If you’ve searched online for free courses in library science, you might be disappointed at the dearth of library science interests. But, if you look at a library science curriculum today, you’ll learn that many courses focus on literature, writing, intellectual property issues and technology. Additionally, many new free libraries containing videos, books and archival materials now are available for research or for learning. The following list of 40 incredible OpenCourseWare (OCW) classes to learn about library science covers all those topics.

Literature

1. Invitation to World Literature: This is a multimedia series introducing drama, epic poetry, and novels from many times and cultures.
2. Literature: This is an entire section at MIT that offers dozens of literary self-instruction courses [MIT].
3. Literature Reviews, Spring 2008: This course is designed to help students in doctoral programs write a literature review that is appropriate for a dissertation or thesis proposal [Utah State University].
4. Survey of American Literature: Dr. Geoffrey A. Grimes complied this resource that cover U.S. writers from the early colonial period through Walt Whitman [Mountain View College].
5. Survey of British Literature III: Self-study course on important literary works from the mid-nineteenth century through the high modern period within their historical contexts [St. John Fisher College].
6. VCCS Litonline: This set of comprehensive online literature courses can be used as an introduction to literature. [Virginia Community College System].

Writing

7. Critical Reading and Writing: Gain practice in applying effective strategies for understanding college material by relating generalization to supporting ideas and identifying the patterns into which ideas are structured [UMass Boston].
8. New Media Literacies: This course serves as an in-depth look at literacy theory in media contexts, from its origins in ancient Greece to its functions and changes in the current age of digital media [MIT].
9. Poynter News University: Although based upon journalism perspectives, many courses here tackle basic grammar, punctuation and genre writing skills [Poynter].



10. Processes of Research and Engagement: Each student works through the different stages of research and action – from defining a manageable project to communicating findings and plans for further work [UMass Boston].
11. Purdue Online Writing Lab: Try a Web site filled with resources for academic writing, including links to the MLA and APA guides and a resource for visual rhetoric [Purdue University].
12. Technical Writing – Lipuma: This advanced writing course combines current theory with actual practice to prepare students as technical writers [New Jersey Institute of Technology].
13. University Writing Program: Students are taught how to frame a claim, conduct research, provide evidence, consider alternative views, and write in language appropriate to the intended audience [Notre Dame].
14. Writing and Humanistic Studies: This program gives students the opportunity to learn the techniques, forms, and traditions of several kinds of writing [MIT].

Using the Library

15. Encouraging book talk in the school library: This unit offers ideas and activities to engage pupils in discussing books [The Open University].
16. Finding information in education: Learn to identify and use information in education, whether for your work, study or personal purposes [The Open University].
17. Finding information in mathematics and statistics: Experiment with some of the key resources in this subject area, and learn about the skills which will enable you to plan searches for information, so you can find what you are looking for more easily [The Open University].
18. Finding Information in Modern Languages: Discover how to keep up to date with the latest developments in your area of interest by using tools such as RSS and mailing lists [The Open University].
19. Finding information in Society: Discover the meaning of information quality, and learn how to evaluate the information you come across [The Open University].



20. Safari – skills accessing, finding and reviewing information: This unit will take you through the process of finding information from various sources, organising it effectively and citing it when necessary [The Open University].

Intellectual Property Issues

21. An Intellectual Property Primer for Online Instructors: This self-access training course should be seen as a guide and an introduction to some of the pertinent issues surrounding intellectual property rights [University of California Irvine].
22. Center for the Study of the Public Domain: The public domain is the realm of material—ideas, images, sounds, discoveries, facts, texts—that is unprotected by intellectual property rights and free for all to use or build upon [Duke Law].
23. Managing the Digital Enterprise: This is an open educational resource that surveys the opportunities and challenges managers face in an increasingly digital world [North Carolina State University].
24. Patents, Copyrights, and the Law of Intellectual Property: This weekly seminar examines key concepts of U.S. intellectual property law, with emphasis on patents and copyrights and a briefer look at trade secrets and trademarks [MIT].
25. Text as Property/Property as Text: This class takes a look at ownership, plagiarism, and other moral and legal topics in writing [Rice].
26. What is Intellectual Property? This course covers the basics of intellectual property in the gaming industry [MIT].

