untangling_the_web

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webpages with links to other metasites. For example, the University of Texas's
Russia and Eastern Europe Network Information Center (REENIC) has compiled an
impressive set of links for this part of the world and makes a good starting place, as
do Bucknell University's Russian Studies Department, Columbia University's Middle
East and Jewish Studies.
Russia and Eastern Europe Network Information Center (REENIC)
http://reenic.utexas.edu/
Bucknell University's Russian Studies http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/
Middle East and Jewish Studies
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/mideasticuvlm/
Occasionally for-profit enterprises will provide excellent free resources, such as
Aardvark: Asian Resources for Librarians. Aardvark has two sections: Literature and
Recommended resources -and sites. I especially like the Asian Databases section,
which currently lists over 650 databases. Thompson Gale published an excellent
overview of Aardvark by Professor Peter Jacs6. 140
Aardvark: Asian Resources for Librarians
http://www.aardvarknet.info/user/aardvarkwelcome/
Also, do not overlook non-profit organizations as a resource. Friends and Partners
is probably the most famous non-profit organization on the Internet devoted to
improving Russian-American relations and, as a result has become a tremendous
source of information about Russia-everything from current news to
telecommunications to downloading Cyrillic character sets.
Friends and Partners
http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/
Try to find webpages that claim to index "all" the sites in a country. Even though
that claim is undoubtedly exaggerated, these sites are still good starting places.
Another type of excellent country resource is a commercially operated country
website that attempts to create an overarching subject directory of a particular
country or region. Every world region and most countries have such guides or
directories, but the quality can range from poor to excellent. A good test is to look at
categories such as "governments" or "technology." If these are sparsely populated,
chances are the directory is oriented more to entertainment, travel, shopping, etc.,
than to research.
140 Peter Jacs6, "Aardvark," Peter's Digital Reference Shelf, Thompson Gale, October 2006,
(26 October 2006).
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