The Librarian's Internet-Where in the World?

Every year, you spend lots of time helping kids, parents, and teachers search atlases (print and CD-ROM) for the perfect map to add to the paper they're writing, the homework assignment they're completing, or the lesson plan they're creating. Here are a few of the best map Web sites.

www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/Map_collection.html

This is an enormous collection of online maps arranged by continent. The maps come in two formats: JPG and PDF. Creator: UT Library Online, University of Texas at Austin. Don't Miss: The "Historical Maps" section where you'll find a wonderful collection of U.S. historical maps. The "City Maps" section lets you track down hard-to-find current and historical maps for many U.S. and world cities. The "Maps on Other Websites" section includes "Outline Map Sites," with hundreds of links to outline maps. Plug-ins: Acrobat Reader (for PDF maps), a graphics program (to resize the large maps to fit on one page).

www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/

The home page of this nifty online atlas allows you to select both the country and type of map you want to view. You choose a location from the pull-down menus, then select a button for the type of map you'd like to see: basic, detailed, borders, or no borders. The maps come in two formats: GIF and PDF. Most will print on one page. Creator: National Geographic Society. Don't Miss: All the maps are beautifully done and well worth looking at. Selecting the "basic" and "state borders off" options will produce beautiful outline maps for class use. Plug-ins: Acrobat Reader (for PDF maps), a graphics program (to resize maps). Detour: Be sure to visit the "Activities," "Standards," and "Lesson Plans" sections found at the top of each page.

www.eduplace.com/ss/ssmaps/index.html

A small, but nice collection of continent/ hemisphere outline maps. All the maps are in GIF format (except the eastern hemisphere map, which is in PDF). All maps are designed to print on one page. Creator: Houghton Mifflin. Don't Miss: The various types of U.S. maps, focusing on climate, postal codes, political/social facts, physical characteristics, capitals, and history. Plug-ins: Acrobat Reader (for PDF maps), a graphics program (to resize maps).

www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/docs/ref.html

A small but great collection of high-quality, public-domain world, continent, and regional maps. Maps are updated each year. Each map comes in two formats: JPG and PDF. (Note: To get some JPG maps to print correctly you must change your printer's paper orientation to "landscape.") The PDF maps take a long time to load, but are very detailed. Use Acrobat Reader to "zoom in" (the zoom tool looks like a magnifying glass) on a section of any map and view the detail that you need. Creator: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Don't Miss: All of the maps are worth taking a look at. Plug-ins: Acrobat Reader (to view/print/zoom in on the PDF maps), a graphics program (to resize maps).

www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/indexgeo.html

Each country profile on this site contains an excellent, public-domain map. Maps are updated each year. Every map is in JPG format so you don't need any plug-ins to view them. Each map is also small enough to print on a single page.

50states.com/maps/

If you're looking for high-quality, printable outline maps of one of the 50 U. S. states, look no further. Each map has the capital indicated by a star, and each major city is indicated with a dot. Every map prints on a single page. All the maps are in GIF format so you don't need any plug-ins to view them. Creator: Weber Publications, Santa Clarita, CA. Plug-ins: A graphics program (to resize maps).