Below you will find a ranked list of Subject Directories/Virtual Libraries. These tools differ dramatically from the search directories of search tools in that they are maintained by individuals or groups of individuals--in many cases professional librarians--who select resources linking to "good information."
AcademicInfo provides a subject list directory of sites and resources concentrating on authoritative information for academic or higher education uses.
The Virtual Reference Shelf is topical list of online resources for research from the Library of Congress.
The Internet Public Library 2, (IPL2), is a merged collection of sites from the Internet Public Library and the Librarian's Index to the Internet. The combination of the two is better that both.
The Best of the Web is categorized list of sites that are rich in content and organized by topic and region that is also searchable by keywork.
The Open Directory Project is a collection sites that is simple to search and organizes the retrieved sites by categories and by individual sites.
A1WebDirectory.org is a collection of Web sites organized into general categories with subheadings with short descriptions.
JoeAnt is directory of Web sites chosen by editors and organized into subjects.