Below is a list of web sites recommended by the joint public library. Check them out and if you find them useful for your purposes, consider bookmarking them or adding them to your list of favorites! Please note, however, that use of all sites listed on this page, are the responsibility of the user. The sites will remain posted for a minimum of one month from the date listed after each entry. The list is arranged by general topic; topics will come and go, as sites become known. Sites are current as of the date of posting. Some sites require the use of Adobe Acrobat, RealPlayer, or other tools that can be downloaded for free to your computer. Additionally some sites are best viewed with higher end versions of Internet Explorer or Netscape browsers that are also available as downloads. (Copyright notices are provided at the end of this page.)

New additions are noted with NEW following the listing.

Appleton Public Library's QuickRef (quick reference) page is a wealth of information on a wide variety of topics ranging from books to consumer to education to government to health, to jobs, to travel information, and much, much more. It's THE place to start for your informational needs. (continued 9/4/07)

Community
Fox Cities Online (FOCOL) is the official website for the communities in the Fox River Valley, Wisconsin. Information can be found for individual communities as well as combined activities and events. Included on this site are links to many organizations and groups in the Fox Valley such as the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Fox Cities Economic Development Partnership, and United Way Information & Referral. (continued 9/4/07)

DataMine is provided by the Post Crescent and gives links to a wide variety of miscellaneous information on topics such as consumer, health, government, business, charities, education, the environment, and much more. The links provide quick answers to commonly asked questions. (5/31/07)

Little Chute Windmill has a website to show the progress toward the construction and funding of the windmill project in the Village of Little Chute. (6/26/07)

Consumer
Annual Credit Report is another site that allows consumers in Wisconsin and elsewhere to receive a free annual credit report, as of March 1, 2005. The site is a joint effort by 3 national credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. Privacy and security features have been built in to the website. (continued 9/4/07)

StolenID Search is a website for people who want to check and verify that personal information has not been stolen. The site has built-in layers of privacy, but interested users can check up on the site by selecting their "About Us", "Privacy", and "FAQ" sections before entering any personal information. (continued 9/4/07)

Build a Killer Credit Score in 2008 is provided by MSN and discusses information about finding your credit score and ways to improve that score. (1/10/08)

DMAChoice.org is another resource that allows you to opt our of mass mailings of catalogs. (1/10/08)

Catalog Choice is a site that lets you weed out the paper catalogs you receive in the mail. The service is free and it allows you to opt out of many catalogs with one notification rather than notifying each catalog company. It is a project of the Ecology Center. (1/10/08)

A Lifeline for Delinquent Mortgage Borrowers provides information and links to additional information for people who are facing foreclosure on their homes. (3/13/08) NEW

Why Not Just Walk Away From a Home? discusses a concept called "ruthless default" and talks about alternatives to foreclosure or walking away that home owners can consider if faced with the prospect of having a home foreclosed. (3/13/08) NEW

MortgageLoan.com is a site that allows you to plug in numbers that apply to your personal home mortage and get an idea of whether or not it is worth your while to refinance. (4/28/08) NEW

Government
This is the registration page for Wisconsin's Do Not Call list. If you registered for the list 2 years ago, it's time to renew that registration. The list is only good for a 2-year period, so you must renew your registration to be valid for another 2 years. (11/27/06)

Holidays
Holiday Pet Hazards and How to Prevent Them provides information on protecting pets during the various holiday seasons (Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.) (3/13/08) NEW

St. Patrick's Day is a site provided by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that gives information about Saint Patrick and includes "essential Irish phrases" and recipes. (3/13/08) NEW

Easter Parade 2007 is a "photos of the whimsical and wild head adornments worn at the New York City Easter Parade and Easter Bonnet Festival." A fun site to peruse. (3/13/08) NEW

Jobs
Wisconsin Jobs is a listing that posts governmental jobs that are open and available in the State of Wisconsin. It replaces the paper copies sent to public libraries and formerly known as the Current Employment Bulletin. (7/24/07)

Law
Wisconsin State Law Library provides a wealth of information on federal, state, and tribal law for all areas of the United States with an emphasis on Wisconsin law. The site has an easily searchable database of legal topics arranged alphabetically and provides a newsletter for updated information. The newsletter for December covers consumer law as people do their holiday shopping. (8/10/07)

Literature
DailyLit is a type of online book club that sends books to a reader in installments. "Over 400 classic public domain titles may be subscribed to and read in their entirely for free." The site is searchable by title, author or category. Readers are told how many installments are available for each title selected. (9/18/07)

YourDictionary is a "free online dictionary" for the English language. Meanings, spellings, alternate words and much more are available. It includes referrals to "the best dictionary and translation sites" for French, German, Spanish, Italian and many more languages. Courtesy of refdesk.com (3/28/08) NEW

Hispanic Heritage is the site for award winning people of Hispanic heritage. The site covers authors, musicians, artists, politicians, and many others. (10/25/07)

Launch Pad is a great online site for original literature created by children for children. Check it out! (3/12/08) NEW

Sports
"Take Me Out" Turns 100 provides information celebrating the 100th anniversary of the baseball classic song "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" that is traditionally sung during the 7th inning stretch at baseball games. (3/27/08) NEW

Timely Topics
Identity Theft Resource Center is a nonprofit organization to protect people against identity theft. It supports victims, provides information on how to protect yourself from ID theft and gives information about scams, consumer alerts, tips and statistics. Identify theft is one of the fastest growing thefts in the country, so this site could be just for you to help you protect yourself from becoming a victim. (continued 9/4/07)

Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft page is a one-stop resource for information relating to problems of identify theft. The site provides information on what a person should do, who to contact, and how to try to resolve the problems associated with having your identity stolen. The site is provided by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The information is also available en Espanol as well as in English. (continued 9/4/07)

Travel
National Register of Travel Itineraries is a travel site that helps a person plan an intinerary for traveling to historic places throughout the United States. It provides a different slant from the usual travel website and may help someone plan a vacation designed around visiting the historic United State. (3/28/08) NEW

As you can see from the sites chosen for this posting, the subjects vary. If you have suggestions for topics to consider for posting, please e-mail the "Webmeister" for the library's site, and give the specific web address for us to consider. Most of the sites chosen for this page have been reviewed and recommended by Librarians' Index to the Internet (copyright 2006 by Librarians' Index to the Internet, LII) or The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2006. http://scout.wisc.edu/

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