The mission of the Virtual Learning Resources Center is to index thousands of the best academic information websites, selected by teachers and library professionals worldwide, in order to provide to students and teachers current, valid information for school and university academic projects!

The Virtual LRC is both a dedicated index of over 10,000 web pages maintained by a real human being, as well as a meta-search engine that includes in its results information gleaned from many of the best research portals and university and public library Internet subject guides recommended by teachers and librarians.

The VLRC includes selected sites in a growing list of subject/information areas including: full-text magazines, newspapers, electronic text archives, art history, biography, biology, career information, psychology, history, government information, literature, medical information, social sciences, legal information, American Civil War, Art, Careers, Crime, Directories, Economics, Education, English Language, Electronic Texts, Foreign Languages, Geography, Genealogy, Government Information,Health/Medical, History, Legal Information, Lesson Plans, Literature, Mathematics, Music, Reference, Science, Technology, Tutorials on the Web, and Writing Style Guides.

The Virtual LRC is actually a suite of three databases. In addition to the main index/browser/subject guide, there is also VLRC MagBot, full-text magazine reference and research site offering free hot-topic magazine and journal articles, and VLRC Alphamarks, the subject-classified bookmarks of the Virtual Learning Resources Center. Both VLRC MagBot and VLRC Alphamarks are indexed through the main VLRC index/meta search engine/web directory. These three in combination offer a powerful technology to help users find the most relevant information for their academic needs.

A special new feature is that on every search results page users have the option to extend their search by using the Gigablast search engine to query additional selected sites recommended by teachers and librarians world-wide.

The Virtual LRC, a completely free, non-commercial resource, is the creation of Dr. Michael Bell, former state chair of the Texas Association of School Librarians. The Virtual LRC is in a constant state of revision. Please contact us using the email form accessible on the main page, and feel free to recommend specific additions to the site, or more general improvements that you feel would help make the VLRC even more facilitative of student information needs.

Enjoy!
Dr. Michael Bell