The Summer Olympic Games in begin on August 8, 2008. Thousands of competitors from hundreds of countries will gather in Beijing, China to compete in 28 sports from archery to wrestling. The Paralympic Games will take place in Beijing from September 6-17, showcasing athletes who compete despite physical challenges.

• IOC — The official site of the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic movement, with summaries of all events, profiles of athletes past and present, a tour of the Olympic Museum and multi-media gallery.
• USOC — The official site of the United States Olympic Committee, with bios of every member of the U.S. Olympic team, news updates, schedules and results.
• IPC — The official site of the International Paralympic Committee, with listings of sports, records and rankings, schedules, multi-media and more.
• USA Paralympic Team — Read about the inspiring athletes representing the United States in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.
• Sports Illustrated/CNN — News about and coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games from Sports Illustrated and CNN.
• The Olympics through time — Explore the history of the Olympics from ancient times to the creation of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.
• Kids’ Turn Central — Links to resources about the Olympics for kids.
• Olympics activities — Crafts and activities related to the Olympics.
• Kids Stuff Olympics page — More fun educational activities with an Olympic theme.

Let the Games Begin

The Summer Olympic Games in begin on August 8, 2008. Thousands of competitors from hundreds of countries will gather in Beijing, China to compete in 28 sports from archery to wrestling. The Paralympic Games will take place in Beijing from September 6-17, showcasing athletes who compete despite physical challenges.

Olympics Governing Bodies

• IOC — The official site of the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic movement, with summaries of all events, profiles of athletes past and present, a tour of the Olympic Museum and multi-media gallery.
• USOC — The official site of the United States Olympic Committee, with bios of every member of the U.S. Olympic team, news updates, schedules and results.
• IPC — The official site of the International Paralympic Committee, with listings of sports, records and rankings, schedules, multi-media and more.

History of the Olympic Games

• The Ancient Olympics — A special exhibit of the Perseus Digital Library Project (Tufts University)
• Real story of the Ancient Olympic Games a project of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
• The Olympics through time — Explore the history of the Olympics from ancient times to the creation of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.

News, Statistics, and More about the Games

• NBColympics.com — Features news, athlete profiles, images, descriptions of each sport, and schedules of television coverage for the upcoming Beijing Olympics.
• Sports Reference.com — A comprehensive source for statistics from all modern Olympic Games.
• Olympic Games museum — Virtual Museum of Olympic Summer Games includes collector pieces, memorabilia, rare items and important facts and Information. This is an unofficial site about the Olympics.
• World Anti-doping Agency — Find out more about the World Anti-doping Agency’s efforts to ensure that athletes “play true.”

• The History Net–The National Historical Society’s site includes a large collection of magazine articles on different historical subjects.
• The History Channel — The History Channel has an organized collection of features on various aspects of history.
• PBS History — A large collection of words, images, lesson plans and other resources from the Public Broadcasting Service
• BBC History — A large collection of words, images, lesson plans and other resources from the British Broadcasting Company
• Voice of the Shuttle: History Page — An excellent, well-organized collection of history resources
• Eyewitness to History : History Through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It — From the ancient world to recents events, this site is a huge, organized collection of first-hand accounts of historic events

Organizations

• Massachusetts Historical Society — ” For more than two centuries the MHS has been collecting and preserving materials relating to the history of our commonwealth and our nation. The holdings of the MHS encompass millions of rare and unique documents and artifacts vital to the study of American history.”
• American Association for State and Local History — “The American Association for State and Local History provides leadership service, and support for its members, who preserve and interpret state and local history in order to make the past more meaningful in American Society.”

For Teachers and Students

• National Archives : Educators and Students — Lesson plans, worksheets and other resources for using primary sources in education
• National History Education Clearinghouse — This site calls itself “the central online location for accessing high-quality resources in K-12 U.S. history education.”
• The Learning Page…Especially for Teachers — Resources from the American Memory collections at the Library of Congress
• History Matters — “This award-winning site offers a range of resources, including 1000 primary documents in text, image, and audio; an annotated guide to 850 of the best U.S. History websites; guides to using various kinds of online primary sources, such as oral history and maps; and moderated discussions about teaching.”
• OAH History Teacher Resource Center — This site from the Organization of American Historians includes links to and information about publications, resources, and activities for teachers of history.

