The truth is that most, if not all, Information Architects have a toolset of interactions that we use over and over again. This is usually because we’ve observed interactions at certain jobs that happen over and over again (come on, how many different ways are there to design an effective sign-in screen?). Because of this, my information architecture and screen designs are very, very boring — but effective.

Here are a few of my favorite resources:

• Internet Studies has a really good list of sites that have stored design patterns that they use when coming up with ideas.
• UI Patterns is one of the best libraries I’ve seen, and some of the patterns there, I’ve used for years.
• Here’s Yahoo’s design pattern library — they aren’t the best example because their IA across channels is all over the place, but at least they have something documented.
• The best book I have ever seen about this is Designing Interfaces, and this is the website.