You can retrieve files from netlib in many ways, including e-mail, ftp, xnetlib, mosaic and rcp.
If you know the package containing the software
you want,
here's how to get the index file for it:
For more information about file retrieval from netlib,
finger anon@netlib2.cs.utk.edu.
For more information about Xnetlib,
echo "send index from xnetlib" | mail netlib@ornl.gov