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Online Reference Materials

Thomas Ford Librarians have selected these online reference sources to help you answer your reference questions.

Abbreviations & Acronyms

Almanacs

Information Please Almanac
The Old Farmer's Almanac

Atlases

Digital Atlas of the United States
Landform Atlas of the United States
Perry-Castaneda Library of Map Collection
WorldAtlas.com

Biography

Encyclopedia of World Biography

Book Reviews

Chicago Tribune Books
Kirkus Reviews
NPR Books
New York Review of Books
New York Times Book Reviews

Calculators and Converters

Martindale's Calculators On-Line Center
Measurements Converter

Calendars

10,000 Year Calendar
Calendar Converter
Calendars 1-9998

Car Prices

National Automobile Dealers Association
Kelley Blue Book

Charity Accountability

Charity Navigator

Computer Technology Magazines and Journals

Computer Database

Dictionaries

American Heritage Dictionary
Dictionary.com
Webster's Online Dictionary

Encyclopedias

World Book Discover - A middle school encyclopdia with a dictionary, atlas, and other tools to help students with research. Use your library card to log in from home.
World Book Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos - An elementary school encyclopdia in Spanish. Use your library card to log in from home.
World Book Kids - An elementary school encyclopedia with a standard search box and a colorful menu for finding articles, maps, photos, science projects, games, and learning activities. Use your library card to log in from home.
World Book Reference Center -High school and adult level encyclopedia. Use your library card to log in from home.
Columbia Encyclopedia
Wikipedia

Gazetteers

Coumbia Gazetteer of North America
Getty Thesaurus of Geographical Names

General

About.com - Over 500 experts give advice on wide-ranging topics on this popular website.
Answers.com - Search a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, and other tools from a single box.
Bartleby.com - A collection of online reference books.
Illinois Clicks - Research links vetted by over 100 Illinois librarians.
Internet Public Library - Many useful links for students and researchers.
Librarians' Internet Index - "Websites you can trust."
MeL Reference Desk - Links to hundreds of free reference sources.
Reference.com - Links to almanacs, atlases, dictionaries, directories, and other tools. Business, legal, and medical links are highlighted.

Health and Medical Resources

Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine
Health & Wellness Resource Center
Healthfinder.gov - Easy to use website with basic health information.
MedlinePlus - Health infomation from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. In addition to articles on 750 diseases, conditions, and wellness, there are medical dictionaries, drug profiles, and health alerts.

Investment Reports on Stocks, Bonds, and Mutual Funds

Standard and Poor's NetAdvantage - You will be asked for your library card number.

Magazine Articles

General OneFile - General magazine articles. You will need a library card number if outside the library.
Academic OneFile Scholarly journal articles. You will need a library card number if outside the library.