Technology

27. Computer Applications (CAPP): CAPP was established as a supplementary major in the College of Arts & Letters as a way to provide liberal arts students with formalized training in computing [Notre Dame].
28. Global Issues in Information Technology: Learn why information technologies remain the same across national borders, but their usage and context change according to country cultures and national laws [Weber State University].
29. HTML Basics: Get a grasp on HTML basic tags, including a fundamental document structure. If you can comprehend this lesson, you may be able to comprehend other code monkey structures [Open UW].



30. Media Programming: This class contextualizes the task of programming by focusing on media, such as images, audio, and interactive systems [Carnegie Mellon].
31. Technical Skills: This is a growing collection of “workshop kits” for face-to-face training. The materials use a standard set of templates, and offer building blocks for trainers to build their own courses [ItrainOnline MMTK].
32. Using Internet Communications: Enhance your theoretical understanding of electronic communication and ability to communicate as professionals, scholars, and citizens using the Internet [UMass Boston].

Library Projects

33. Book TV: This site provides recent interviews with authors and experts in literature, suggestions on what books to read, and the latest news about literature around the world.
34. eduMOOC: Accessing Online Learning from the MERLOT open repository of online materials, a series of videos addressing how common materials can be made more accessible.
35. JHSPH OpenCourseWare Image Library: Most images are licensed for reuse, and their incorporation into your own educational materials is encouraged.
36. National Science Digital Library: NSDL is the nation’s online portal for education and research on learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
37. Textbook Revolution: This is a student-run site dedicated to increasing the use of free educational materials by teachers and professors.
38. The Oxford Text Archive: The Oxford Text Archive develops, collects, catalogs and preserves electronic literary and linguistic resources for use in Higher Education, in research, teaching and learning.
39. Washington State Student Completion Initiative Open Course Library Project: This project is about designing 81 high-enrollment, important general education, and pre-college courses for face-to-face, hybrid and/or online delivery.
40. World Public Library: Founded in 1996, the World Public Library Association is a global coordinated effort to preserve and disseminate classic works of literature, serials, bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works in a number of languages and countries around the world.

If you were asked to name an old book, you would probably name something by Homer. Perhaps you might think of Beowulf. Someone religiously minded might mention Vedic texts, or perhaps the earliest writings found in the Hebrew Bible. While these literary classics are, indeed, old, a learned library science professional could probably tell you that the earliest books are from the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and the Middle East: Sumerian, Akkadian and Egyptian.

The earliest examples of literature that we have date from 2600 BC, during the early Bronze Age. This literature is interesting, and offers a look at the thought process of early civilization. (A look at examples of the earliest literature might warrant a library science grant or fellowship.) Examples from these early writings are often found inscribed on clay tablets, and, in some cases, in other mediums. And, of course, the language used is very different from modern Western languages. But, in the end, these oldest books represent the cultural heritage of us all. Here are the 20 oldest books of all time:

Sumerian

No one is exactly sure where the Sumerians came from, but they may have come from Iran or India. Their language was different, though, from the Semitic peoples inhabiting Mesopotamia when they arrived. Sumer occupied the area we know as southern Iraq — the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Sumer was composed of city-states, each with its own ruler. However, these city-states comprised a civilization. Many consider Sumer the first cohesive civilization.

Even though examples of writing from Egypt predate some of the writing in Sumer and other permanent settlements were established prior to the cities of the Sumerians, many scholars agree that the Sumer’s general code of law and its culture and systemic writing and mode of exchange puts Sumer in the running as the world’s oldest civilization.

1. Instructions of Shuruppak: Representing what is known as Sumerian wisdom literature, the Instructions of Shuruppak was meant to teach virtue and community standards.
2. Code of Urukagina: This is a book of law. The rules in the Code of Uruagina were part of an effort to combat the corruption under a previous ruler.
3. Epic of Gilgamesh: You’ve probably heard of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, following the exploits of this great hero of literature.
4. Curse of Agade: Tells the story of the fall of the Akkadian empire, due to the cursing of the king, Agade.
5. The Debate Between Bird and Fish: A philosophical essay, postulating a debate between a bird and a fish. A number of these literary essays exist in Sumerian literature.
6. Code of Ur-Nammu: Pre-dating the Code of Hammurabi by three centuries, the Code of Ur-Nammu has the most complete set of laws of old books.
7. Lament for Ur: When the great Sumerian city of Ur fell to the Elamites, the literary Lament for Ur was written to express the sorrow of the patron goddess of the city.
8. Enmerkar and the Lord of Arrata: A great, legendary account of the conflict between two great kings. Many scholars have drawn parallels between some of the themes in Enmerkar and the Lord of Arrata and the Tower of Babel story.

