Deep in the Heart of Texas

For our practice question, we were to answer the following question as submitted by email to a University library: I'm doing an informative speech on Texas for a group of visiting Scottish high school students. Can you send me a couple of web sites with some basic and/or interesting facts? I need basics like demographics and wildlife but I'd also like some memorable historical facts that will leave them with a positive impression of the state."

No problem! I just did a basic search on "Texas" on the Internet Public Library's search engine, and came up with a few good links, right away. The Texas Almanac is great at giving both hard demographic facts and historical tidbits. Texas Treasures, the online exhibit of historical artifacts and documents (produced by the Texas State Library & Archives Commission) also provides a good mix of information.

This question just seemed too easy. I must be getting better at knowing where to start looking when I get a request. I think if the request is academic, I hit up the UT libraries subject search, and if it seems less academic (like this one), my first stop is the Internet Public Library. It's hard to analyze every small decision I make when answering reference questions but I keep trying to do that, so I know the rules I make for myself and subsequently follow. I know not to be too dependent on UT libraries since I won't be a grad student forever, but since I use the Austin Public Library resources so much at work, I figure it's a good way to get practice elsewhere.