Some sites are better than search engines
USA Today; Arlington, Va.; Oct 15, 2001;

Here are some top categories where authors Chris Sherman and Gary Price say "invisible Web" resources may work better than a general- purpose Net search:

· Art gallery holdings. Countless art museums and galleries are putting catalogs and images online. An excellent way to find these collections is with ADAM, the Art, Design, Architecture & Media Information Gateway (adam.ac.uk). The searchable and browsable catalog lists more than 2,500 links.

· Award winners. For Nobel Peace Prizes, go to Nobel's e-museum at www.nobel.se; for Academy Awards, Oscars.org/awards_db.

· Authoritative dictionaries. In addition to standard references such as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (www.m-w.com), consider OneLook, with specialty dictionaries and glossaries on 743 subjects (www.onelook.com).

· Basic demographic data. The U.S. Census and other sources have a wealth of information about specific communities. A starting point is American FactFinder (factfinder.census.gov).

· Clinical trials. For patients searching for clinical trials to participate in, try ClinicalTrials.gov or CenterWatch's Clinical Trials Listing Service (www.centerwatch.com).

· Customized maps and driving directions. Try Mapblast (Mapblast.com) or Mapquest (Mapquest.com).

· Historical documents and images. One good source is the Library of Congress American Memory Project (memory.loc.gov).

· Phone numbers and addresses. Have a number but no address? Phone databases with "reverse lookup" services include InfoSpace (Infospace.com), Switchboard (Switchboard.com) and AnyWho (Anywho.com).

· Searchable subject bibliographies. Subjects range from architecture to zoology. One good example is the Canadian Music Periodical Index (www.nlc-bnc.ca).

· Weather data. Many sites offer both real-time data and forecasts for U.S. and international cities. One favorite is AccuWeather (Accuweather.com). Another is Automated Weather Source (aws.com/globalwx.html).

Source: The Invisible Web