Akkadian

The culture of Akkad rose side by side with that of Sumer, although located originally further south. However, the Akkadians eventually became what many historians and scholars consider the first true empire. At least, it was the largest empire seen up to that point. Unlike the Sumerians, who were not Semitic, the people of Akkad were Semitic. As the Akkadians moved north, they conquered the Sumerians, and absorbed them into what became the Akkadian empire.

After the Sumerians were conquered, Akkadian culture flourished. Arts and language grew to great heights. Eventually, the capital of the Akkadian empire became the well-known city of Babylon. The Akkadian empire eventually fell, but a rich history was left behind.

9. Legend of Etana: Interestingly, the Legend of Etana tells the story of the Sumerian king Kish, and how he obtains a son with the help of Eagle — and what happens after.
10. Enheduanna’s Hymns: Are you looking for an example of women in early literature? The hymns of the priestess Enheduanna, an important woman in Ur, offers you a look.
11. Laws of Eshnunna: The city state of Eshnunna had its own set of laws. There are differences between the laws in this book, and the famous Code of Hammurabi, are instructive about the development of law in ancient times.
12. Epic of Gilgamesh: This made it to the list twice. Why? Because the Akkadians, centuries after the first stories of Gilgamesh were told, fashioned the stories into one of the earliest examples of epic poetry.
13. Kultepe Texts: These texts represent some of the first writings found in Anatolia. The Kultepe Texts include Histories of rebellions against the Akkadians.
14. Enuma Elish: The Akkadian creation epic, the Enuma Elish, can help you understand the Babylonian worldview.
15. Atra-Hasis: Tablets containing the Atra-Hasis contain an account of how the humans came to be, as well as an account of the Great Flood.

Egyptian

The foundation for what we recognize as Ancient Egyptian culture had been developing for centuries, even before recorded history. However, things really picked up during the Early Dynastic Period in Egypt, when the government of Egypt — with divine kings at the center — and other portions of Egyptian culture were established.

The Early Dynastic Period was punctuated by a move to cities, as well as a flourishing artistic scene. Some of the earliest examples of writing are from Ancient Egypt, following this period and moving into the Fifth Dynasty. It is little surprise, then, that some of the oldest books of all time are from Egypt.

16. Pyramid Texts: You’ve probably heard of the Pyramid Texts. These prove that a book can even be inscribed on the walls of an edifice.
17. Palermo Stone: Chronicles the rise of legendary rulers before the god Horus. The Palermo Stone is a an example of legendary history.
18. Maxims of Ptahhotep: This ancient text, a literary work ascribed to the ruler Ptahhotep, sets out proper rules governing human relationships.
19. Coffin Texts: The coffin texts, written on (as you might expect) coffins, provide a look at the evolving Egyptian view of the afterlife.
20. Story of Sinuhe: Perhaps one of the finest examples of Egyptian literature — or any literature — the Story of Sinuhe offers a moving story of divinity and mercy and other universal themes.

The iPad is a great tool for many people. But, there is no one who can appreciate the iPad more than the avid reader. The ability to read online books through iPad is one of its greatest features. And, it’s way more functional than a simple e-reader, because it has all the features of an e-reader, but it also contains many features that e-readers don’t have.

So, if you’re a bookworm, you’re sure to want to check out the apps for iPad we’ve listed here. They’re designed to ensure that you get maximum functionality and enjoyment from your iPad, as it pertains to reading. We’ve compiled seventeen apps we think all bookworms will love.

