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Reference Tools

Almanacs
Archives
Atlases & Gazetteers
Awards
Biographies
Calculators/Converters
College/University Web Sites, Degrees Offered, & Rankings

Dictionaries
Directories
E-Mail Discussion Groups
Encyclopedias
Job Outlook and Occupational Profiles
Library Catalogs
Odds and Ends

Phonebooks
Postal Information
Quotations
Resumes
Speeches
Statistics
Thesauri

Almanacs

• AFRO-American Almanac - An online presentation of the African in America
• Information Please
• World Almanac - World Almanac offers a fundamental reference source including biographies, encyclopedia entries, facts, and statistics. There are over 6,000 records and the database covers 1998 to the present. Full Text.

• Access to Archival Databases - Search by keyword or browse by category or subject. Contains 85 million historic electronic records from more than 30 federal government agencies.
• Anarchy Archives
• Archive Grid - Description: Historical documents, personal papers, and family histories in archives around the world.
• Archives Hub - Descriptions of archives found in colleges and universities in the U.K. Can search by name, subject, title, date or repository. Includes access information.
• ArchivesUSA - Provides information on more than 5,000 archival depositories in the United States that have combined holdings of more than 150,000 special collections. The database combines three index directories of primary source materials. First, an updated directory that supersedes the Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States, last published in 1988. Second, the collection records from the National Union Catalogue of Manuscript Collections, information gathered and compiled by the Library of Congress from the 1950s through 1995; and third, collections indexed in the National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States. The database is updated quarterly and is searchable by individual collection or repository site.
• Public Records Office: The National Archives - National archives of England, Wales, and the United Kingdom.
• Ready, 'Net, Go: Archival Internet Resources - Links to major indexes, lists, and databases of archival resources from around the world.
• Repositories of Primary Sources - A listing of web sites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources.
• U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) - Online access to historical records and materials, Federal Register, records of Congress, presidential libraries, and much more.

• Columbia Gazetteer of North America - Over 50,000 entries of geographical places and features.
• Geographic Names Information System - Information on nearly 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the U. S.
• Global Gazetteer - Directory of places in the world, including latitude, longitude, elevation, estimated population.
• Home Town Locator Gazetteer - Browse physical and cultural features for populated places in the U.S. (city, town, village or neighborhood). Provides census data and links to maps and aerial photos for the location.
• National Atlas - Many types of maps, including printable, wall maps and innovative maps. Information on map making and assembling your own map.
• The Worldfact Book - CIA-produced descriptive profiles of countries, territories and dependencies. Also, flags of the world.
• U.S. Gazetteer - Search by place name or ZIP code, then link to a map and obtain census data for the location.

• Literature Awards - Lists all the major national and international book awards. Over 200 literature awards listed.
• Pulitzer Prizes - Authoritative resource for both historical and current information about Pulitzer Prizes and the award.
• The Nobel Foundation - Authoritative resource for both historical and current information about Nobel Prizes, Nobel Laureates, and the Nobel Foundation.

• 300 Women Who Changed the World - Profiles of women who have left their mark on the world.
• Ancestry.com - Search over 2 billion names in hundreds of sources.
• Biographical Dictionary - Brief information on over 25,000 people in all fields, from ancient times to the present.
• Biographical Directory of the US Congress, 1774 to Present - Biographies on more than 13,000 individuals who have served in the national legislature and Continental Congress.
• Biographies of American Women - An index to biographies of notable women in American history.
• Biographies of Women Mathematicians - Covers mostly nineteenth century to the present with a few eighteenth century and before.
• Biography - Includes coverage of more than 20,000 people in all fields.
• Dead People Server - Links to biographies of more than 3,000 celebrities.
• Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online - Biographies of persons who died between 1000-1930.
• Dictionary of Welsh Biography - In Welsh and English.
• Distinguished Women of Past and Present - Biographies with related links of women from many fields throughout the world from many time periods.
• MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive - Biographies of over 1100 mathematicians arranged in alphabetical and chronological indexes.
• NASA Astronaut Biographies - Biographies of astronauts prepared by the Astronaut Office of the Johnson Space Center.
• Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records - Arranged by state, the website includes online death-related indexes, both free and fee-based. Links to local vital records offices.
• POTUS: Presidents of the United States - Biographies of all U. S. presidents.

