Virtual Reference Desk
Links to a wide range of Internet / World Wide Web resources.
Almanacs, Facts, & Handbooks
Infoplease
Provides the ability to search or browse the Information Please almanacs, as well as Random House Webster's College Dictionary and The Columbia Encyclopedia. Topics include biographies, geography, statistics, entertainment, and business.
Kelley Blue Book
An excellent guide for car buyers; includes bluebook values on cars and new car pricing information.
Occupational Outlook Handbook (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Perform a keyword search, use the Handbook's index, or select from an occupational cluster to find information on a wide range of careers. Provides a link to the Employment Projections Home Page.
The Old Farmer's Almanac
An interesting place to find daily trivia information on weather and history. Includes a daily advice section and a question of the day for trivia buffs.
The World Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency)
Browse reference maps from all over the world or retrieve a country's profile all with the click of a mouse.
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Atlases, Maps, & Gazetteers
The ARL Electronic Atlas (Association of Research Libraries)
Provides maps depicting the 1990 U.S. Census Bureau Statistics.
Encarta
Free online version of the Encarta encyclopedia, dictionary, and atlas. Sponsored by MSN.
Map Machine (National Geographic)
Contains links to a wide range of maps, including political maps, physical maps, country maps, and star charts.
MapQuest
A great place to plan a trip or get driving directions.
Maps on Us
Provides maps, travel routes, yellow pages, and weather information.
The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection (University of Texas)
Includes links to a wide range of electronic maps, both current and historical.
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. You can search for places, counties or MCDs by entering the name and state abbreviation (optional), or 5-digit zip code.
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Biographical Sources
The Biographical Dictionary
Includes more than 25,000 entries of notable men and women from ancient times to current day. Provides a search engine for locating people by name, year of birth or death, position held, profession, literary or artistic works, miscellaneous achievements, and other keywords.
BIOGRAPHY (from Arts & Entertainment)
Provides entries on over 20,000 personalities from ancient times to modern day.
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Country & State Profiles
Infonation
Access up-to-date statistical data for the Member States of the United Nations.
The Library of Congress: Country Studies (sponsored by the Department of the Army)
Part of a continuing series of books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program; contains studies of 85 countries.
Background Notes (U.S. State Department)
Provides information on geographic entities and international organizations.
The World Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency)
Browse reference maps from all over the world or retrieve a country's profile all with the click of a mouse.
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Dictionaries & Thesauri
ARTFL Project: Roget's Thesaurus
Provides the ability to search by headwords or by full-text. Internal cross references are represented as clickable hypertext links.
Encarta
Free online version of the Encarta encyclopedia, dictionary, and atlas. Sponsored by MSN.
FOLDOC: Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing
Locate acronyms, jargon, programming languages, tools, architecture, operating systems, networking, theory, conventions, standards, mathematics, telecoms, electronics, institutions, projects, companies, products, and historical information relating to the field of computing.
Foreign Language Dictionaries (Yahoo)
Includes such languages as German, Japanese, Maltese, Spanish, Yiddish, Hungarian, French, and more . . . .
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law (sponsored by FindLaw/West Group)
Searchable legal dictionary written for the non-lawyer.
WWWebster Dictionary (Merriam Webster)
Provides a searchable dictionary and thesaurus.
whatis?com
Contains over 1,500 individual encyclopedic definition/topics and a number of quick-reference pages relating to information technology. Focuses most heavily on the Internet. Cross references and links to others sites for additional information are also provided.
WordNet
Serves as an on-line lexical reference system. English nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are organized into synonym sets, each representing one underlying lexical concept. Different relations link the synonym sets.
The WorldWideWeb Acronym and Abbreviation Server
A great tool for locating acronyms.
YourDictionary.com
Links to more than 1,800 dictionaries in 250 different languages.
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Directories
AT&T Directories
Includes directories of people, businesses, and toll-free numbers.
Bigfoot.com
A good source for searching yellow pages and locating people.
CollegeNet
A comprehensive web site that allows searches by region, college sports, major, tuition, and several other criteria; contains information on financial aid and scholarships and includes links to sources for minority students.
FinAid: The Financial Aid Information Page
Provides a free, comprehensive, independent, and objective guide to student financial aid. (Created by Mark Kantrowitz, author of The Prentice Hall Guide to Scholarships and Fellowships for Math and Science Students).
FindLaw: Internet Legal Resources
Includes access to state laws, legal organizations, law schools, legal news, and reference material.
