneer Project, and for some reason, Steve Stengel and Charles Hobbs.
What exactly is Southern California? By my definition, for the purpose of these pages, Southern California is everything north from the Mexican border up to the northern county lines of Santa Barbara, Kern, and San Bernardino Counties. (In other words, every county south of the Baseline except San Luis Obispo.) Another very useful site with a narrower focus bears the moniker of @LA Libraries.
The public and special library pages are divided (sort of) by ALD designations...these are the library types classified in the American Library Directory. The academic libraries, however, are just as in real life: One big mess!
The complete skivvy on libraries is at your fingertips when you click for the Libraries FAQ. Don't you wonder how many comic strips are populated by librarians? Find out there. My favorite virtual library is the Internet Public Library, courtesy of the University of Michigan.
If you're seeking that ultimate reference site, I can direct you with some temerity to the Internet Library for Librarians, or perhaps the LibrarySpot, two very adequate hotlists of databases and other library-related information. The pure and uncut library goods occasionally surface at Librarian Links in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, but I prefer the homegrown at the Librarian's Index to the Internet. Ms. Jessamyn offers bits of arcane news and insights into the library biz at the librarian.net. And if you're just looking for a book, try Powell's!
If you have telnet capability, you can access many of the world's libraries through the Hytelnet. If you're interested in other libraries with World Web Servers, the digital library at UC Berkeley has created a hotlist. Click!
Only a cataloguer could love this...but maybe you're in a jam. "What the hell is the Dewey Decimal Classification for the psychology of dogs?" you wonder. Wonder no more, library fan. Click your way to DDC (or LCSH, whatever) heaven. If you want general information on cataloguing, check out the Cataloguer's Toolbox up in Canada.
Do you need to see a list of the Dewey Decimal Classification? The Appleton Public Library in Wisconsin has something to show you. For a list by number instead of subject, the infamous OCLC has prepared a DDC summary. And how about that Library of Congress Classification?
Sometimes a librarian needs to get rid of a library...or buy one! Or maybe you need to buy some used shelving at an excellent price? I am a happy customer of James Stitzinger in Los Angeles, who can provide all of these aforementioned services.
Finally, a huge database (actually several) is available through Stanford U. on the subject of library preservation (we mean books, not budgets!) Take a short surf to Conservation Online...better known as COOL!
...for those of you who dare to achieve...become a librarian! For the ultimate hotlist of library schools around the world, see the work of Professor Tom Wilson.
And, of course, once you get out of school, you get to join one or more of those organizations that make life in the stacks worth living. The library school at San Jose State put together a comprehensive hotlist. So put on the party hats, whip out the dues money, and fly to Chicago in winter, yes, it's time to start giving back to the Community. Any committee nominations?
And don't forget our friends, the customers, clients, users, patrons, or whatever you choose to call them, the Friends of California Libraries.
