Online Libraries

[truthingtotruth]

Now, this quote comes from the security and legal issues discussion area, but it caught my eye for a few reasons and I hope I am okay doing this style, again.

That's not what librarians in conservative states are saying.

Now, mysiteguy, was responding to a Community Citizen that might be on the right side of a political fence in that nation I think that mysiteguy was referring to, so having both left and right views in the same post seemed pretty cool, when this library business is discussed. I think all libraries follow some form of censorship, as I doubt that pornographic magazines, if they still exist - - - I don't think most libraries allow that sort of stuff on the shelves, yes? So that is censorship.

But I do remember reading in maybe an AP article that some state in the U.S. was actually trying to make some sort of law about not using the word "gay" or some such idea. I never did get back to studying what the heck that was all about, but confess it surprised me. "Surprised" as in not understanding what's up with that. As I wrote someplace else around here, I could give a hoot about right or left, but only about what makes sense at any given time or situation.

BUT this thread is about asking about online libraries. I know there is that Google book thing and it seems if you have the time to use their site you can read a whole mess of books in what might be viewed/considered a library, yes?

I also think that the U.S. government has some sort of online library, because I have once in a bit during some research hit a paper I felt I should study and it seemed to be archived in/on a government site.

I also belong to some sort of research group that I joined a long time ago and requested certain research papers sent to that email account, - - - I just remembered SAGE. Is that considered a true library? An online library?

I think I am sort of wondering who knows where a proper list of online libraries can be found, other than using a search tool to give me pages and pages of similar results that loosely fit into the search term 'online library'. Lately search tools seem to widen a search term to include stuff that is close, maybe, but not really on the bull's eye. Or even the area around the bull's eye.

So who might know where a really good list of online libraries can be found? Or maybe there are so many it is an impossible list to compile? Or a list of the top twenty/thirty/or so?

I'm sort of reaching out to see if any of you have experience in this field you can pass along to us. Thank you.

Oh, and one more important question: Do these online libraries also tend toward left or right political leanings?

I'd like to be asking about all libraries in all nations and all languages, but I know that gets really difficult and also that in some nations their online library is watched and seriously censored to a point that trust in research results from that nation's particular online library is like - - - well, simply no trust. Maybe it is safer here not to even mention those nations as I have weird ideas that there are a very few nations that will interfere with a Community if they start to see too much negative stuff being posted about that given nation. And I apologize up front to the owners here, but some hacking teams are so sophisticated that the idea of total security is just not possible if all Online Citizens are allowed access to your Community. So maybe we best sort of keep cool about certain nations, for now. You know, just to be safe. Sort of self-censorship.

 

[Web Diva]

If you were a student in the United States and had to do a research paper, your local library would have access to scholarly peer reviewed sources. If you were a college student, you would have access to the colleges library for those resoruces. Outside of those resources, there are online websites where you have the option to pay for the documents you need. If you do find a library with the information you need and it's not in the language you want, there's an extension you can download that will translate every text on any page you are reading. I use: Google Translate I often have to translate different languages and it's pretty quick, if I need to use it.

On ideology/world view/media slants of news; As Elon Musk has said recently, propaganda is found in every country and news media. I take in my news from many sources to look at all sides and perspectives.

 

[truthingtotruth]

Somebody who wishes to remain anonymous sent me the following link to a paper that is itself quite interesting and contains within a number of very interesting links to other papers and some of you, with the time and interest might wish to look this over:

Frontiers | Participating in Online Museum Communities: An Empirical Study of Taiwan’s Undergraduate Students

With the worldwide spread of the Internet, human activity has become permeated by digital media, which shapes communication and interaction and speeds up the...

www.frontiersin.org

 

[Web Diva]

This is very cool!! Thank you for sharing, TTT. I glanced at it and I look forward to reading it. Among my interests is also history and the humanities and the overall dynamics of shared cultures.

 

[Nev_Dull]

I think you need to more specific about what you're looking for. There are all sorts of libraries serving all sorts of users. Most public lending libraries have websites you should be able to find. Here in Canada we also have national archive libraries online, an audio/video archive library, and more.

Most universities have library materials the public can access online. Companies tend to have corporate libraries for employee reference, sometimes accessible through the company intranet. There are also plenty of online libraries, started by individuals or groups out of interests, be they games libraries, music libraries, movies, etc.

 

[truthingtotruth]

Thank you for your thoughts, Nev_Dull. Same to you other folks. Thank you.

But, Nev_Dull, I am actually asking about lists. I had that buried in the OP at some point. Problem I have is I try to explain things too much, like what led me to ask a certain question.

One thing I have noticed over the years is that lists are partial. I sense that folks are relying too much on search results to find what they want. That's all well-and-good for many situations, but what's wrong with comprehensive lists? How to categorize a given list might require some thought and debate, but a good example is if any of you have actually tried to find a list of forums. There ain't a good one out there, folks.

But back to this topic:

Take a look at these results from Wikipedia, please.

Digital library - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

digital library list - Search results - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

List of digital library projects - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As weird as it may seem, I suspect that third link is far from complete. Why is that? A complete list would be too long? A complete list would be impossible? A complete list would be useless?

So I was just sending out feelers to y'all to see if maybe somebody had actually run across some sort of really long list of online/digital libraries? If that sort of list doesn't exist, fine. It ain't there. After that is established, then maybe some thought could be given to whether such a list is even a good idea. This thread is really just simply asking if anyone had happened upon such a list. Nothing fancy in the question. Just a list.

And, yes, I have also given thought to a list of lists.

I'm sort of getting sick and tired of these Big Tech folks steering me where they want me to go when I go looking for information. Plain old-fashioned style lists might be kind of nice. And I write "old-fashioned" because that idea does sort of seem to be out of fashion these days.

I suppose one reason is folks would assert some of these lists would be too long. Maybe they are right. I don't know. But no harm in asking, is there?

 

[Nev_Dull]

Ah, so you're actually talking about directories or indices for various topics. I agree some of those could be helpful. That takes me back to the "good old days" of the internet, before the web. Gopher space was alive with all manner of directories and indices, mostly created and maintained by educational institutes and some companies. Sadly, they did not survive the transition to the web. Of course early search engines were also true directories of websites. But again, that all changed with the realization of how valuable search data could be and the opportunity to sell placement in the search results.

 

[Pete]

Before the search engines were good, we had directories. Dmoz was the big one of course but there were others.

And, (you know I'm going there!), the roleplay space still lives in that era; they have directories for their sites because their findability otherwise is so awful (but that's not a fault of the format). In fact they have not only directories, but site affiliates, site to site marketing boards (where you guest post in each others' sites) and even advertising Tumblrs exist just for promotion of sites in the space because search engines can't meaningfully locate the content.

It's funny how some spaces never move on from what 'was'/'did' to what everyone else 'has' or 'does'.