Ancient History

• Exploring Ancient World Cultures — This site is an excellent starting point for the study of ancient history on the World Wide Web, and includes essays, quizzes, graphics and links to many other sites.
• Perseus Project — Project Perseus, an “evolving digital library on Ancient Greece and Rome,” is a project of the Tufts University Classics Department.
• Worlds Intertwined: Etruscans, Greeks and Roman — From University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

World History

• Portrait Gallery — A large collection of pictures of historic figures from the Perry-Castañeda Library of the University of Texas at Austin. All pictures are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission.
• Historical Maps — Historical maps from the Perry-Castañeda Library of the University of Texas at Austin. All are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced without permission.
• North American Explorers — Covering Ericson, Hudson, Cabot, Columbus, de Leon, Smith, Lewis & Clark and Sacagewea; from EBSCO’s “History…It’s Happening”.
• Cybrary of the Holocaust — An outstanding collection of Holocaust resources.

History of the United States

• National History Day — Information on the annual history competition
• Digital History — This site includes an online textbook, primary sources on slavery, Mexican American, Asian American, and Native American history, and U.S. political, social, and legal history, multimedia exhibitions, classroom handouts, a visual archive with hundreds of historical maps and images and much more. Digital History was designed and developed to support the teaching of American History and is supported by the Department of History and the College of Education at the University of Houston.
• The History Place — A collection of articles and exhibits about the history of the United States
• History Matters — History Matters is designed for high school and college teachers of U.S. History courses, and serves as a gateway to Web resources and useful materials for teaching U.S. history
• The Avalon Project — Yale Law School maintains a large collection of fulltext historical documents related to American history, law and diplomacy
• The Making of America — “Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology.”
• American Memory — The Library of Congress preserves and presents significant sounds, images and words from America’s past.
• Born in Slavery — Slave narratives from the Federal Writers Project
• The Historical Text Archive: USA Page — The University of Mississippi offers this large and well-organized collection of American historical texts, from treaties to soldiers’ letters.
• A Chronology of U.S. Historical Documents — Primary source documents arranged by year, from the University of Oklahoma College of Law
• National Archives and Records Administration — A huge collection of primary source material and valuable records from the United States government, including photographs, historic documents, patent information, military records, wartime propaganda posters, and much more

Colonial Period

• Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive and Transcription Project — “This site was created by the Danvers Archival Center, the local history, rare book and manuscript department of the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers, Massachusetts, with the support of the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia. Its purpose is to introduce a major area of Danvers’ collections relating to the infamous Salem Village Witchcraft Trials of 1692. This Website is designed to provide accurate general information about these witchcraft events, as well as information on other aspects of Danvers’ history.”
• 17th Century New England — A collection of information and primary sources, with a special emphasis on the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692.
• The Plymouth Colony Archive Project at the University of Virginia — “This Plymouth Colony Archive presents a collection of fully searchable texts, including: court records, colony laws, seventeenth century journals and memoirs, probate inventories, wills, town plans, maps, and fort plans; research and seminar analyses of numerous topics; biographical profiles of selected colonists; and architectural, archaeological and material culture studies.”
• Archiving Early America — Historical documents, portrait gallery, forums and other resources from 18th century America

Westward Expansion

• Lewis and Clark Bicentennial — Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with a timeline, educational resources and details of their discoveries in the American West, 1804 through 1806.

