Recommended websites

The Internet is becoming increasingly important for obtaining information. However it suffers from a lack of organisation which can send users adrift. These pages attempt to give some guidance through recommending websites that library staff have found useful. Don't forget that even if a website in a particular category can't help with your question, it may be linked to one that can.

• Searching the Internet 
• Books
• Business Advice and Information
• Consumer issues
• Education
• Employment and training
• Environment
• Family History
• Health
• History
• Law
• Libraries, Museums and Archives
• Local Matters
• Locating People or Businesses
• Newspapers, Radio and TV
• People with disabilities
• Politics and European Union Information
• Sports and games
• Travel
• What's on and Where in Romford, Essex and London

Searching the Internet 

Learn the Net  A good introductory site for many aspects of the Internet.

Leicestershire Libraries  provide a straightforward Beginner's Guide to the Internet which serves as a good quick reference.

Search engines

Among the most comprehensive search engines are Clusty , Exalead, Google and Yahoo  and KillerInfo.

Ixquick  allows you to run the same search on several major search engines at the same time.

Agent 55   and Zuula  allow you to shift from one search engine to another in quick succession.

Invisible web

There are many websites search engines cannot index, which form what is known as the Invisible Web. Complete Planet  and Invisible Web  help give access to such sites.

Directories

Collections of categorised and usually annotated websites which help to provide a structure to searches. Among the best are:  Intute ,  Librarians' Index to the InternetOpen Directory Project, and the Internet Public Library.

Books

Get London Reading is a local website to promote books.

For book award lists and reviews or commercially available books try Amazon , WHSmith, Man Booker  or Readroutes.  Visit our Book news, Poetry and Awardspage for more book related websites.  

Which Book  suggests books with various characteristics via a number of graded categories (e.g. Happy/Sad, Easy/Demanding). It will also suggest "books like" the ones that come up as a result of your selection.

All of these may provide ideas which you can then pursue through your local library.

Business Advice and Information

Business Link  A major government source of help to business, with local offices all over Britain. 

City Business Library  is a Public reference library in London focusing on business topics. Especially useful are its downloadable guides, including "Electronic resources available in the library", and "Libraries in London holding British Standards".

The Companies Act 2006 is a major rewrite of company law which came into full effect in October 2009. Companies House  offers plenty of guidance on the Act.

Companies Annual Reports Online,  County Web, or Northcote Data  Specific financial detail on companies.

East London Centre  Training; ICT support; seminars; help in seeking employment.

East London Small Business Centre  Advice and business counselling. 

Essex County Council Business Links  Click on the Business tab to find Business Links, which offer advice and a business directory for the county.    Havering Business and Education Partnership  Projects in conjunction with school students, professional development placements for teachers, and advice to businesses.

Havering Council   Advice on doing business in the borough as well as a business directory.  

Start Ups  Good sources of help and advice for the small business. 

Thames Gateway  Information on the many projects involved in developing the area.

Consumer Issues

Ciao and Review Centre   Reviews written by actual users of products of all kinds, though the coverage is fuller in some areas (e.g. computers) than others.

Education

Floodlight  Search particular areas or all of London for part and full time courses.

Havering Education  Contact details for schools, term dates and links to information such as performance tables.

Hot courses  Search for different kinds of higher education courses and also find guidance as to the potential financial support.

OFSTED  Inspection reports for schools, nurseries and playgroups.

The Information Services department maintains a list of tutors. Between them they cover most popular academic subjects. If you are looking for a tutor, or are a tutor who wishes to be added to the list, please contact the Information Services Library. Telephone 01708 432394 or email InformationServices.Library@havering.gov.uk

Please note that the list is for information purposes only, and inclusion on it does not constitute a recommendation.

Employment and Training 

Help and Advice

Alec  Informative site with plenty of tips for CVs and interviews.  

Careers Advice  Useful advice on CVs and interviews. 

Careers Advisory Service  Comprehensive advice on CVs, application forms, interviews and psychometric tests.

Connexions Direct  aimed at young people. Link from here to the part of the site called Jobs4U, which provides guidance on many kinds of career.

Employment4Students  includes part-time and holiday vacancies, gap year jobs, graduate jobs, and internships.

Target Jobs  Graduate career advice and jobs.

Jinfo  offers a helpful newsletter on all aspects of job-hunting, including a 'CV Makeover'. Also advertises vacancies in the information field.

Jobs Advice  Detailed articles on all aspects of job-seeking. 

National Group on Homeworking  Advice for people working at home. 

Telework Association   Advice and advertises jobs for those working from home electronically. 

WorkSmart   gives information on employment rights, regional pay comparisons and a jargon buster (i.e. a mini-dictionary of employment-related terms), there is also business information.

Job opportunities

1Job  Search engine for jobs. 

All Jobs in the UK Large collection of links for job-hunters.

Bradley CVs  Links to job sites in various fields and employment agencies. 

European Job Mobility Fund  Shows jobs and educational opportunities throughout the European Union. 

Havering Council   See Jobs and Careers section on the Council website.