• Convert-me.com - Interactive calculators for many common and exotic measurement systems.
• Dollar Times - Over 20 calculators for home and car loans, investments and savings, and personal finance.
• EH.Net's How Much Is That? - Supported by the Economic History Association, the website provides easy look up for historical prices, interest rates, GDP statistics, exchange rates, and inflation rates going back in some cases many centuries.
• FXConverter - A multilingual currency converter.
• How Far Is It? - Calculates distances between cities, states, and/or nations. May also enter latitude and longitude.
• Measure4Measure - Links to sites that perform calculation in science, math, health, finance, other.
• Online Conversion - Organized by type--temperature, length, cooking and much more. Can convert just about anything to anything else.
• Salary Calculator - Determine the salary you would need to make it in a new city, based on cost-of-living differences.
• The Universal Currency Converter
• U.S. National Debt Clock - Calculates the outstanding public debt. Reloads every second.
• U.S. Naval Observatory Master Clock Time - Converts official clock times around the world.
• What is a dollar worth? - Uses the Consumers Price Index to calculate how prices have inflated between any years from 1913 to 1998. Also provides annual inflation rates.
• World Population Clock - Calculates world population for any year from 1970 to the current time. Current population reloads every second.

• 4 International Education Directory of Colleges and Universities - Arranged by continent and country. The United States is listed state-by-state. Institutions are ranked by web popularity.
• American Universities - Links to homepages of American universities granting bachelor or advanced degrees.
• Braintrack University Index - An index to more than 8,000 institutions of higher education in 190 countries.
• College and University Rankings - Links to many ranking services, along with cautionary notes.
• College Opportunities On-Line (COOL) - Over 9,000 colleges and universities in the US search by geographic location, type of institution, discipline, name, degrees or certificates awarded, and other.
• College Profiles - Profiles of U.S. colleges and universities, including sub-lists of Catholic colleges, Christian colleges, black colleges, women's colleges, two-year colleges,and Canadian colleges and universities.
• CollegeSource - College and university catalogs for both undergraduate and graduate schools. If asked for an ID, use your social security number.
• Educational Central
• HBCU Mentor - A portal to historically Black colleges and universities of America.
• IIE Passport - For people of all ages planning to study abroad. Provides information on programs and sponsoring organizations.
• Liberal Arts College Review - Liberal arts, mostly private, colleges in the U.S.
• Study Abroad Directory - Search for international programs by country or subject.
• U.S. Universities by State
• Universities Worldwide - Links to over 6,500 universities in over 170 countries.
• University and College Websites - Arranged alphabetically by state, then by college or university. Links provided to main homepages.

• Acronym Finder - More than 3 million acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms.
• Acronyma - Over 450,000 acronyms and abbreviations, searchable by word or acronym. In English, Spanish, French and four other languages.
• Acronyms Server
• American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed.
• American Sign Language Dictionary
• Antagonyms - A dictionary of single words that have meanings that contradict each other.
• Cliche Finder - Enter a word or phrase and cliches using that phrase will be returned.
• Dictionary of Spanish - Over 56,000 entries and over 10,999 audio pronunciations.
• Dictionary.com - Links to many dictionary resources, including translations.
• DOD Dictionary of Military Terms - Military terms, including acronyms and abbreviations, from the Department of Defense and NATO.
• English-to-American Dictionary - British slang and its American counterpart.
• Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing (FOLDOC)
• Handspeak: A Sign Language Dictionary
• Heteronym Homepage - A dictionary of words spelled identically but have different meanings.
• Icelandic Online Dictionary and Readings
• Language to Language - Type a known term in one language and search for the corresponding term in one of 17 other languages.
• Latin Phrases and Words Used in English
• Media Glossary - Explanations of words and acronyms relating to media of all kinds.
• MedTerms - Explanation of more than 16,000 medical terms. From MedicineNet.com.
• Medterms.com Medical Dictionary
• Merriam-Webster Online - Choose from Online Dictionary, Spanish-English Dictionary, Medical Dictionary, or Thesaurus.
• Merriam-Webster Online: Open Dictionary - Submit or browse entries that are not in the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary yet.
• Metaglossary - Over two million terms, acronyms, and phrases. Provides definitions and Web links.
• NetLingo (Internet Terms) - Hundreds of words associated with the Internet and the World Wide Web.
• OneLook Dictionaries - Over 6 million words in nearly 1,000 dictionaries, including dictionaries in specialized subjects such as computers, medicine, religion, science, sports, and technology, as well as specialized areas such as acronyms and abbreviations dictionaries, slang dictionaries, pronunciation dictionaries, and spelling word lists.
• OneLook Reverse Dictionary - Type in a concept and receive a list of words and phrases related to that concept. For use when you cannot remember a certain word or phrase.
• Online Etymology Dictionary - Origins and historical development of words.
• Oxford English Dictionary - Requires authentication for off campus use.
• Rhyme Zone - Type in a word to find its rhymes, synonyms, definitions, and more. Many other features.
• TheFreedictionary.com
• WordReference.com - A large bilingual dictionary for English to Spanish, German, French, or Italian and vice versa.
• Xlation.com: Resources for Translation Professionals - Multiple links to dictionaries, glossaries and word lists, and resources for grammar and idioms.
• YourDictionary.com - Contains a Quick Lookup dictionary, foreign language translations, specialized glossaries, and lexical databases.