The Civil War

• Valley of the Shadow — “The Valley of the Shadow is an electronic archive of two communities in the American Civil War–Augusta
  County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennyslvania. The Valley Web site includes searchable newspapers, population census data, agricultural census data, manufacturing census data, slaveowner census data, and tax records. The Valley Web site also contains letters and diaries, images, maps, church records, and military rosters. The Valley project is a University of Virginia research project funded in part by the National Endowment of the Humanities.”
• American Civil War Collections — “The Electronic Text Center is home to a variety of primary source material on the American Civil War, including letters, diaries and newspapers. Letter collections include searchable transcriptions as well as digital images of the manuscripts.”
• Civil War Maps — This large collection is part of the American Memory project of the Library of Congress

Twentieth Century by Decade

• Celebrate the Century — See images from the postage stamps issued to commemorate special events of each decade of the Twentieth Century
• New Deal Network– The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute developed this research and teaching resource devoted to the public works and arts projects of the New Deal.
• Fifties Web — This is a colorful, personal project celebrating the music, entertainment and history of the 1950’s.
• The Sixties Project — This site includes bibliographies, personal narratives and other features on this turbulent decade.

World War I

• Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures — This collection from the American Memory Collection of the Library of Congess includes an illustrated history of World War I selected from newspaper rotogravure sections that graphically documents the people, places, and events important to the war.
• The World War I Document Archive — “This archive of primary documents from World War I has been assembled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L).

World War II

• Voices of World War II : Experiences from the Front and at Home — A multimeda presentation from the Miller Nichols Libraries, University of Missouri Kanasa City, in partnership with the Truman Presidential Museum and Library
• The Perilous Fight: America’s World War II in Color — This is the companion to a PBS series that “brings America’s wartime experience, on the battlefield and at home, vividly and intimately to life by combining original color film footage with compelling passages from diaries and letters written by people who were part of an unforgettable period of history.”

The Presidents of the United States

• POTUS: Presidents of the United States — A collection of information about the American Presidents from the Internet Public Library
• By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies — This site is part of the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress, and includes digital images of portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies.
• America Votes — Presidential campaign memorabilia from the Duke University Special Collections Library
• The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden< — Information, exhibits and activities from the Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution

History of Great Britain

• British History — A collection of articles and information on British history, including many primary sources and biographies of the Monarchs

History of Costume

• The Costumer’s Manifesto — A large collection of costume history information and links from Tara Maginnis, PhD, of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks
• The Costume Gallery — A gateway to many different types of costume information
• The History of Costume — Illustrations from the noted Braun and Schneider book, originally published between 1861 and 1880, as a survey of historic costume from around the world.

On the History Page:

• National Archives : Educators and Students — Lesson plans, worksheets and other resources for using primary sources in education
• National History Education Clearinghouse — This site calls itself “the central online location for accessing high-quality resources in K-12 U.S. history education.”
• The Learning Page…Especially for Teachers — Resources from the American Memory collections at the Library of Congress
• History Matters — “This award-winning site offers a range of resources, including 1000 primary documents in text, image, and audio; an annotated guide to 850 of the best U.S. History websites; guides to using various kinds of online primary sources, such as oral history and maps; and moderated discussions about teaching.”
• OAH History Teacher Resource Center — This site from the Organization of American Historians includes links to and information about publications, resources, and activities for teachers of history.

On the Massachusetts page:

• Mass. Facts: Boston.com’s guide to public records, databases, and useful information — A handy, concise list of links to sites for many local statistics and services, including background checks, real estate information, politics and comparative facts about local communities

On the Jazz Appreciation Month page :

• Jazz Appreciation Month — Information and ideas for celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month from the Smithsonian Institution
• Jazz Appreciation Month — Resources for students and teachers from the National Association for Music Education
• Jazz — You can choose your own instruments and hear how they sound, explore a timeline, learn more about famous jazz musicians, and find lots of other fun and educational features at this site from PBS Kids Go!
• Jazz.com — Read the articles, enjoy the photographs, and check out the Jazz Encyclopedia

