OC Library: General Reference

Reference Sources

NOTE: Oklahoma Christian is not responsible for the content of externally linked Web Sites.

Almanacs	Internet Hoaxes
Biography	Maps
Calculators & Converters	Oklahoma Information
Colleges & Universities	Publishers & Books
Dictionaries & Thesauri	Quotations
Directories (Phone, Zip Code, etc.)	Statistical Information
Encyclopedias	This Day In History
General Reference	Weather
Internet Guides & Directories

ALMANACS:

World Almanac: Information about geography, politics, current events, etc.
InfoPlease: InfoPlease.com is a new one-stop reference site that freely offers millions of up-to-the-minute facts and statistics covering just about everything. The site integrates the various Information Please(R) Almanacs on sports, entertainment and general knowledge with the Random House Webster's College Dictionary and The Columbia Encyclopedia (Fifth Ed.) into a single reference source that puts a wealth of facts just a mouse click away.
CIA World Factbook: The factbook provided by the Central Intelligence Agency that provides geographic and other information about most countries in the world.

BIOGRAPHY:

Biographical Dictionary: This dictionary includes more than 25,000 notable men and women who have shaped our world from ancient times to the present day. The dictionary can be searched by names, birth years, death years, positions held, professions, literary and artistic works, miscellaneous achievements, and other keywords.
Biography.com: Biography.com claims news and expanded coverage of more than 20,000 people in all fields. The data on the site is primarily from the Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography.
NameBase: Fascinating database of nearly 200,000 citations, book reviews, essays, and biographical material. Listings cover individual and organizational proper names from approximately 500 " investigative" books and thousands of periodicals. Note that the focus of NameBase is on post World War era politics, intelligence, U.S. foreign policy, crime, and business. Sources concentrate on left of center, conspiracy theory, and spy-tell-all publications.
Nobel e-Museum: The Web site created by the Nobel Foundation. Provides information about each of the Nobel laureates since 1901, when the Nobel prizes were first awarded.

CALCULATORS & CONVERTERS:

Currency Converter: Allows you to convert any amount from one currency to another. Also provides recent history for the exchange rate between two currencies.
Dollartimes.com: On Dollartimes, you can find the effects of paying the minimum balance of a credit card, determine the most expensive house you can afford, or see how long it will take you to become a millionaire.
Unit Conversion Table: Gives you a fast way to convert common measurements like kilometers into miles or fahrenheit into degrees celsius.
Calculator.Com: Provides access to all types of calculators -- finance, business, science, health, cooking and various hobbies.
Martindale's Calculators Online: Over 8,000 various calculators.

COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

CollegeSource: Over 2800 college and university catalogs.; To access this database from off campus, you will need an OC login and password. If you have an OC login but are having problems logging into the database, please call the reference desk at 425-5322 or Ask a Librarian.

DICTIONARIES & THESAURI:

Acronym Finder: A database of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms with over 302,000 definitions.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Provides definitions, illustrations, and scholarly appendices.
CNN Dictionaries: A Web search for definitions, translations and slang. Links to two translation dictionaries: The Alta Vista Translation Page and Foreign Language for Travelers.
Encarta World English Dictionary: An online dictionary that offers quick, easy-to-understand definitions that talk to users with audio pronunciations in a human voice.
Lexicool.com: Lexicool.com is a directory of free bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries on the Internet. The site has a fully searchable database, with over two thousand titles referenced.
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Allows regular and wildcard searching, so you can find all the words ending in a given suffix.
OneLook Dictionary Search: Type in a word and this site will provide links to the web-based dictionaries that define or translate that word. The site also provides help with misspellings and allows you to search using part of a word.
Online Etymology Dictionary: Provides the origin, history, and meaning of words in English.
Online Dictionary of the Social Sciences: A searchable social science dictionary that has 1000 entries covering the disciplines of sociology, criminology, political science and women's study.
YourDictionary.com: Provides links to more than 400 dictionaries in over 130 different languages.
Project Roget: Thesaurus: Search on a phrase, word, or headword (category of synonyms), and you will jump immediately to the appropriate section of the thesaurus's text.
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus via Bartleby.com: The 3rd edition of Roget's classic.
Visual Thesaurus: Plumb Design's Visual Thesaurus is an experiment in language and interface that displays the interrelationships between words and meanings as spatial maps.
Visual Word Spy: This Web site is devoted to recently coined words and phrases, old words that are being used in new ways, and existing words that have enjoyed a recent renaissance. These aren't "stunt words" or "sniglets," but new words and phrases that have appeared in newspapers, magazines, books, press releases, and Web sites.
Wikipedia.com: Wikipedia is a communal encyclopedia whose content is written collaboratively by people from all around the world.