1. iBooks: Download books to read and keep track of all your online books in this great app for the iPhone and iPad.
2. OmniFocus: This task management application allows you to create to do lists, as well as sync with documents on your desktop. This application can really help you stay organized, which is especially important if you bounce between your office and visiting clients in their homes.
3. Google Calendar: Check your Google calendar from anywhere. You never have to worry about being out of touch just because you don’t go into the office.
4. Full Screen Web Browser: Does just what it says: lets you browse in full screen.
5. TED: TED stands for Technology, Education and Design. This nonprofit organization that exists basically to enlighten the world. TED can give you access to lots of great speeches and articles.
6. Web Reader: Uses text to speech technology for reading web pages.
7. ReaddleDocs: This app can grab documents from almost any source, including computers, web sites, email attachments, MobileMe iDisk, online file storage apps and other iPhones and iPads.
8. iBlueSky: A great brainstorming application for getting ideas out of your head an into a document.
9. AirSharing: A great way to share files: AirSharing allows you to mount your iPhone or iPod Touch as a wireless drive on any computer, drag and drop files and then view them on your device.
10. iBooks: Download books to read and keep track of all your online books in this great app for the iPhone and iPad.
11. Wikipanion: This is a great reference app for your iPad. It displays Wikipedia information in an easy to view format.
12. Dictionary.com: This is a dictionary and thesaurus for iPhone and iPad.
13. Evernote: You’ll never take notes on paper again. It’s so easy to take notes on your phone and save them or file them.
14. Marvel App for iPad: All comic book enthusiasts should have the Marvel app for iPad. Keep up with your favorite comics right here.
15. Pulse News for iPad: This is a great app for those who love reading the news. It turns your news sites into a colorful, interactive collection. You can share a story via Facebook or Twitter with two taps.
16. Flipboard: Another great app for reading the news, Flipboard lets you flip through news sites quickly, so you stay up to date without spending too much time. This is iPad’s app of the year for 2010. The layout is very attractive and its quick and easy to share your favorite stories through Twitter and Facebook.
17. FLUD: FLUD is a great RSS reader. One of the many great things about it is that you can organize your RSS feeds into categories, based on the type of information you get from the site.

Armed with these apps for your iPad, you’re fully prepared to read anything your heart desires. You can download books, read websites, keep up with the news, and even read comic books, all from the convenience of your iPad. You’re sure to want to download all of these apps to your iPad right away.

Remember that new apps for iPad are created everyday, so it’s a good idea to keep track of new apps as they come out. You never know when the perfect app for your life will be released; and you certainly don’t want to miss it when it comes out!

Library science, or library information science (LIS), might conjure up hermits in musty, dark rooms, cataloging index cards into towering file cabinets. But, that image is incorrect today, as library science now pertains to digital cataloging, social networking and a changing history in archival science. This list of 50 excellent library science blogs are worth reading for any contemporary library science professional.

Information Science and Systems

1. Bibliographic Wilderness: Jonathan Rochkind writes about library digital systems and services, metadata, cataloging, and the collective effort to help people navigate the ‘information wilderness.’
2. Catalogablog: This blog focuses on library cataloging, classification, metadata, subject access and related topics.
3. Cataloguing Aids: The author hopes that this blog can serve as an index for the Cataloguing Aids Web site.
4. Cataloging Futures: The metadata librarian at Princeton Theological Seminary writes this blog about cataloging.
5. Hey Jude: Judy O’Connell started this blog in 2006 to help her engage in social networking and to inform her work as a librarian with skills in information services.
6. Infomusings: A doctoral student at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill writes about her studies in Personal Information Management (PIM) and teaches the intro to library cataloging course.
7. Information Research – ideas and debate: A spin-off from the e-journal dedicated to informal publication of ideas and comment on current affairs in the information world.
8. The Cataloguing Librarian: The collections access librarian at Halifax Public Libraries writes this blog as a resource for herself and other catalogers.
9. The FRBR Blog: A blog following developments around FRBR, or Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records.
10. The Serials Cataloger: News, research, and other information of interest to serials catalogers.
11. Z666.7.B39: Musings related to metadata, cataloging, and the world of librarianship from the electronic resources cataloging coordinator at Princeton University Library.

OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) Blogs

12. 025.431: The Dewey blog: “Everything you always wanted to know about the Dewey Decimal Classification system but were afraid to ask.”
13. HangingTogether: This blog is a place where some of the OCLC Research staff, particularly those individuals who support the RLG Partnership of libraries, archives, and museums, can talk about the intersections they see happening between these different types of institutions.
14. Hectic Pace: Andrew Pace, the executive director for Networked Library Services at OCLC, is the author of this blog.
15. Lorcan Dempsey’s Weblog: Lorcan currently works for OCLC as vice president, OCLC research and chief strategist.
16. OCLC Developer Network: This blog is about library Web services from the OCLC Web services group and its Developer Network.
17. Outgoing: Library metadata techniques and trends by Thom Hickey, OCLC’s chief scientist.
18. Q6: This blog is maintained by Jeff Young, software architect at OCLC.
19. WebJunction: WebJunction is an online community where library staff meet to share ideas, solve problems, take online courses – and have fun.
20. Weibel Lines: Ruminations on libraries, Internet standards, and “stuff that comes to mind” from a senior research scientist at OCLC.
21. WorldCat Blog: WorldCat.org lets you search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world. This is their official blog.