Jobsbuster is a recruitment site especially aimed at Black, Asian and Polish jobseekers.

Jobcentre Plus  Online equivalent of job centres.

Jobserve , Monster, Total Jobs  General jobs websites.

Maturity Works   A site aimed at older workers. 

National Health Service   The jobs site for Britain's largest public sector employer. 

Wrinklies Direct   A site aimed at older workers

In addition, most newspaper websites have a Jobs section.  Local examples include the Romford RecorderThis is Essex  (Essex Chronicle) and This is London  (Evening Standard).  The Information Services Library at Romford takes the printed version of these newspapers.

Training

City and Guilds  A searchable database of all City and Guilds training courses. 

Jobseekers Direct  (formerly Worktrain). Official Government site for employment and training opportunities.

Learning & Skills Council  Education and training courses and opportunities.

Environment 

Energy Saving Trust  Several useful sections,  especially My Home which has a savings calculator and 10 point checklist.

Friends of the Earth  Information and campaigns on environmental issues.

Homecheck  Brief details on flooding, subsidence, pollution and landfill sites in the area of a given postcode.

Nature Societies Online   A national directory of nature societies that can be searched by area and field of interest (e.g. birds). Links to a society's own website where available.

Recycle More  has a bank locator. Combining a postcode with a materials search, it shows where facilities are for the types of material which you wish to recycle.

Wildweb  Details the nature areas of London :  where they are, what you may see, how to get there.

Family History 

Black Presence  Research Asian and Black history in Britain.

Cyndi's List   International genealogy links.

Familia  Concentrates on relevant holdings in public libraries.

Genuki  Many links to all facets of genealogy within the UK

Moving Here  Explores the last 200 years of Caribbean, Irish, Jewish and South Asian migration to the UK.

Online Historical Population Reports  has a useful page of links for researchers and notes which of the sites is free to search.

Health

D-World  and Talk to Frank  offer information and advice on drugs, their effects and the law.  For local help on these issues, see  Havering DAAT

Dr Foster  provides details of hospitals, consultants, specialist clinics and complementary medicine practitioners.  Click on Information for the Public to see these directories.

Heatwave: a guide to looking after yourself and others during hot weather is official NHS guidance. NHS Choices  gives further advice as well as updates on heatwave alerts.

Health on the Net  (HON) Links to sites that have been checked by HON. A site bearing the HON symbol is an assurance of its quality.

The National Health Service  locate doctors, dentists, opticians, hospitals and pharmacies via a postcode search.

Net Doctor   Authoritative information on many complaints.

Office of Rare Diseases  U.S. site with links to information on thousands of rare diseases.

Surgery door  provides a comprehensive list of support groups for many conditions. 

UKPPGLarge collection of links to mental health charities, self-help groups, journals, etc

Unfortunately, the Internet is as prone to quack remedies and advice as anywhere else: one sign of a trustworthy site is that it will always advise you to also see your doctor rather than, say, buying medicine direct from the site.

Keep fit

Use the following sites to search for instructors or facilities.

Body Control Pilates Association

British Wheel of Yoga

Havering Active

Tai Chi

History

London Open House  takes place in September each year.

BBC's People's War   is a social history of World War 2.

Romford Now and Then  for a look at Local History.

Untold London  details events and museum collections relating to the multicultural history of the capital.

Images

Where pictures are needed for art projects, Artcyclopedia  , the National Galleryand The Royal Academy  have many images available.

Alta Vista , Ask  and Google  have image search facilities and are worth checking for pictures of all kinds.

Picsearch.   A good image search engine.

Law

Citizens Advice Bureau  Basic legal rights information, in areas such as housing, benefits, consumer affairs, etc.

Community Legal Advice  provides details of solicitors and other legal advisors (e.g.Citizens Advice Bureau). It lists sources of free or cheap legal help, including Legal Aid. More information on Legal Aid is available from the Legal Services Commission.

Office for Public Sector Information  Full text of Parliamentary Acts from 1988 and Statutory Instruments from 1987.

Libraries, Museums and Archives

Havering

Havering Libraries  Check our catalogue, and the rest of the London Libraries consortium.

Regional

Essex Libraries  Check their catalogue through ELAN.

London Libraries  gives a guide to public, academic or specialist collections which allow some form of public access

MASC  maps access to special collections within the M25. 

WILL  covers all 32 London library boroughs catalogues in one search, London's local organisations and groups or museums and archives collections/exhibitions.  

National

Backstage  is a gateway to UK collections in the performing arts.

British Library . Search catalogues of its vast holdings (books, newspapers, recordings, etc). View digitised famous books.

Cornucopia  gives details of collections held in museums, libraries, galleries and archives throughout the UK. SCONEperforms a similar service for researchers hunting for collections in Scotland's University and Research libraries. 

Enrich  details 150 lottery- funded UK sites on culture, history and social and economic development 

UK Public Libraries on the Web  provides access to library catalogues throughout Britain.