Jazz : Born in America. Enjoyed Worldwide.
April is Jazz Appreciation Month

• Jazz Appreciation Month — Information and ideas for celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month from the Smithsonian Institution
• Jazz Appreciation Month — Resources for students and teachers from the National Association for Music Education
• Jazz — You can choose your own instruments and hear how they sound, explore a timeline, learn more about famous jazz musicians, and find lots of other fun and educational features at this site from PBS Kids Go!
• Jazz.com — Read the articles, enjoy the photographs, and check out the Jazz Encyclopedia

A St. Patrick’s Day booklist for kids — Click on the title to check the library catalog

• Balian, Lorna
  Leprechauns never lie
  Gram is ailing and Ninny Nanny, too lazy to care for their simple needs, says she’ll catch a leprechaun to discover his hidden gold. Gram thinks it won’t work–but does it?
• Dadey, Debbie
  Leprechauns don’t play basketball
  There’s a mystery going on between the new basketball coach and the third-grade teacher, Mrs. Jeepers.
• Dadey, Debbie
  Leprechauns don’t play fetch
  There are some pretty weird grown-ups living in Bailey City, but could the owner of Clover Patch Pet Store really be a leprechaun?
• Dillon, Jana
  Lucky O’Leprechaun
  On St. Patrick’s Day eve, Meghan and Sean get help from their three grandaunties and manage to capture a sly leprechaun.
• Dillon, Jana
  Lucky O’Leprechaun comes to America
  When Great-uncle Patrick tries to give his grandnieces a treasure to take with them to America, he accidentally lures a leprechaun into their suitcases– with very lucky results.
• Edwards, Pamela Duncan
  The leprechaun’s gold
  A leprechaun intervenes with gold and magic when a greedy, boastful young harpist gains an unfair advantage for a royal harping contest.
• Heneghan, James
  Flood
  After his mother and stepfather die in a Vancouver mudslide, eleven-year- old Andy Flynn, having been saved by leprechauns, is taken by his stern aunt to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he meets the charming father he thought was dead, and where he must decide what place to call home.
• Kennedy, Richard
  The leprechaun’s story
  A tradesman meets a leprechaun and is determined that he won’t be tricked out of a pot of gold.
• King-Smith, Dick
  Paddy’s pot of gold
  Brigid enjoys making friends with Paddy the leprechaun and wonders if he has a pot of gold.
• Korman, Justine
  The luckiest leprechaun
  When a leprechaun reluctantly lets a dog befriend him, he finds out what it’s like to care about someone.
• McMullan, Kate
  Fluffy’s lucky day
  On the day of the school’s Saint Patrick’s Day party, Fluffy the classroom guinea pig learns about and meets a leprechaun.
• Martin, Ann M.
  Karen’s leprechaun
  With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, Karen copes with leprechauns, Irish lore, the St. Patrick’s Day parade, pots of gold, rainbows, and an adorable stray dog named Lucky.
• Paulsen, Brendan Patrick
  The luck of the Irish
  A young Irish boy fights to save the Leprechauns’ forest home from destruction on St. Patrick’s Day.
• Pike, Christopher
  The little people
  Adam and his friends welcome a herd of leprechauns when they come to Spooksville but soon the little people’s pranks turn from childish to cruel and Adam and his friends are fighting for their lives.
• Robertson, Ivan
  Jack and the leprechaun
  Jack the mouse goes to visit his cousin in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, and spends the day trying to catch a leprechaun.
• Shub, Elizabeth
  Seeing is believing
  Two stories about Tom and the piskies, “The Leprechaun’s Trick” and “Pisky Mischief.”
• Shute, Linda
  Clever Tom and the leprechaun : an old Irish story
  Clever Tom Fitzpatrick thinks his fortune is made when he captures a leprechaun and forces him to reveal the hiding place of his gold, but the leprechaun is clever too.
• Tucker, Kathy
  The leprechaun in the basement
  After encountering a leprechaun, Michael McKeever asks him to help with his family’s money problems, but unable to part with his gold, the wee man finds another way to help.
• Wojciechowski, Susan
  A fine St. Patrick’s day
  Two towns, Tralee and Tralah, compete in an annual St. Patrick’s Day decorating contest which Tralah boastfully always wins, but when their hearts are put to the test by a little man with pointed ears, Tralee wins with no effort at all.

