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VIRTUAL REFERENCE

Welcome the Virtual Reference page at the James B. Duke Memorial Library. Students, faculty, staff, and visitors should use the links on this page to access general reference material for class or personal research needs. The content of the websites provided varies from dictionaries, thesauri, and encyclopedias to calendars, calculators, and directories. Users should keep in mind that no website featured on the Virtual Reference page is owned or endorsed by Johnson C. Smith University or the James B. Duke Memorial Library.

Acronyms

Acronym Finder

Acronym Search

BABEL: Glossary of Computer Oriented Abbr. & Acronyms

Abbreviations and Acronyms of the U.S. Government

 

Almanacs

50 States.com - Provides information about each state, including capitals, flags, birds, and songs.

CIA World Factbook - Factual reference material on countries of the world.

Information Please  - A ready-reference library of information derived from its well-known publications.

Old Farmer's Almanac

Portals to the World - from the Library of Congress that will provide information on all the nations and areas of the world.  Includes General Resources, Government and Law, Literature and Culture, News and Current Events, Libraries, Business and Residential Directories for the various areas.

Today in History -- American Memory Project

 

Associations

Association on the Net
"A collection of over 2000 Internet sites providing information about a wide variety of professional and trade associations, cultural and art organizations, political parties and advocacy groups, labor unions, academic societies, and research institutions. Abstracts summarizing information about the association and its site are provided

Scholarly Societies Project
A gateway to the websites of scholarly societies around the world, searchable by subject, country, language, and founding date.

 

Automotive

Edmunds – provides True Market Value® pricing, unbiased car reviews, ratings, and expert advice to help you get a fair deal

Kelley Blue Book – gives used and new car pricing, safety and quality ratings, record checks and more

NADA – new and used car pricing, reviews, tips & advice

 

Awards

Academy Awards Database (Oscars)

Book Awards

Emmy Awards (Television)

Grammy Awards (Music-searchable)

Nobel Prize Internet Archive
Includes all of the Nobel prize winners in literature, physics, chemistry, peace, economics, and physiology & medicine, along with brief bios. Also part of the site are a list of the current Ig Nobel Prize winners and a list of women Nobel prize winners.

Peabody Awards (Radio)

Pulitzer Prize winners

 

Biographies

American Presidents

Biographical Dictionary

Biography  - an online collection of 15,000 cross-referenced biographies from A&E Television .

Biography Center

Dead People Server – obituary information searchable by name or date

Who's Alive and Who's Dead - tracks which famous people have died and which are still alive

 

Books

Book Spot links to numerous sites about books – prize winners, bestsellers, authors, and a book discussion center

Center for the Book – Themes, projects, literary events and programming related to books and reading

 Comic Books – University of Buffalo Arts and Sciences Library provides an annotated resource guide for comic books, including portals, guides, news, magazines, journals, history and bibliographies

 MGPL Webrary – Want to read a good book? Morton Grove Public Library provides a topical list of books by genre, character, setting, subject, author and audience

 NetLibrary – eBooks and audio books available through NCLIVE

 

Business

Ameriprise Financial
Interactive financial tools that users can activate to create their own personal financial profile. Also available are the latest economic research and news and the latest economic statistics. 

Annual Report Gallery
Contains over 2,200 annual reports, covering the majority of the Fortune 500 companies. Searchable by company name, ticker symbol, exchange type, industry, sector and alphabet

BizLink
Your Online Business Resource – highly selective list of business resources

CNNfn
Provides up-to-date business news.

Guides to Business Information on the Web

Kiplinger Online
Includes information on investments, retirement, saving and borrowing, your home, insurance, taxes, kids and money, small business, and spending. 

The Motley Fool 
Provides investing advice and tutorials.

U.S. Small Business Administration - provides useful information on how to start a business. Resources available include a guide to creating your own business plan, a list of financial and marketing assistance programs, a directory of SBA offices, and counseling and training resources.

 

Calculators

Bank Rate Monitor  
Provides consumer rates on savings, mortgages, auto loans, home equity loans, credit cards, checking account, ATM, and online fees.

