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Feinberg Library Electronic Reference Room
Information about Feinberg Library's Reference collection and links to web sites that provide basic factual and background information such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, handbooks, statistical sources, and maps.
Acronyms and Abbreviations | Biographical Information | Business | Colleges & Universities | Consumer Information | Copyright Information | Countries of the World | Dictionaries | Directories | Encyclopedias | Geographic Info/Maps | Government Information | Internet | Law | Measurements | News | Publishers | Quotations | Statistics | Telephone Directories | Weather | Writing Guides & Manuals
Acronyms and Abbreviations
WWW Acronym and Abbreviation Server
Biographical Information
Biography.com
Search for biographical information on specific noted people
Biographical Dictionary
Covers more than 28,000 notable men and women who have shaped our world from ancient times to the present day
Business
Colleges and Universities
American Universities
A directory of home pages for U.S. colleges and universities
CollegeSource® Online
Over 16,700 College Catalogs in complete cover-to-cover, original page format
College Rankings from U.S. News & World Report
A directory of over 1,400 four-year colleges
Best Graduate Schools (U.S. News & World Report)
College and University Rankings
Draws together and provides context to various ranking services
Chronicle's Almanac of Higher Education
Includes national and state-by-state data on colleges and universities and their students, faculty and staff members, and finances.
Consumer Information
Consumer.gov
A "one-stop" link to a broad range of federal information resources available online
Federal Consumer Information Center
Lots of free on-line consumer information to help the public
FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection
An online collection of U.S. Federal Trade Commission brochures on consumer topics
Kelley Blue Book (Car Prices)
Consumer guide to choices of ways to buy and sell cars, get financing, insurance, etc.
Copyright Information
Copyright & Fair Use (Stanford University)
Countries of the World
Background Notes (U.S. Department of State)
Provides information on geographic entities and international organizations and is updated periodically
Country Studies/Area Handbook
Presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world and examines the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors. Produced by the Library of Congress.
Dictionaries
Chambers Reference Online
Includes: Chambers Dictionary, Chambers Thesaurus, Biographical Dictionary
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
Merriam-Webster OnLine
Includes an English language dictionary and thesaurus
SYMBOLS.com
The world's largest online encyclopedia of graphic symbols
WWW Acronym and Abbreviation Server
yourDictionary.com
The most comprehensive and authoritative portal for language & language-related products and services on the web with more than 1800 dictionaries with more than 250 languages
Directories
U.S. ZIP Code Look-Up and Address Information
Idealist.com (Action Without Borders)
The most comprehensive directory of nonprofit and volunteering resources on the Web
Literary Market Place (LMP)
A directory of America and Canadian book publishing for publishing professionals, authors, industry watchers, or those seeking to gain entry into the world of publishing
PubList.com: Internet Directory of Publications
A database of over 150,000 magazines, journals, newsletters, & other periodicals
Thomas Register Online
A directory of 168,000 American and Canadian companies
Encyclopedias
Encyclopedia Britannica Online
Online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus
Virtual Reference Library 
A collection of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research
Encyclopedia.com
Composed of high-quality articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Encarta (Microsoft)
A gateway to 17,000 encyclopedia articles, multimedia, a talking dictionary, and a world atlas
CREDO Reference Collection [Link to overview and features ] Was Xreferplus Reference Collection
Contains over 2 million entries from reference books in all major subjects, 65,000+ images (art, diagrams, maps, and photos), and over 93,000 audio pronunciation files.
Geographic Info/Maps
TIGER Map Server
An interactive mapping service of the U.S. Census Bureau
MapQuest
Includes maps, driving directions, and a road trip planner
Background Notes (U.S. Department of State)
Provides information on geographic entities and international organizations and is updated periodically
Country Studies/Area Handbook
Presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world and examines the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors. Produced by the Library of Congress.
How Far Is It?
Finds the latitude and longitude of two places and calculates the distance between them
Flags of the World
Includes more than 9800 pages about flags and more than 18,100 images of flags
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
U.S. Gazetteer (U.S. Census Bureau)
Used to identify places to view with the Tiger Map Server and obtain census data from the 1990 Census Lookup server
Geographic Names Information System (USGS)
Contains information about almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States
Stately Knowledge: Facts about the United States
Provides basic facts of any state in the Union, including Washington, D.C
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Yahoo! Maps
Yahoo!'s interface to MapQuest's service
Government Information
Online Government Collections
Links to online U.S., Canadian, states, and local government sources. Includes access to FirstGov, CFR, and IRS publications.
Internet
Listserv Directory
Includes discussion & information lists on the Internet, Usenet newsgroups, FTP sites, computer products vendors, and Internet & web design companies
Law
Copyright & Fair Use (Stanford University)
The Internet Law Library
Hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives
Legal Information Institute
Hosted by Cornell Law School
Patent Law
Hosted by Cornell Law School
U.S. Code
Cornell Law School's interface to all current federal law by topic
Measurements
Interactive Units Converter
Interactive calculators for many measurement systems both commonly used like metric and U.S. Avoirdupois and quite exotic like Ancient Greek and Roman.
News
ProQuest Newspapers
Includes full-text coverage of 27 newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, plus other important U.S., international and minority interest papers.
New York Times
Free but registration is required
BBC News
British Broadcasting Company's online news service
Yahoo! News
The day's headlines and links to other sources
AJR NewsLink
American Journalism Review's news web site that includes 18,000 links to newspapers, magazines, broadcasters and news services worldwide, including top sites and search functions
Publishers
AcqWeb's Directory of Publishers and Vendors
An international directory of publishers and vendors that links to their Web sites and email addresses
Literary Market Place (LMP)
A directory of America and Canadian book publishing for publishing professionals, authors, industry watchers, or those seeking to gain entry into the world of publishing
Quotations
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
This tenth edition of 1919 contains over 11,000 searchable quotations
Statistics
American FactFinder
The U.S. Census Bureau's easy source for population, housing, economic and geographic data.
FedStats
The gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies
Historical Statistics of the United States: Millenial Edition
The online version of a standard resource for historical statistics about many aspects of the United States. Includes downloadable tables that you can customize for research and class presentations.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Produced by the U.S. Census Bureau
Stat-USA
Massive compilation of statistics from the U.S. government.
Statistical Resources on the Web
Guide published by the University of Michigan Documents Center
Telephone Directories
Anywho.com
Use to find: phone numbers, addresses, maps & directions for Business and People in the U.S.
Switchboard.com
A national directory of U.S. residences and businesses
Canada 411
Now with over 12 million listings, including postal codes
Canada Yellow Pages
Canada's most accurate and up-to-date database of business listings
Yahoo! People Search
Search by personal name, address, or email address
Telephone Directories on the Web
The Internet's original and most complete index of online phone books, with over 400 links to Yellow Pages, White Pages, Business Directories, Email Addresses and Fax Listings from over 170 countries all around the world
Weather
The Weather Channel
The Weather Underground
Writing Guides & Manuals
The Elements of Style
This classic reference book by William Strunk, Jr. (1918 ed.) gives the principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.
Guide to Grammar and Style
Contains grammatical rules and explanations, comments on style, and suggestions on usage
Electronic Reference Formats Recommended by APA
From the American Psychological Association's own web site
Contact Information
If you have questions about Feinberg Library, please contact:
Reference Desk
Phone: (518) 564-5190