The award emphasized that the Map Collection site of more than 2,800 map images includes "good coverage of the world, some 700 maps of the United States, and many historical maps." Almost a fifth of the more than five million queries received each month from users around the world by UT Library Online are for the PCL Map Collection site. The site has been featured recently in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and on CNN and CBS Radio.
Other Best Reference Sites for 1997 included the Endangered Species Home Page, provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; FedStats, a Web site maintained by the Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy that provides data from over 70 federal agencies; the NASA Homepage, a gateway site to the largest repository of space-related information on the Internet; and POTUS: Presidents of the United States, a project of the Internet Public Library providing information on Presidents, presidential candidates, cabinets, and election results.
The PCL Map Collection was the only educational, that is, ".edu" site chosen for the Best Reference Web Sites for 1997. All of the other sites were ".org," ".gov" or ".com" sites. The complete listing of the Best Reference Web Sites for 1997 can be found in the April 15, 1998 issue of Library Journal or at the LJ Digital Web site (http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA156541.html).
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For more information contact Carole Cable at (512) 495-4382
This and other General Libraries news releases are located on UT Library Online at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/news/newsreleases.html