Calculators On-Line Center
Hundreds of calculators, from Agriculture to Wind Pressure, and everything in between.

Current Value of Old Money
Answers the question, "how much would a specified amount of money at a certain period of time be worth today?"  Includes currencies from several countries.

iFigure.com
Provides links to calculators divided into categories for living, money, business, mathematics, engineering and science.  Each category is further divided into subcategories with descriptions of possible uses.

How much is that worth today?
Brought to you by Economic History Services, this calculator compares "the purchasing power of money in the United States (or Colonies) from 1665 to any other year including the present." 

Inflation calculator
A simple web page from S. Morgan Friedman that adjusts any given amount of money for inflation, according to the Consumer Price Index, from 1800 to 1997

Online Conversion
This site contains over 8,000 conversions organized by type. Examples: pints to ounces, Fahrenheit to Celsius, hours to seconds.

Personal Finance Calculators
Mortgage and 100 other personal finance calculators.

Scientific Calculator
Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and higher math.

What is a dollar worth?
This site allows users to enter any year from 1913 and a dollar amount purchased. Then another year is entered, and the "CPI Calculation Machine" produces an equivalent dollar amount for that year. The calculator will work both forward and backward in time. The site also provides an annual table of the CPI-All, from 1913.

 

Calendars

American Secular Holidays Calendar

Calendar Zone

Ecclesiastical Calendar

Perpetual calendar 

Time and Date.com

Today's Date
Allows conversion of a date according to various calendars (e.g., Julian, Mayan, Islamic, Hebrew)

 

Career Resources

America’s Career InfoNet – search for career information by occupation or industry

America's Job Bank

Career Exploration Links – occupational information of special interest to the multicultural population

Career Voyages (Department of Labor) – Includes a tutorial and information on emerging industries and hot new careers

Career Zone – Browse career clusters

Chronicle of Higher Education-Career Network

College Board Major & Career Profiles

Employment Spot

Monster.com

Occupational Outlook Handbook

O*Net Online

Yahoo! HotJobs Assessment

 

Consumers

Better Business Bureau – information on over 2.5 million businesses

 

Dictionaries

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.)

American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

Browser's Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases

Cambridge International Dictionaries Online
Designed for the international or second-language speaker, this site allows users to search four Cambridge dictionaries.

Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Dictionary.com
Includes dictionaries, Roget's Thesaurus, Strunk's Elements of Style, and Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.

Dictionary of Cultural Literacy

First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy

Foolish Dictionary: An Exhausting Work of Reference to Un-certain English Words

Foreignword.com
"The Language Site"

Merriam-Webster Dictionary 

NTC's American Idioms Dictionary: The Most Practical Reference for the Everyday

NTC's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

One Look

Online Etymology Dictionary

A Web of Online Dictionaries
Provides over 150 foreign language dictionaries, as well as thesauri and grammars.

Western European Online Dictionaries

WordSmyth
"...an innovative and evolving language reference source that meshes the functions of a dictionary and a thesaurus with powerful and flexible search capabilities."

 

Digital Collections

NetLibrary – ebooks and audiobooks available through NCLIVE

OAIster – “a collection of freely available, previously difficult-to-access, academically-oriented digital resources”

The Online Books Page – over 25,000 freely available e-books

Perseus Digital Library – digital library

Project Gutenburg – free e-books online  

Wright American Fiction – full-text access to almost every novel published in the U.S. from 1851 to 1875.

 

Dissertations

Online Dissertation Services
Web searching and ordering of U.S. dissertations

 

Education

American Universities
Links to American universities.

America's Best Graduate Schools

Business Week's Business School Rankings

The Condition of Education  
"This report focuses on indicators of the participation and persistence in education, student performance and other outcomes, the environment for learning, and societal support for education, with particular attention to children's experiences and achievements in kindergarten and first grade."

Digest of Education Statistics 
Education statistics for the U.S., from kindergarten through graduate school.

