I teach at the University of Illinois at Chicago on occasion, and let me tell you, if I knew as a student what I now know as an instructor, I'd have a Nobel Prize by now. Here was one amazing discovery: university librarians know a lot about research. All those years ago, I thought they were glorified clerks.

What do research librarians do while undergraduates are snubbing them? They prepare research guidelines - lists of resources that can be used to get information on a specific topic. Just because you are not on campus doesn't mean you can't use them.

The National Library of Australia has guides to resources on Australia's culture and people.

Rutgers has a detailed list of business and finance research resources. Some databases site are available only with a Rutgers ID, but you may be able to get to them through your public library.

Interested in the environment and related design issues? Cal-Berkeley has prepared this comprehensive compendium.

For international affairs, the United Nations has a guide to using their materials.

By the way, all of these were found through a simple keyword search for library research guides.