GENERAL SEARCH
GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC SERVICES
SOCIAL WORK AND SERVICES
SOCIAL SCIENCE & SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH
LISTS
HEALTH
SERVICES, CONSULTANCIES & TRAINING
VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS
GENERAL SEARCH
GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC SERVICES
SOCIAL WORK AND SERVICES
SOCIAL SCIENCE & SOCIAL SERVICES RESEARCH
LISTS
HEALTH
SERVICES, CONSULTANCIES & TRAINING
VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS
Opening search engines from here is often quicker, though less comprehensive, that using the search facility on your web browser. For UK based resources try Yahoo UK or Alta Vista UK.. For international resources try Excite - or Infoseek . Search engines are often the quickest way of targeting specifics on the web like, for example a named disease or condition.
We are not going to offer a cut price web directory in competition with, for example, the BBC just a few sites which we have found especially useful for different purposes. For telephone numbers in the UK try UKphonebook for yellow and white pages. A very useful source of local maps is Multimap . For train travel go to Rail timetable . If you're flying try Air flights and fares (one of many). In fact there are now web resources of this kind for most purposes, if you look around.
The on-line bookshops like The Internet Bookshop, Amazon.co.uk and Waterstones (UK & Ireland) are useful both for buying books and for finding them for reference. If buying they are usually competitively priced, but beware, not always after you add postage.Most publishers have a web site. Jessica Kingsley Publishers (social work & related) has published a book by Keith Fletcher an thus deserves special mention!
For an excellent information resource and gateway for research papers try the NISS page library and resources link.
The best general news service of all (In my humble opinion) is BBC News. In fact the whole BBC site is just amazing, entertaining and useful for a great many things. There are many other news services which are also useful for an alternative perspective for example the International News Service is exactly what it says.
If you are wanting to improve you Internet skills I can throughly recommend Netskills both for their website and their courses site.
Finally for general citizens' advice I am indebted to Conny Carnuth for posting two excellent information resources Community Legal Service and Helplines
If you don't know the direct route the most useful general starting point for government departments, local authorities and other public bodies is the UK Government home page. There is no point in providing, in effect, a duplicate list here but you might find the relatively new and independent LGNow site for local government useful. We have also included The National Assembly for Wales as a special service for our fellow residents of the Principality. All government press releases are now located together at the COI site .
For government publications search Her Majesty's Stationery Office site first.
If you need to know about the Human Rights Act try this government site.
Since it first appeared on this links page Virtual Social Work has become the British social work site on the Web. It has an excellent links page; an very useful benefits page and, if you are looking for a job the jobs page is unmissable. We have no commercial links with its owner, Conny Carnuth, and are delighted to endorse the site with enthusiasm. Other UK sites of considerable importance (other than this one!) are The National Institute for Social Work , BASW , Centre for Human Service Technology from Southampton University, the Association of Directors of Social Services and Social Services Links. The key link to the rapidly changing social work training scene is CCETSW
There are too many international sites to list but Gary Holden's site at New York University. is a definite must and probably the most comprehensive in the World. An interesting European social work site (in English) is at forum.sozialarbeit.de
Looking for a job? Another excellent site for the purpose is Care and Health.com . It is also a useful resource site for the kind of service range which its name implies.
If you are looking for a specifically children's services site try this Canadian child welfare site or the International Child Care site known as Child house.
A key issue for most of us in the social services field is the implications of the Human Rights Act. There are several sites about it including one from the Home Office and one from Department of Health.
For a specialist range of sites we have not been able to improve on the old SocNet page which preceded the SSSP site. I can't guarantee that all the links work but a lot still do. See if you can find what you want at Social Care & Health Information. If you find dead links or have suggestions for new ones, let us know.
An interesting and enterprising new site promoting social work training resources on CD-ROM (the first of its kind as far as we know) can be found at www.virtualtraining.co.uk.The author Tarsem Singh Cooner has made a useful start with a CD-ROM called "Race and Social Work". Watch this space: an exciting new development. We have recently come across another developer of relevant interactive training Information PLUS though we haven't seen the material they are developing.
Community Care Magazine has just opened up its web site. It is mostly a subscription site, which is a pity, but there is a useful social care news section which is free and the jobs pages are also free so it's well worth a visit.
Finally there is a growing interest in the resources that counselling can add to a variety of services. One of the few UK based counselling services with a web site at the moment is our own close associate Impact Counselling for Change .
If you are fortunate enough to receive the hard copy summaries of the Joseph Rowntree research programme you will be pleased to know that they now have a spot at the JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION site. There is an excellent range of research resources on the Web. With perceverance you can find almost everything between them and the Government sites. One which is a bit of both is the Scottish Researchweb. It may originate from Scotland but its resources are extensive.
Regard say of themselves:-
REGARD is a key source of information in UK social science research.
It is a searchable bibliographic database on the World Wide Web
providing in-depth information on ESRC (Economic & Social
Research Council) funded research and all associated publications and
products. It is publicly and freely available at http://www.regard.ac.uk
Our investigation so far bears this out.
One of the major research sites relevant to people interested in social science is SOSIG and its excellent search engine Harvester. A prodigious resource!
"The Electronic Library for Social Care is in the early stages of development" (to quote NISW) but well worth a visit already (to quote SSSP).
We are not members of the Social Work Alliance but some of the chat on the UK social work list was very complimentary; it's not free though.
A database of specifically social work research can be found at The University of Central Lancashire . We have used this site on occasion and have found it well worth a visit for searches about research on social work related subjects.
E-mail lists are a useful way of keeping in touch and exchanging ideas and information. For British social services people the general social work list run now as part of the large mailbase is indispensable. You'll find details of how to join on the specific page for social work. A fairly comprehensive list of specialist lists can be found at listservs for social workers. Two more lists you might want to look at are the Social Work Access Network and Sociosite. Both sites are American.
The health academic establishment has been using the Internet a lot longer than social services and there is a huge number of specialist sites concerned with specific disorders and syndromes. The best way to find them is usually through the general search engines: simply enter the word or phrase in the box.
For government sponsored information about health the Department of Health site itself is usually best. Another key site for UK health interests is that of the NHS. Some journals also carry very good sites, none better, in my opinion, than the British Medical Journal. Finally, for the big issues, visit the World Health Organisation
We haven't carried links to other services up until now but there is a growing number with useful recources which are described on the Web. We start with a couple with which we have a close association. Pi Associates is a management and training organisation for which we have a high regard and with whom we have worked in the past. Agencies considering the provision of staff counselling for their staff should have a look at Impact Counselling, one of the few British counselling services with a site on the Web.
This is the last replacement for the original SocNet site. It has stood the test of time. After two and a half years very few of the original links have had to be updated but it is untidy and incomplete. We plan to reorganise it over the next few months. In the meantime if you would like to add your site (or someone else's you think would be useful) please let us know at Webmaster@sssp.co.uk
© SSSP Ltd., September 2003