GRE (Graduate Record Exams) online  
Information about the Graduate Record Exam, including dates of administration.

Mapping your Future
Provides a guide to selecting a college and career, an overview of financing options, and information on handling student debt.

National Center for Education Statistics

North Carolina Educational Web Resources – state symbols, history, historic sites, museums, universities, and resources for educators and students

North Carolina Standard Course of Study – North Carolina Department of Instruction standards

Official MBA Guide
"A comprehensive source of MBA program information for prospective MBA students."

Peterson's Education and Career Center
Provides information on colleges throughout the country, costs of education and financial aid, and tips for preparing for college.

Princeton Review Online 
Information on standardized tests for college entrance.

Study Abroad Sources at Perkins Library
A bibliography of library materials that provide information on opportunities for study abroad.

U.S. News and World Report  "Work & Career"
Contains information that prospective undergraduates and graduates will find useful. Includes a
career forum, descriptions of "hot job tracks," help with career choices, and articles on timely topics.rankings and information on the application process, financial aid, and careers.

U.S. News and World Report "College" 
Includes a six-step guide to the admissions process, rankings of colleges, campus profiles, information about majors and career paths, and several interactive tools.

World Universities
Links to universities throughout the world.

 

Elections

Election Statistics
Provides federal biennial election data from 1920 to 2000, which can be viewed in pdf format. Data for the last three federal elections are also available as HTML files. Each file contains vote counts from every state and territory in the US for congressional and presidential elections.

Elections 2000
Includes election process, campaign finances, presidential candidates, historical presidential elections, public opinion polls, news sources, lobby groups, and policy issues, among others. A few of the resources listed are only available to users at the University of Michigan or subscribing institutions.

Project Vote Smart 
Project Vote Smart tracks the performance of over 13,000 political leaders

 

Encyclopedias

Columbia Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia Britannica -- 1911 Edition

Encyclopedia Smithsonian

Encyclopedias -- My Facts Page

Wikipedia (Word of Caution -- anyone may submit and/or edit information in this online encyclopedia.)

 

Exchange Rates

Oanda Currency Converter

 

Flags

Flags

 

Genealogy

Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Links – Searchable, with links to over 250,000 genealogy sites

DAR Genealogical Records Index – indexes unpublished bible and cemetery transcriptions collected by Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) members

Ellis Island: American Family Immigration History Center – covers 1892 to 1924 when over 22 million passengers and crew members passed through Ellis Island; search for a passenger’s name and see a digitized page from the manifest

Family Search (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) – “largest collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records in the world”

The Genealogy Home Page – Links to guides, tips, and resources on genealogy

Vital Records – shows how to obtain birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, etc. from all 50 states

 

Government and Politics

Allpolitics.com
Provides breaking news from CNN and wire sources, plus a wealth of information on political races and issues.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present

Core Documents of U. S. Democracy
"The basic Federal Government documents that define our democratic society," including the constitution, the bill of rights, selected Supreme Court decisions, the budget, census catalog, and the US Government Manual.

FirstGov
This site, which consolidates 20,000 government Web sites, allows Internet users to search for government information by topic.

IRS Tax Forms

Meet the Mayors
Includes photos, city population, phone and fax numbers, next election date, email address, and a link to the relevant city's Website.

Patent Searching – Searchable full text patent databases from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, beginning January 1, 1976 to the present

Roll Call
The people, politics, and process of the U.S. Congress, including major news stories that the big-city dailies miss.

Thomas: Legislative information on the Internet
Contains the full text of U.S. legislation, background information, and an overview of each day's proceedings.

United States Copyright Office  links to general information and publications

U.S. Government Manual
Covers agencies in all three branches of the government as well as "quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates;and boards, commissions, and committees."

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

 

Grammar

American Heritage Book of English Usage, 1996

On Line English Grammar

 

Grants and Funding

Financial Aid Information Page  
This page provides links to sources of information about student financial aid.

The Foundation Center Online  
"Serving the information needs of grantseekers and grantmakers."