DIRECTORIES:

Anywho Toll-free Directory: Find your free 800 and 888 long distance numbers here.
InfoSpace: Find a business or person online.
Switchboard: Find people and businesses by searching this nationwide directory of over 90 million personal names and over 10 million businesses. Includes telephone numbers and email addresses.
Telephone Directories on the Web: Provides links to online telephone directories all over the world.
U.S. Postal Service: Information about ZIP codes, postal rates, changes of address, and other services provided by the USPS.

ENCYCLOPEDIAS:

Britannica.com: Allows searching of the core content of the Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as providing links to current articles from more than 70 popular periodicals (e.g., Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, etc.) and access to Britannica's World Atlas.
Columbia Encyclopeda (via Bartleby.com): Contains nearly 51,000 entries (marshalling six and one-half million words on a vast range of topics), and more than 80,000 hypertext cross-references.
Encyclopedia Mythica: Internet encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and religion.
Encyclopedia of Animals: Information on various topics relating to animals.
Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia: Over 25,000 encylopedia entries.
Wikipedia.com: Wikipedia is a communal encyclopedia whose content is written collaboratively by people from all around the world.

GENERAL REFERENCE:

Consumer Information Catalog: The Consumer Information Center (Pueblo, Colorado 81009) is the printing site for federal departments and agencies. Publications available through the catalog cover everything from health to housing, from buying cars to building careers, from food to federal benefits.
FedForms: Site provides "one-stop-shopping" for forms needed for the top 500 Government services used by the public.
InfoPlease: InfoPlease.com is a new one-stop reference site that freely offers millions of up-to-the-minute facts and statistics covering just about everything. The site integrates the various Information Please(R) Almanacs on sports, entertainment and general knowledge with the Random House Webster's College Dictionary and The Columbia Encyclopedia (Fifth Ed.) into a single reference source that puts a wealth of facts just a mouse click away.
Internet Movie Database: "The single best film resource on the Web." - PC Magazine
The Internet Public Library: An online version of the public library and its services.
The Virtual Reference Desk: Links to selected government documents, information technology, dictionaries, thesauri, acronyms, phone books and area codes, maps and travel information, science data, calendars and time zones, ZIP, and International Country Codes, plus other reference sources. From Purdue University's library.
The Virtual Reference Shelf: Compiled by the Library of Congress, this site provides links to online reference resources that are categorized by topic and type of source.
xrefer: the Web's reference engine: Xrefer allows the user to search for information about a topic in encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, books of quotations and reference works covering a wide range of subjects. Reference works include The Oxford Companion to English Literature and The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music.

INTERNET GUIDES & DIRECTORIES:

Infospace: The Washington Post called this site the Web's premiere online directory. "Fast and comprehensive."

WWW Virtual Library: A distributed subject catalog linking sites across the Internet.

Librarians' Index to the Internet: The Librarians' Index to the Internet is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 8,200 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. It's meant to be used by both librarians and non-librarians as a reliable and efficient guide to described and evaluated Internet resources.

Academic Info: A subject directory of internet resources tailored to a college and university audience.
Best Information on the Net: Librarian's guide to the best information on the Net. Includes: disability resources, Electronic Reading Room (full texts of books, journals, documents, poetry, and folklore), faculty and administration resources, hot paper topics, important sites by major (Internet resources, job hunting, grad school, surviving college), news (news files on politics, medicine, science, sports, weather, women, picture sources), and images from art, nature, medicine, science.

INTERNET HOAXES:

Hoaxbusters: This Web site is a public service of the Computer Incident Advisory Capability Team (of the U.S. Department of Energy). The site provides information about fake viruses, false chain letters, and other hoaxes roaming the Internet.
Urban Legends and Folklore: A site from About.com that provides lots of information about various urban legends and Internet hoaxes.

MAPS:

Atlapedia Online: Maps provide information such as climate, vital statistics, religions, languages, information on education, economy, trade, transportation, communication, and military.

CityTownInfo.com: Information and maps for thousands of U.S. cities and towns.