Infospace.com
An excellent resource for locating people, places, and things.
internet@ddress.finder
Find out who's online; contains nearly 7 million listings.
Petersons.com: The Education Supersite
Apply to colleges and MBA programs, download preparatory tests for the GMAT and the LSAT, search more than 30,000 graduate programs, explore distance learning or study abroad; this web site is a comprehensive resource for education.
SCIway: The South Carolina Information Highway
A comprehensive directory of South Carolina web sites.
Smartpages.com (sponsored by Southwestern Bell)
Online national yellow pages.
SuperPages.com (sponsored by Verizon)
Includes links to over 11 million businesses in America through its Interactive Yellow Pages; provides Consumer Guide® reviews, Classified Ads, and business web site search capabilities, as well as a comprehensive shopping site on the World Wide Web.
Switchboard
Find people, businesses, and email addresses; use the travel feature to plan an itinerary, to obtain maps, and to get directions.
U.S. Federal Government Agencies Directory (courtesy of Louisiana State University Libraries)
An alphabetical list of federal government agencies on the Internet.
The United States Government Manual (National Archives and Records Administration)
Serves as the official handbook of the Federal Government; provides comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches, and includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees.
West Legal Directory (FindLaw)
Includes the ability to search for a lawyer or a law firm, to access tips on how to hire a lawyer, and to find law pamphlets from state bar associations.
WHOWHERE?
Search for jobs, telephone numbers, and email addresses; post your resume, find an apartment, apply for loans, and more.
WorldPages
Find Anything. Anyone. Anywhere. Use the guides to get stock quotes, locate a restaurant, or obtain information on automobiles; includes links to auctions, weather reports, news, and more.
Yahoo! People Search
Locate an email address or telephone number, or use some of the other resources available at the Yahoo! web site.
ZIP Code Lookup and Address Information (United States Postal Service)
Locate the correct ZIP code for an address or city in the United States, find out what the Postal Service prefers to see as the address components abbreviated on mail, or contact the Postal Service with questions or comments.
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Encyclopedias
The Catholic Encyclopedia (from the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright © 1913 by the Encyclopedia Press, Inc.; Electronic version copyright © 1996 by New Advent, Inc.)
Index is organized alphabetically from A to Z, beginning with an entry for the city of Aachen, and ending with an entry for Ernst Friedrich Zwirner, a nineteenth-century European architect.
Encarta
Free online version of the Encarta encyclopedia, dictionary, and atlas. Sponsored by MSN.
Encyclopedia Smithsonian
Provides answers to frequently asked questions about the Smithsonian as well as links to Smithsonian resources from A to Z; topics include art, birds, horticulture, museums, primates, trains, and volcanoes.
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Government & Law
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids
Educational component of GPO Access. For students in K-12.
Code of Federal Regulations (National Archive and Records Administration)
Includes the text of public regulations issued by federal agencies.
FindLaw: Internet Legal Resources
Includes access to state laws, legal organizations, law schools, legal news, and reference material.
GPO Access
Provides links to databases and publications produced by the Government Printing Office (GPO); includes the Federal Register (1994 to present), Public Laws, the United States Code, the Congressional Record, and the Code of Federal Regulations.
LawCrawler
A good place to search for legal information, such as law reviews, legal news, and Supreme Court opinions.
Merriam Webster's Dictionary of Law (sponsored by FindLaw/West Group)
Searchable legal dictionary written for the non-lawyer.
Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (1994 to Present)
New Electronic Titles (GPO Access)
Lists additions to the Federal Depository Library Program Electronic Collection, with a link to the archives for older titles.
SCIway: The South Carolina Information Highway
A comprehensive directory of South Carolina web sites.
SCLA\GODORT: Government Documents Round Table of the South Carolina Library Association (courtesy of the Government Documents Round Table of the South Carolina Library Association and University of South Carolina--Aiken)
Take a virtual tour of South Carolina's federal and state depository libraries.
State and Local Governments (courtesy of the Library of Congress)
Includes meta-indexes for state and local government information, state maps, and links to state government information.
THOMAS (courtesy of the Library of Congress)
Provides legislative information on the Internet; includes House and Senate directories, links to the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of government, as well as links to State and Local governments. Also
includes a searchable database of Historical Documents, including early Congressional documents, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, and the Constitution of the United States.
Uncle Sam Migrating Government Publications (courtesy of the University of Memphis Regional Depository Library Government Publications Department)
Tracks printed government publications that are migrating to the Internet by identifying URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) and linking them directly to the electronic documents; this service is limited to serials and periodicals and includes those publications in dual format and in electronic (Internet) format only.