Graduate Study Funding
A list of fellowships and grants for graduate study or dissertation research and/or writing.

 

Health

CNN Health News

Family Doctor
Sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians, this site provides health handouts, self-care flowcharts, and search and browse capabilities.

Healthfinder
In addition to hot topics and news, this site provides pages segmented by gender and age group and Spanish language pages.

Healthweb
Provides organized access to evaluated non-commercial, health related, Internet-accessible resources." Over 70 subjects are in the main directory, with 40 of these providing links to sites covering health issues from AIDS to women's health.

InteliHealth
This site from Aetna US Healthcare and Johns Hopkins University and Health System provides a large amount of detailed, current health and medical information for consumers and professionals.

MayoClinic.com 
Health information from the Mayo Clinic.

MEDLINEplus
Information for the health care consumer from the premier bibliographic database for medical information.

The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy

National Women's Health Information Center

RxList  - Internet drug index.

 

History

American History full text
The main body of this hypertext comes from a number of USIA-publications: An Outline of American History, An Outline of the American Economy, An Outline of American Government, and An Outline of American Literature.

The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School
The Project seeks to "mount digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government," dating from the Athenian Constitution onwards. The documents are presented both chronologically and by topic (under Major Collections).

A Biography of America
This site sponsored by Annanberg/CPB provides  a timeline of central events in American history from "New World Encounters" through 1998, maps, a transcript of the video from which this emanated, and an annotated list of links.

HyperHistory Online  
Provides timelines that graphically display 3,000 years of world history and include brief biographies

 

Jobs

AcdJobs
Links to employers who post jobs online, employment agencies, job banks and other career resources that serve the USA.

Career Builder  
Where employers and employees click.

Employment Spot

Hotjobs
Job listings, searchable by keyword, company, or location.

JobHuntersBible.com 
This site is designed as a supplement to the 2003 edition of What Color is Your Parachute? a Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers.

Jobs Online
Includes salary information, job postings, and career resources.

Monster Board
Includes job search, career center, recruiters' center, and a job search agent.

Net-Temps
Targeted specifically to the contract and temporary employment markets.

Occupational Outlook Handbook 
Provides a thumbnail sketch of 250 occupations, including information about the nature of the work, working conditions, employment, training, the job outlook, earnings, and related occupations.

 

Law

ABA Network Lawyer Locator
Provides basic information about 900,000+ lawyers and law firms, mostly in the US. The database can be searched by individual, firm, location, corporation, or government agency.

Findlaw – Free legal website for the public and professionals

Finding Court Opinions on the Web
A gateway to resources on Supreme, circuit, and district court links, as well as presents courts and cases on a state-by-state basis.

Legal Encyclopedia
A compendium of brief advice on fifteen legal topics, including small business, patent, copyright & trademark, legal research, wills & estate planning, and real estate.

Mardindale-Hubbell Lawyer Locator

 

Library

The Internet Public Library

Know Play
"Our mission is to simplify access to useful and high quality information services."  One can search for general, dictionary, encyclopedia, acronym, phone, and financial information. 

Librarians' Index to the Internet
A searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 9,000 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to patrons of public libraries.

Library of Congress
Online catalog, exhibits, resources and more

LibrarySpot
A virtual library resource center designed to bring the best library and reference sites together in one spot.

Michigan Electronic Library – Links to Internet sites chosen by librarians and organized by subject

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection – online printable maps of countries

 

Map

DeLorme's Cyberrouter
DeLorme, the well known atlas and gazetteer publisher, provides a web-based road route finder for places in the United States.

Geographic Names Information System
(U.S.and Territories) Contains "information about almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States."

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Contains nearly 1 million place names representing approximately 900,000 places, with their latitudes, longitudes, and political and physical hierarchies.

Google Earth
“Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.”

Mapquest
Directions and maps for customized travel within the U.S.

National Atlas of the United States – produce customized printable maps

Xpeditions Atlas
Black and white maps of country or region of the world in either .gif or .pdf formats for printing and copying. (
“Great for Teachers!”)