Web 2.0 Librarian

22. Community Virtual Library: The Community Virtual Library Foundation is a non-profit organization formed to support Community Virtual Library, a virtual library that exists in Second Life.
23. David Lee King: David creates, writes, thinks, and speaks about library Web sites and emerging digital technology.
24. iLibrarian: News and resources on Library 2.0 and the information revolution.
25. Information Literacy meets Library 2.0: This is the blog which updates the book, Information Literacy meets Library 2.0.
26. Infotangle: This blog is about emerging technologies, Web 2.0, information, and libraries.
27. Librarian: This rural librarian is deep into writing about library topics and speaking on library issues.
28. Library Web Chic: Karen A. Coombs is a librarian and geek coder with an interest in mashups, Web services, and library Web site interfaces.
29. The Shifted Librarian: This blogger writes about how the change from pursuing information to receiving information is and will be affecting libraries.

Library News

30. Information Literacy Weblog: News and reports about information literacy around the world.
31. Library Bytes: “Byte-size” chunks of news about libraries and new technologies.
32. Library Link of the Day: Every day a link is added for library news and its profession.
33. Library Stuff: The library blog dedicated to resources for keeping current and professional development.
34. LIScareer News: Alerts about new LIScareer articles and site updates. Occasional news about information relating to library and information science career management.
35. LISNews: LISNews is a collaborative blog devoted to current events and news in the world of library and information science.
36. Planet Cataloguing: Stay on top of the library world by reading updates from several library blogs at this site.
37. ResearchBuzz: News about search engines, digital archives, online museums, databases and other Internet information collections since 1998.
38. Union Librarian: News about librarian union activity, Unions for Librarians Supporting Workers, a project of the Progressive Librarians Guild.
39. Unshelved: This blog offers reviews, news and comics for and about libraries and librarians.

Digital Library

40. Blyberg: John Blyberg is the assistant director for innovation and user experience at the Darien Library in Connecticut.
41. Closed Stacks: Closed Stacks is a collaborative blog written by librarians from a range of library types.
42. Connecting Librarian: An information librarian at Casey Cardinia Library Corporation offers views on virtual services.
43. Creative Librarian: The Creative Librarian is a hub for matters important to librarians/information scientists of today, with a leaning toward electronic issues.
44. Information Wants To Be Free: A librarian, writer, educator and tech geek reflects on the profession and the tools used to serve patrons.
45. Librarian in Black: Sarah Houghton-Jan is the digital futures manager for the San José Public Library in the heart of the Silicon Valley.
46. Library Monk: A Senior IT Technologist I / Web designer in Library Technology Services at the University of Tennessee offers this site on library and information science and information technology.
47. Tame The Web: Michael Stephens writes about libraries, technology and people.
48. The Invisible Web Weblog: A blog about the Invisible Web and information availability on the Web.
49. The Life of Books: The director of the law library and professor of law at the University of Nebraska College of Law writes about the idea that “books are dead.”
50. The Travelin’ Librarian: Michael Sauers is currently the technology innovation librarian for the Nebraska Library Commission in Lincoln, Nebraska, and has been training librarians in technology for more than 15 years.

We all love Web apps. And, they’re even more fun when they pertain to our particular interests or our career. If you’re a librarian, you’re sure to love these 20 apps we’ve put together. Some are for the iPhone or iPad and some are for your PC, but all are free!

For Your iPhone/iPad

1. iBooks: Download books to read and keep track of all your online books in this great app for the iPhone and iPad.