United Nations System of Organizations
Serves as the official WEB Locator to United Nations Organizations; provides links to other international organizations as well.
U.S. Federal Government Agencies Directory (courtesy of Louisiana State University Libraries)
An alphabetical list of federal government agencies on the Internet.
U.S. Supreme Court Opinions (sponsored by FindLaw/West Group)
Search by citation, party name, or full-text.
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News & Current Events
Newspapers
Education Week on the Web: American Education's Online Newspaper of Record (published by Editorial Projects in Education Inc.)
Focuses on education reform, schools, and the policies that guide them. Archives start from 1981 to present and include nearly every article published in Education Week and Teacher Magazine.
MediaINFO Links (The Editor & Publisher Co.)
A comprehensive database designed to allow users to search for media web sites or to browse media web sites by media category or geographic region.
News and Newspapers Online (courtesy of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro)
A comprehensive directory of links to news sources from all over the world.
The Post & Courier
Contains the full text from 1994-present.
South Carolina Newspapers
Directory provided by SCIway
The State
South Carolina's State Newspaper.
Newswire and news services
The Drudge Report
A comprehensive list of links to newswire and news service sites, newspapers, and syndicated columnists.
Television news
BBC Online (The British Broadcasting Corporation)
Provides a list of channels that include such topics as culture, science and nature, lifestyle, and television and radio.
CNN
A comprehensive list of links to news relating to sports, entertainment, politics, space, computing, books, and more, is provided at this site.
MSNBC
Obtain late breaking news from around the world, access opinions online, retrieve NBC news audio headlines, enter a zip code and retrieve local news, weather, and sports, find out about a favorite stock, and more.
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Quotation & Poetry Sources
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations 9th edition (1901)
search by keywords or use the Chronological Index of Primary Authors or the Alphabetical Index of All Authors.
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (1911)
Originally entitled The Cynic's Word Book, this work includes a large number of illustrative quotations from eminent poets.
The Quotations Page
Conduct a search for a quotation, obtain a quotation of the day or week, or link to other quotation sites. A good starting point for finding a quotation on the Internet.
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Statistics
Bureau of Justice Statistics (U.S. Department of Justice)
Includes statistics on drugs and crime, homicide trends, and criminal offenders. Includes a search engine.
Dismal Scientist
Serves as a comprehensive resource of timely economic data and analysis, at the metro, state, and national levels. The web site is geared more towards small business owners and students and includes demographic information, forecasts, and thousands of economic statistics.
Economic Statistics Briefing Room (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Locate statistics on such topics as unemployment, average weekly hours, productivity, and average hourly earnings. This web site is packed full of interesting data.
FedStats
An excellent starting point for finding statistics generated from more than 70 agencies in the U.S. Federal Government. Conduct a megasearch to locate statistics from more than 25 overnmental agencies simultaneously or link to specific agency sites on the Internet. Includes a directory of press releases produced by various federal agencies.
Global HIV/AIDS & STD Epidemic (courtesy of UNAIDS and WHO)
Includes epidemiological fact sheets by country, as well as a report on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic (June 1998). Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view documents at this web site.
ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research) (courtesy of the University of Michigan)
A comprehensive archive of computerized social science data. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view some of the documents at this web site.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Includes interactive morbidity and mortality tables, links to bulletins from around the world, as well as links to other health resources on the Internet. Includes a search engine. This web site requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view its files.
Organized Crime: A Crime Statistics Site
Search the web site by keyword/s, use the crime statistics tutorial, or obtain a list of links to crime statistics sites on the Internet.
State and Metropolitan Area Data Book 1997-98 (U.S. Department of Commerce)
Provides census population data in various areas, such as age, race, housing counts, and household. Other topics include, traffic fatalities, poverty, foreign investments, personal income, crime, and more. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view this book online.
Statistical Abstract of the United States (U.S. Census Bureau)
Obtain information in such areas as health and nutrition, elections, education, and population. Earlier editions are also available at this web site. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view this source online.
U.S. Census Bureau: The Official Statistics
Conduct a search or locate information by subject. Includes a User Manual, along with links to news and access tools (or software) that complements this site.
What is a Dollar Worth? (courtesy of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis)
Calculates what an item or service purchased in 19?? would cost in 19?? (in dollars); includes the Consumer Price Index from 1913 to present.
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Writing Resources & Style Guides
Visit the Library's Citation Styles webpage for information on the three citation styles commonly required for students at Charleston Southern University: MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian.
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