Local Matters

Commission for Social Care Inspection  Reports for local residential care homes

Neighbourhood Statistics  Good source of statistics for the local area, as is Local Statistics where you can find various figures for the individual wards in Havering.

OFSTED  Provides postcode search for childminders, and inspection reports since April 2005.

Sustainable Communities Act  is an Act introduced in 2007 to help address community decline. This site gives the text of the Act and suggestions for how to use it.

Locating people or businesses

Finding addresses or telephone numbers is another popular aspect of the Internet. This can be done for individuals or businesses, nationally or internationally.

British Telecom  Click on Directory Enquiries and then do up to 10 searches per day. 

Companies House  lists both current and recently defunct businesses, as well as disqualified directors. Both sets of information are accessible via the Tools to Help You section of the site.

Embassy World  links to telephone directories from around the world.

To check a postcode, visit the Post Office, you can perform up to 15 searches per day.

Search  E-mail addresses. On the home page click on More, then go to People in Speciality Searches and select E-mail addresses.

Yellow Pages  Local business searches throughout Britain.

Newspapers, radio and TV 

The current edition of the Romford Recorder is available via an online archive, after registration.  It goes back to April 2006. The site also provides access to other newspapers from Essex, Kent and London.

Media UK  Links to the British media (TV, radio, newspapers). Links to British newspapers are also found via Infotrac.

City Business Librarynow has a list of newspapers stocked by London Libraries.

Newsplan  Locations for holdings of local newspapers in London and the South East. 

International Newspapers

For websites of foreign countries try kidon, onlinenewspapersor newspaperlink.

People with disabilities 

Assist  General information and advice.

British Council of Disabled People,  under Membership, has a directory of local and national groups which offer advice and contacts. Havering Association of People with Disabilitiesand Essex Coalition of Disabled People  work similarly, but focus on their respective areas.  

Disability Information and Advice Line  General information and advice 

Disability Rights Commission   Guidance on the Disability Discrimination Act in all of its aspects 

Havering College  The Learning Support Centre can help with accessing educational courses

London Sports Forum  is the place to look for involvement in a range of sports.

Blind/Partially Sighted and Deaf/Hearing Impaired

Action For Blind People  provides all kinds of advice for blind or partially sighted people. 

Listening Books  provides books on audio to anyone who suffers from an illness or disability and finds it difficult or impossible to hold or read a book. Service works through a postal lending library.

Royal National Institute for the Deaf

Royal National Institute for the Blind

Talking Newspaper

Politics and European Information 

Directgov  gives connections to Government departments and agencies, and many of their publications. There are A-Z connections to Central and Local Government. You can also search for information on a topic across all Government sites simultaneously

Europa  is a gateway to the European Union's legislation, policies and activities, in all of the official languages.

The election for the Mayor of London took place on May 1st 2008.  London Electsgives full details. Click on the Electoral Map section to get details of the local Electoral Services office and the 2004 results.

European Elections 2009Elections to the European Parliament will take place on June 4th 2009. This site lists all of the regional candidates in the UK, gives a history of past elections and will record the 2009 results.

The European Parliamentgives the view across the EU, including current political groupings, an interactive map and a Time Travel Machine, illustrating differences between 1979 and now. It also provides a results facility.

Parliament  Proceedings from 1988 onwards.

See also Government and Official Publications.

Sports and Games

Active Placesis Sport England's directory of sports clubs and facilities across England.

Havering Active Search by activity, club or facility within the borough. Includes health clubs and gyms.

Havering Sports Council  has contacts for a wide range of sports clubs in Havering.

Havering Sports Centres  has information on the centres at Hornchurch (Harrow Lodge Park), Harold Hill (Central Park Leisure Centre) and Rainham (Chafford Sports Complex).

Havering Sports Facilitieslists facilities in the borough's parks, also golf courses, ice skating, etc.

London 2012 Olympicsis the official site for the London Olympics.

International Olympic Committeeis the governing body for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Features news and a searchable database of all the medal winners since 1896.

Sport England Directory  lists the governing bodies of many sports along with their websites. A good way to help find local clubs or contacts for a particular sport.

Travel

Airlines of the World  provides airline timetables and routes.

Automobile Association  Directions for a journey by road, along with a printable map.

Sail and Drive  Ferries information.

Transport for London  Plan your journey through Greater London.

Traveline  provides links to routes and timetables for bus, coach and train services throughout Britain. 

What's On and Where in Romford, Essex and London  

Havering Council www.havering.gov.uk– See the Leisure section for information on local places to visit.

Essex Council  includes places to visit in the county.

Essex Uncovered  – Clubbing listings.

The Queen's Theatre is the borough's main theatre, and stages plays, concerts, musicals and dance performances.

London Town and Time Out  are good for events listings.

Visit London  is the city's official site and covers travel, events and accommodation. It can be searched at area, borough or postcode level.

Your London  provides a mass of information for the region, in three main sections, Living, Business and Visiting. Look out for the Find Your Nearest feature, which can be searched for commonly needed services like car parks, cash machines and chemists. 

If there are any subjects you think need to be included in this section, please email us.