2. School Rack: The app allows teachers to build colorful, customizable websites, while storing mailing lists and moderating private discussions with students and/or parents. If you’re a school librarian, you’ll love this tool for helping you create a library website and communicate with your students even on days when they don’t visit your library.
3. Evernote: You’ll never take notes on paper again. It’s so easy to take notes on your phone and save them or file them.
4. Dictionary.com: This is a dictionary and thesaurus for iPhone.
5. Twitterific: This is a great Twitter app for your iPhone. Share info about library events quickly and easily via Twitter.
6. Wikipanion: This is a great reference app for your iPad. It displays Wikipedia information in an easy to view format.
7. Remember the Milk: This is a great app for making electronic lists and keeping track of the things you have to do.
8. TED: TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design: This app is great for finding out plenty of interesting information. You’ll get access to lots of great speakers and speeches here.
9. Keynote: The iWork Keynote app is ideal for on-the-go presentation development. You can also import Microsoft Powerpoint slide decks with ease.
10. Dragon Dictation: Speak your emails or documents to get things done faster.
11. Hoot Suite for Twitter: HootSuite helps you manage multiple Twitter, Facebook, and other social media accounts in one place. Because they provide such a robust web version, you can hop to any system (including iPad) and all configurations are live. This system also provides integrated management features that allow you to control and command the social media process from one application. HootSuite is only available for iPad (presently) but that will change soon.
12. Shovel Pro: Lets you keep up with the most interesting stories on the web each day. Works in conjunction with Digg It.
13. iRecycle: Got books to recycle? Then you’ll love the most comprehensive reference of recycling information on the web.
14. Stanza: Read books on your iPhone with this great digital reading interface. You won’t believe how clearly you can read with Stanza.

For Your Computer

15. Teacher Tube: Originally part of You Tube, Teacher Tube is a focused video sharing site that holds videos of interest to teachers. There are some great videos here for the school librarian.
16. Footnote: Footnote is a large online repository of historical documents.
17. Page Flakes: Create your own personalized homepage, containing the sites you like to see everyday.
18. Voice Thread: voice Thread is a web based digital story application. Create and tell great stories.
19. Ning: Create your own custom social network with Ning. Combine your personal web page, Facebook, and Twitter into one place, or create your very own social network from scratch, aimed at a charity, a business or a group.
20. Library Finder: Take the library with you wherever you go. Check out ebooks from your local library for free.

Whether you’re a librarian for a school, a university or you work for a public library, you’re sure to love all of these apps. Applications like these and others that are out there can make work easier and more fun. You can find ways to make your day more productive, and ensure that you stay on track with your list of things to do. You can also find apps to make it easier to pursue your interests and apps that just make life more fun. We’re sure that once you’ve used these apps, you’ll want to go on the hunt for ever more applications for your phone and computer.

While you are searching for a website that is a quality website, then you should train your eyes and your fingers to implement a number of techniques like as to what you want to know about the web pages as in quick and fast possible manner.  Next, you need to train your mind to think critically by asking a series of questions whether to believe about the quality of a web page. However, looking for a URL you need to ponder your mind and skill on the following ideas and thoughts like:

• What you learn from the Url?: With it you can try to get answers to the questions like whether it is a persona page.  Look for server as a commercial ISP or being a sub-domain of a website.  Look what sort of domain  it is whether it is a government site, educational site, nonprofit organization or it has country codes like .us, .uk etc.
• Look for Perimeter of the Page: On the pages of the website look for links that say “About us,” “Philosophy,” “Background,” “Biography”, etc. Further you look out who has written the page. There you should look for the author, the name of the organization, institution, agency, or whatever who is responsible for the page. Next about the info you should search out and look for is the recent date when the info is published on the website. More looking for the date tells that whether author still has any interest onto the page. Next important issue to look at the page is the author’s credentials on the subject like background information and education whether a person is there   qualified to write on the topic.
• What Do Others Say: Use different tool as to have opinion and credibility of the page or url. One such tool is alexa.com. More you can do link search in Google, Yahoo and another search engines. Look out for the title or publisher of the page in a reputable directory, where contents are evaluated. For a credible info about the author do Google Search of author’s name in Google or Yahoo.

Finally, there lies logic for this extensive exercise to search out for a credible link. As World Wide Web is a great place to do search on many topics and issues. The great ability that has been bring forth by internet is capacity to express themselves, find one another, exchange ideas, discover possible peers worldwide otherwise has not met.  But still there is logic to search information on internet in credible manner. Most pages found in general search engines for the web are self-published or published by businesses small and large with motives to get you to buy something or believe a point of view. So when  in internet you get something serious then question it cultivate the habit of healthy skepticism, of questioning everything you find with critical thinking.