 

Movies

Cinema Spot – movie guides, preview, reviews, articles

Internet Movie Database – anything you ever wanted to know about movies, actors, and the film industry

Movie Review Query Engine – Searchable archive of movie reviews

 

News

ABC News.com

ABYZ News Links
The "most detailed news source site on the internet."

CNN

HeadlineSpot
Provides the latest headlines and the best newspaper sections, magazines, television shows, radio programs and online news sources by topic or region of the world.

Los Angeles Times

New York Times

The News and Observer (Raleigh)

Onlinenewspapers.com - Links to 10,000 online newspapers from around the world.

Washington Post

 

North Carolina

North Carolina Educational Web Resources
State symbols, history, historic sites, museums, universities, and resources for educators and students

Official Website for the State of North Carolina
Information and links for business, education, economy, travel and much more

 

Periodicals

PubList  - the Internet Directory of Publications
Over 150,000 magazines, journals, newsletters, and other periodicals.

 

Photography

Digital Photography Review
Current digital photography news, digital camera reviews, articles and discussion forums.

Masters of Photography
Masters of Photography features the greatest practitioners of the camera. Over 1000 photos, along with extensive essays and biographies.

New York Institute of Photography
Offering a home study program in professional photography for all skill levels
.

Photo.net
Stock photography and photos

Photography at National Geographic
Photography essays, documentary photography tips and links to photographers' web sites


Photography in the Yahoo! Directory
Explore photography through sites dedicated to photographer portfolios, archives, clubs, themed exhibits, photo formats, photojournalism, preservation.

 

Publishers

AcqWeb’s Directory of Publishers and Vendors
Links to publishers’ websites, searchable by geographic region, name, and topical list.

Publishers' Catalogues
Catalogs of publishers throughout the world.

 

Quotations

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed.

Dictionary of Quotations

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe Quotations
(Choose "Reference" and then "Quotations")

Quotations Home Page

The Quotations Page

Simpson's Contemporary Quotations
Provides over 10,000 quotes from over 4000 sources.

 

Religion

Beliefnet.com
Provides a smorgasbord of inspiration, reportage, instruction, and commentary on religious and spiritual issues and experience.

Religious Tolerance
Provides a brief history, sacred texts, beliefs and practices, sects, and links to related sites, for each religious group.

English Translation of the Quran

The Holy Bible, King James Version

The New Testament Gateway  
“Award winning web directory of internet resources on the New Testament, currently being updated daily. Browse or search annotated links on everything from the Greek New Testament to Jesus in Film.”

Virtual Religion Index

World of Religions - Includes major religions of the world and their sacred texts.

 

Science

EurekAlert!
"Global gateway to science, medicine, and technology news."

Science in the Headlines
From the National Research Council

SciTech Daily Review

The Why Files 
Science behind the news

 

Sports

ESPN

The Sporting News - contains information and scouting reports on each major league team.

Sports Network

 

Statistics

American Fact Finder
Statistics on population, housing, industry, business and more

Bureau of Justice Statistics
Statistics on crime, victims, courts and sentencing, and more

Fedstats
Provides easy access to the full range of statistics and information produced by 70 agencies in the United States federal government for public use.

National Center for Education Statistics

NationMaster
Provides 335 statistical data sets for various countries of the world and features the most frequently requested stats on the home page.  Also allows users to create their own graphs comparing nations.

North Carolina Disability Statistics

North Carolina Offender Information
Information on NC offenders, searchable by ID number or name; corrections statistics

State and County Quickfacts
From the U.S. Census Bureau, provides people, geography, and business facts by state and county.

Statistical Abstract of the United States
An exhaustive compendium of national, regional, state, local, and selected international statistics.

 

Style Manuals

American Heritage Book of English Usage

Electronic Sources: APA Style of Citation

Electronic Sources: MLA Style Citation

Online! Citation Styles
One of the most recent and comprehensive guides to online documentation.