• Make Noise, Make Merry : the Story and Meaning of Purim
  Miriam Chaikin ; illustrated by Demi
  Retells the biblical story of the rescue of the Persian Jews from Haman’s plot to destroy them. Explains the Purim symbols and tells how the feast is celebrated.
• Here Come the Purim Players!
  Words by Barbara Cohen ; pictures by Beverly Brodsky
  All the Jews in the Prague ghetto watch a troupe of local players reenact the story of Queen Esther.
• Purim
  By Molly Cone; illustrated by Helen Borten
  The story and customs of the moist festive of Jewish holidays, which celebrates how Queen Esther saved her people from the wicked Haman.
• Queen Esther Saves Her People
  By Rita Golden Gelman ; with illustrations by Frane Lessac
  Retells the story of how a beautiful Jewish girl became the Queen of Persia and saved her people from death at the hands of the evil Hamen.
• Cakes and Miracles : a Purim Tale
  By Barbara Diamond Goldin ; illustrated by Erika Weihs
  Young, blind Hershel finds that he has special gifts he can use to help his mother during the Jewish holiday of Purim. Features a recipe for hamantashen.
• The Uninvited Guest and Other Jewish Holiday Tales
  By Nina Jaffe ; illustrated by Elivia
  Includes background information and retellings of traditional tales from Jewish folklore and legend related to major holidays, such as Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukkah, and Purim.
• Poems for Jewish Holidays
  Written by Myra Cohn Livingston ; illustrated by Lloyd Bloom
  A collection of sixteen poems, by twelve contemporary authors, celebrating Jewish holidays such as Yom Kippur and Purim.
• Purim Play
  By Roni Schotter ; illustrated by Marylin Hafner
  Frannie is upset because an elderly neighbor is going to play the part of Haman in this year’s Purim play, but Mrs. Teplitzky surprises everyone with her acting ability. Includes facts about Purim and a recipe for hamantaschen, a traditional Purim pastry.
• Raisel’s Riddle
  Story by Erica Silverman ; pictures by Susan Gaber
  A Jewish version of the Cinderella story, in which a poor but educated young women captivates her “Prince Charming” a rabbi’s son, at a Purim ball.
• The Purim Goat
  By Yuri Suhl ; illustrated by Kaethe Zemach
  Hoping to earn some money so his pet goat won’t be sold to pay a debt, a poor Jewish boy teaches the animal to dance.
• Goldie’s Purim
  Story and pictures by Jane Breskin Zalben
  Although Goldie is scared at first, she overcomes her stage fright to play Queen Esther in the synagogue’s celebration of Purim.

Search Engines

• Google — The most popular search engine on the Web
• Yahoo — The popular search and portal site, with guides to News, Sports, Weather, Finance and more
• Ask — Another popular search engine
• SearchMe — This new search engine has a visual interface that makes it easy to quickly flip through stacks of screenshots, images or videos.
• Cuil — Pronounced “Cool,” the site is named for the Irish Gaelic word for “knowledge,” and it claims to index more pages than any other search engine.
• GoodSearch — This search engine, powered by Yahoo, donates half of its advertising revenue to the charities, libraries and schools designated by the user.

Specialized Search Engines

• Truveo: Search Video across the Web — Truveo can help you find videos from many different news and information sites

Selective Directories

• LII.Org: Librarians’ Index to the Internet — A large, browsable, searchable directory of websites selected and maintained by librarians for the general public.
• InfoMine — A large directory of websites selected and maintained by librarians for the academic community.

MetaSearch Sites

The following sites search multiple search engines at the same time:

More on Search Engines

• Search Engine Watch — Learn more about search engines and how to use them
• Search Engine Showdown — Greg R. Notess created and maintains this users’ guide to Web searching, which compares and evaluates Internet search engines from the searcher’s perspective.