• Associations on the Net - Guide to web sites of prominent organizations and associations. Can search by era, region, topic or keyword. Part of the Internet Public Library website.
• Chamber Directory Search Page - Directory of U.S. Chambers of Commerce. Search by state or chamber name.
• Chamber of Commerce.com - Directory of local Chamber of Commerce, including web links.
• Directory of American's Hospitals - Facts and figures on more than 6000 hospitals, including information of types of treatment available, specialized services, and contact information.
• Findlaw
• Foreign Embassies of Washington, DC
• Museums.com - Search for museums, galleries, events and exhibitions.
• National Environmental Directory - Information on over 13,000 organizations in the U.S. concerned with environmental issues and education.
• podCast411 - Directory of directories of podcasts.
• Scholarly Societies Project - Links to over 3,400 international academic and scholarly societies. Search by subject, country, language, or founding date.
• U.S. Blue Pages - The online guide to the U.S. federal government agencies and services. Search by state, city, area code, agency or service and keyword.
• U.S. Embassies and Consulates (worldwide)
• Zoos Worldwide - List of zoos, aquariums, animal santuaries and wildlife parks by country. Links to web page, when possible.

• How to Subscribe to Discussion Lists - Commands for managing LISTSERV, LISTPROC, MAJORDOMO.
• L-Soft CataList - The official catalog of LISTSERV lists.

• AllRefer.com Health - A medical and health information resource containing databases of health articles and reference material.
• Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.
• Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, (1911) - Considered by many to be the best encyclopedia ever written.
• Healthopedia.com - A medical and health consumer information resource.
• Love To Know—Classic Encyclopedia - Based on the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1911).

• Career Guide to Industries - Careers in industries, e.g., banking, utilities, etc. Complements Occupational Outlook Handbook (below).
• Employment Projections - Occupational statistics and employment projections.
• NIU Major WebLinks - Match college majors to careers.
• O*NET Online - Explore occupations by worker attributes and job characteristics.
• Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 - Searchable database for profiles of approximately 250 occupations covering training and education needed, earnings expected job prospects, working conditions, and other. Gives job search tips and information about the job market in each State.
• Salary Expert.com - Compensation data by job titles and location.
• Salary.com - Salary information for industries and thousands of job titles.

• British Manuscripts Catalogue - Information on the catalogs of the British Library's Department of Manuscripts, 1753 - .
• FirstGov.gov Libraries - An A to Z index with links to all kinds of government libraries, research centers, listservs, as well as state and local libraries and grants for libraries.
• Libraries Around the World - Library online catalogs from around the world.
• Lib-web-cats - Searchable by library name or location. Links to information on more than 4,000 library web pages, online catalogs, and system profiles worldwide.
• Libweb-Library Servers via WWW - Arranged geographically worldwide and for the Unites States, type of library. Keyword searchable. Can limit to academic, public, national, state, special or school libraries, as well as library organizations and regional consortia for the U.S.
• National Library Catalogues Worldwide - Links to national library catalogues. Arranged alphabetical by country.
• The European Library - Eleven million objects from 43 European national libraries.
• University and College Libraries - Alphabetical listing of colleges and universities worldwide with links to the respective library.

• Anybirthday.com - Database of birth dates for over 135 million Americans, living or dead.
• Chambers Book of Days - A collection of "On this Day" trivia, short pieces, and other interesting tidbits.
• Encyclopedia of Days - Descriptions of holidays from all over the world. Grouped by country or religion.
• Federal Citizen Information Center - A one-stop source for answers to questions about consumer problems and government services.
• Flags of the World - Over 51,000 images of flags by country and topic. Includes flags history.
• FreeBooknotes.com - A guide to over 2500 book book summaries, literature notes, and study guides to more than 1,600 books, plays or poems.
• The Official U.S. Time
• time and date.com - Provides a time zone menu, world clock, date calculator, date/time countdown, customized calendars, and more.
• World Flag Database - Flags of the world.
• World Public Holidays Database - Searchable by country, and year.
• World Time Server - Times for locations worldwide. Can enter locations by city or country as well as future dates and times.