The Landmark Citation Machine
Enter basic bibliographic information from a book, article, or electronic source and this website will create a citation in either APA or MLA style.

Strunk and White's Elements of Style

 

Telephone directories

Anywho directory  
From AT&T Labs, this site provides phone numbers for individuals or businesses.
The Anywho site also includes

BigBook Yellow Pages
Allows searches for businesses in a specific city or state.

Europages
The European Business Directory.

InfoSpace
Locate businesses, people, city and government information, and services.

International Phone Directories

Reverse Phone Directory
Find a person's name and street address from a telephone number by searching multiple reverse phone directories

Switchboard
The people and business directory.

Telephone Directories on the Web
"Yellow pages, white pages, business directories, Email addresses and fax listings from over 150 countries all around the world."

Verizon
"Find a phone #" is on the left sidebar of the Verizon homepage.

Verizon Reverse Number Lookup

WhitePages.com
Find a person or business, area code, zip code, e-mail, or web page

WhoWhere
Locate people and businesses by e-mail, name, or address.

 

Thesauri

Roget's Thesaurus

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

 

Time Zones

The World Clock
Gives local time for cities around the world.  The listing for each city also includes coordinates, telephone dialing codes, and sunrise/sunset times.

World Time Server
Find the current time for any location in the world.  Includes also a Future Events Planner which allows one to plan conference calls among different countries or meetings abroad.

World Time Zone Map

 

Travel

Bed and Breakfast Channel
"Comprehensive, user-friendly, up-to-date information on bed and breakfasts and inns," mainly in the US, with some international. coverage.

Cheap Tickets
Low fare and discount airline tickets.

Concierge.com 
Includes the Conde Nast Traveler magazine

Currency Converter

Electronic Embassy
Information on all of the Foreign Embassies of Washington D.C. 

Expedia
Book planes, cars, and hotels for your vacation or business trip.

Fodors
Destination guides, hotels, restaurants, discussion forums, and other resources brought to you by the popular travel publisher.

Foreign Languages for Travellers

Frommer's Budget Travel Online

InfoHub.com - a specialty travel guide.

Lonely Planet  - down to earth travel information.

Orbitz  
Gives you access to airfares on the Internet, plus rental cars, hotel rooms, and more. Brings you the "latest in fare-finding technology," so you can get a list of available airfares from over 450 airlines.

Park Search 
L.L. Bean's site allows users to search by state or region and/or type of activity to find state and national parks throughout the country.

Priceline
Flexibility is the key to taking advantage of low prices on airfares, rental cars, hotel rooms and package vacations.  Name your own price, but be willing to accept the companies and schedules that they find.  Information is not disclosed until the deal is done.  Priceline assures that "all of our partners are leading brand-names, and we always search for the best itinerary or product that's available at your price."

Quikbook
A source for hotel discounts in major U.S. cities.

RoadsideAmerica.com
A guide to offbeat tourist attractions

Travel Health Online

Ticketmaster

Trip Advisor
"Unbiased reviews of hotels, resorts, and vacations," plus information from travel guides and published articles.

Travelocity
Information on flights, vacations, and cruises and a destination guide.

World Time Server
Find the current time for any location in the world.  Includes also a Future Events Planner which allows one to plan conference calls among different countries or meetings abroad.

 

Weather

Storm Prediction Center
NOAA’s National Weather Service – local forecasts by city; current watches and warnings; current radar

Weather.com
This Weather Channel site allows searching by zip code.

Weather Underground
Provides visibility, wind, heat index, wind chill, humidity, and dewpoint, as well as searching by city, zip code, or country.

Weatherpost
Provides current conditions and four-day forecasts for 3,600 cities worldwide, as well as snapshot and time-lapse satellite maps. For US cities, users may also access UV and air quality maps and data, as well as seasonal maps (snow cover, tanning index, heat index, and BeachCast) and other radar images such as precipitation.

 

ZIP Codes

US Post Office
Find zip codes, news about new stamps, postal rates, and more.

Zip codes for U.S. cities

7/23/06


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