MapQuest: Provides interactive maps of any address in the U.S and many international cities, as well as driving directions and other travel information.
Map Collections: 1500-2003: This Library of Congress site provides a wealth of historical maps.
National Geographic's Map Machine: Quality maps including good satellite and relief maps.

Perry Castaneda Library Map Collection: Makes available many world and U.S. maps, as well as historical maps of the United States. Links to other cartographic Web sites are also provided.

OKLAHOMA INFORMATION:

Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation: A memorial for those who died in the bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Also a center designed to educate the public about terrorism.
Oklahoma Historical Society: Museum and library, as well as a bookstore and links to other education sites.

Oklahoma Native America: Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department's site containing travel information, attractions, lodging, dining, and events.
Your Oklahoma: The official state Website.

PUBLISHERS & BOOKS:

Amazon: Information about books, including reviews and author interviews, as well as an opportunity to purchase books.

Barnes and Noble: More information about books from a well-known online bookstore.

Bartleby.com: Bartleby.com publishes literary, nonfiction, and reference works free of charge, including titles such as: Gray's Anatomy, The Columbia Encyclopedia, and the Oxford Book of English Verse.
Books in Print: List of all books currently in print, with book reviews for many of the books listed.; To access this database from off campus, you will need an OC login and password. If you have an OC login but are having problems logging into the database, please call the reference desk at 425-5322 or Ask a Librarian.

QUOTATIONS:

Bartlett Familiar Quotations: Familiar quotations traced to their sources.
Quoteland.com: Search for a specific quotation or browse by topic.
Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations via Bartleby.com: "The most notable quotations from 1950 to 1988."

STATISTICAL INFORMATION:

CDC National Center for Health Statistics: A good place to start for health statistics.
City-Data.com: Profiles of towns and cities that include crime data, housing, weather, hospitals, employment statistics, and more.
County and City Data Book: Population and housing data from the 2000 Census for all U.S. counties, cities with 25,000 or more inhabitants, and places of 2,500 or more inhabitants.
Current Population Survey: Monthly survey of about 50,000 households conducted by the Bureau of the Census. Estimates include employment, unemployment, earnings, hours of work, etc.
FedStats: The gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies.
Gallup Organization: World's source for public opinion since 1935. Check here for information from the most recent Gallup polls, special reports or to take a poll. Updated regularly.
Infonation: Infonation allows you to view and compare statistical data for all UN member states.
Kid Count: A national and state-by-state effort to track that status of children in the U.S.
NCES: National Center for Education Statistics: Statistics related to education in the United States and other nations.
Occupational Employment Statistics: Employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations.
Online Statistical Data about Aging: Links to online statistical information on the demographic characteristics, health, social conditions, and economic condition of older persons.
Origins: Economic, social, and demographic data about Oklahoma.
State & County Quick Facts: Comparative data for each state and country or parish are given for 33 categories divided into three groups: people, business, and geography.
State and Metropolitan Area Data Book: Data about the United States, individual states, counties and metropolitan areas from a variety of sources.
Statistical Abstract of the United States: Statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States.
United Nations Global Statistics: Statistical resources for foreign countries and those put out by international organizations.
United States Historical Census Data Browser: The data presented here describe the population and economy of U.S. states and counties from 1790 to 1960 based on the decennial census conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
U.S. Census Bureau: Census data provided by the federal government.
U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics: Statistics on U.S. consumer spending, inflation, employment, and more.
U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics: Statistics on U.S. crime, law enforcement, corrections, and more.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY:

American Memory Project: The Library of Congress provides a synopsis of American history for a particular day in history.
dMarie Time Capsule: Provides a list of events that occurred on a specific day in history.
History Channel: Find out what happened on this day in history. From the History Channel.
On This Day: Provides a list of events that occurred on a specific day in history.
Scopes Systems: Provides a list of events that occurred on a specific day in history.

WEATHER:

The Weather Channel: The web version of the popular cable television channel. U.S. and International conditions and forecasts are listed as well as a good selection of weather trivia.
National Weather Service: Provides up-to-date U.S. weather information.

NOTE: CollegeSource and Books in Print are available off campus only to OC students, faculty, and staff, who must use their OC login and password to access the databases. If you have an OC login but are having problems logging into the databases, please call the reference desk at 425-5322 or Ask a Librarian.

Please send comments or suggestions to library@oc.edu