• 411.com - White pages, yellow pages, reverse phone and address directories, area codes and zip codes.
• All Nations Expatriates and Travelers Telephone Search Engine - Provides calling code instruction from each of the world's nations to any other nation. Can also search every online telephone directory in the world, and get international rates and country voltage.
• Allpages - U.S. business directory and yellow pages. Search by keyword, city or zip, state (required) and subject category.
• AnyWho - Yellow pages, white pages, and reverse lookup.
• Country and City Telephone Codes by Long Distance Post
• International Dialing Codes
• NumberFinder.com - USA telephone numbers and a reverse lookup that will find the owner of a number.
• Phonebook.com - Numerous search capabilities.
• Telephone Directories on the Web - Over 400 links to yellow and white pages, business directories, and email and fax listings from over 170 countries.
• U.S. Blue Pages - The online guide to the U.S. federal government agencies and services. Search by state, city, area code, agency or service and keyword.

• PostalRates.Info - Information on rates, codes, philately, and authorities around the world.
• Postmaster Finder - Information on postmasters and post offices. Search by city, county, state or zip code.
• Zip Code Lookup - Look up a ZIP code by address, city or company. Also, find a city by ZIP code.
• Zipinfo.com - For any ZIP Code, find the city and state, plus the time zone, MSA/PMSA code, area code, and latitude/longitude.

• An Archive of Memorable Quotes by Women
• Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
• Creative Quotations
• Quotations and Proverbs Search - Links to multiple databases for finding quotations, proverbs, slogans, cliches, song lyrics and more.
• Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page
• Simpson's Contemporary Quotations, 1950-1988
• The Quotations Page

• Job-hunt.org - All about Internet Resumes.
• ResumeHelp.org. - Tips and samples for writing a resume and cover letter. Interview tips.
• Susan Ireland Resumes - Hundreds of examples. Also, cover letters interviewing & salary tips.

• American Rhetoric - More than 5,000 full-text, audio and video public speeches, plus the 100 most significant American political speeches of the 20th century.
• Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World - Can be searched alphabetically or chronologically, 1848-.
• History Channel's Speech Archive
• History Place: Great Speeches Collection
• Say It Plain: A Century of Great African American Speeches - Read or listen to transcripts of speeches by famous African Americans.
• State of the Union Addresses of the American Presidents - Search and analyze addresses from 1790-current.
• State of the Union Addresses, 1945- - Archived transcripts of all State of the Union addresses from Harry Truman onwards. Those from 1989 onward include video footage. Maintained by C-SPAN.

• CityTownInfo - Demographic data, climate data, housing stats and other useful information on over 20,000 U.S. places.
• Cyberschoolbus - Statistics on individual United Nation member states. Compare country data.
• eCanned: The Economy in a Can - Uses blog technology to deliver economic information at multiple levels-- county, Metropolitan State Area, state, and national. Searchable by place name or subject.
• FedStats - Gateway to statistics to over 100 U.S. Federal agencies.
• GenderStats - A database of gender statistics. Search by country and category.
• GeoHive: Global Statistics
• Global Health Facts - Data by country and topic. Can compare a given statistics against data from all countries.
• Illinois Statistical Abstract - Economic and demographic data relating to Illinois and to political subdivisions within the state.
• Nation Master - A large central data source of country statistics that can be used to graphically compare nations.
• Pocket Guide to Transportation 2004 - Bureau of Transportation statistics on passenger miles, security, traffic fatalities, freight shipments, fuel efficiency, ratings, etc.
• Portals to the World - Arranged by country and other areas of the world with links for each sorted into a wide range of categories. The electronic resources were selected by the Library of Congress subject experts.
• StateMaster.com - Research and compare a multitude of different data on U. S. states. Profiles for each state provided.
• States and Capitals - Statistics on states and capitals arranged by 67 pieces of information with corresponding links.
• Statistical Abstract of the United States - Statistics from the U.S. census with data covering from the most recent Statistical Abstracts of the United States to the historical abstracts going back to 1878.
• Statistical Resources on the Web - Select from an extensive subject index.
• The Worldfact Book - CIA-produced descriptive profiles of countries, territories and dependencies. Also, flags of the world.
• World Statesmen - Online encyclopedia of nations, colonies, international, and religious groups. Country facts, chronologies, maps, anthems, flags, and other.

• Merriam-Webster Thesaurus
• Roget’s International Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases
• Roget's Thesauri - Search either Roget'Æs II: The New Thesaurus, 3 rd ed. (1995) or Roget's International Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (1992).
• The ARTFL Project: Roget's Thesaurus Search Form