A library is understood as collection of sources, resources, and services, and the structure in which it is contained for the purpose of reading. It is maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual.  In simple language it is referred to as collection of Books. However, virtual libraries happen to be different from physical libraries and some of them are mentioned here.

1. Free Books: There are many books in the public domain available here to be accessed freely as well as some other books specified under certain conditions. Apart from the info about copy right laws of various countries has been provided over here.
2. Questia: It is the World’s largest online library of Books that provides twenty four hour access to the world’s largest online collection of books and journal articles in the humanities and social sciences including magazines and newspaper articles. Apart form library, Questia also offers a range of search, note-taking and writing tools.
3. Online Books Page:  This is a website that provides access to books which are provided for easy reading over internet.  The primary objective of this website is to encourage development of those types of online books for the benefit and edification of all people. The prominent part of this site includes index of thousand of online books freely readable of the internet, etc.
4. Read Easily: This is an online library that provides opportunity to everyone to read and learn something over the course of life. This digital library is designed and prepare in such a manner that it provides an adaptive reading experience. For the use of blind and visually impaired every book has been formatted into HTML code avoiding proprietary formats that are not friendly with Text to Speech Software.
5. The Free Library:  It is a collection of freely offered, full text versions of classic literary work as collected from hundreds of celebrated authors, biographies, images and famous quotations and that has been linked on to the site for the purpose of reading and learning.
6. Bibliomania: It provides free online literature including 2000 classic texts. Its collection of books includes Literature Book Notes, Author Biographies, Book Summaries and Reference Books. Whereas in literature at Bibliomania one can have books on classic fiction, drama, poetry, short stories and contemporary articles and interviews.
7. The Electronic Text Center: It is also known by the name of “Etext” as it serves university communities teaching and research needs in the areas of humanities and text coding for over fifteen years.
8. Digital Book Index: It provides links to more than 148,000 full-text digital books from more than 1800 commercial and non-commercial publishers, universities, and various private sites. More than 120,000 of these books, texts, and documents are available free, and others are priced on a very modest cost.
9. eBooksread:. It offers nearly 250,000 free e-books! You can either download the books in either in PDF format or in plain text. They work on any e-book reader.  You can also read them on your computer. The books are available in the public domain. Here you would have a good number of older titles too.
10. Classic Reader: At this free online library you can have thousands of free classic books and short stories for the purpose of online reading by authors ranging from Andy Adams to Emile Zola. Here book are divided into categories of fiction, non fiction, young readers, poetry, short stories, drama and classical.

Most universities have started offering online programs for library science at different levels. Master of Library Science can be completely obtained online with the advantage of career promotion at your convenience and with an independent education environment.

There are many specializations of Master of library Science available online. Archival studies are recommended for those with careers in special, public and digital librarianship with prospects of working in government agencies, libraries, historical society’s museums and religious institutions. Competitive intelligence and knowledge management focuses on the management of information and knowledge of different organizational environment while school library media is designed for those wishing to work in libraries of both private and public schools. Youth services focuses on planning library careers in regards to the youth.

Online Master of Library science is characterized by an innovative curriculum and highly interactive methods that will challenge the learners and an easy to access learning resources, lecture notes and library services and to easily submit assignments through bulletin boards and emails and engage in discussions with other learners to enhance their learning experience. The programs and the provider should be accredited by the American Library Association and other regional or national organization. Student and faculty support should be easy to access and use.

Just like traditional Master of Library Science Programs, it focuses on the acquisition of knowledge and skills needed to develop manage, store and facilitate the use of local or remote information in different formats such as audio, print and electronic. Some online programs offered by campus based universities may require the students to avail themselves for a few days at the start of the academic year. But unlike them they can be personalized to meet with the needs of the student and come with a varied program options such as credits and shorter modules to offer convenience.

Most universities offer both concentration and no-concentration options for its students therefore it is important to find out the program information before enrolling for online programs. Select the ones that offer the program that best suits your needs in terms of time and course work though most course works consist of 15 courses with 36 hours of credits. With online Master of Library Science degree, an individual can obtain successful careers as traditional librarians, web developers, internet content managers, library technicians’ digital librarians and library directors among others.

Some of the Universities that offer the Master of Library Science online include Drexcel University, Clarion University, Florida State University, University of South Mississippi and University of Tennessee/ Knoxville. They are fully accredited by American Library Association and other accreditation organizations and they offer variety of courses and common ones include School Library Media and courses on information and knowledge.