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Reference Collections | Almanacs |
Date and Time | Dictionary/Encyclopedia | Image Search
Postal Information | Quotations | Statistics |
Translation Services | Weather
Ask A+ Finder
From the U.S. Department of Education, the Virtual Reference Desk's guide to "Ask an Expert" sites. Everything from "Ask Joan of Art" (the Smithsonian) to "Ask Shamu" (SeaWorld)!
IllinoisClicks!
Links to information Web sites specially chosen by Illinois Librarians. Contains links to general and Illinois-specific sites.
iTools
This site brings together many useful online tools under the subject headings Search Tools, Language Tools, Research Tools, Financial Tools, Map Tools and Internet Tools.
Martindale's The Reference Desk
Particularly strong in science, medicine, weather, and Internet resources. Hosted by the University of California-Irvine.
Ready Reference Collection (Internet Public Library)
An annotated collection of links, chosen to help answer specific questions quickly and efficiently. Sources are selected according to ease of use, quality and quantity of information, frequency of updating,
and authoritativeness.
Refdesk.com
A wealth of factual information, including almanacs, news resources, statistics, stock quotes, and reference resources by subject.
Yahoo! Shortcuts
Use these shortcuts at Yahoo! search to find airport and flight information, area codes, patents, time zones, currency conversion, weather and much more.
Information Please
Online almanac and much more.
Old Farmer's Almanac
Determine sun and moon rise and set times for the next 20 years.
10,000 Year Calendar
Look up days of the week for dates in past or future calendars.
The Official U.S. Time
By the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, this site displays time by U.S. time zones.
World Time Server
Click on a country to find out what time it is there right now.
A Web of Online Dictionaries
Links to more than 800 dictionaries in 160 different languages.
Acronym Finder
This tool defines acronyms and abbreviations, and offers a reverse lookup to allow keyword searching.
Britannica.com
Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus, books, and excerpts from Encyclopædia Britannica articles.
Encarta Concise Free Encyclopedia
Use the search feature to find brief articles from Encarta, or browse by topic.
Encarta World English Dictionary
A dictionary that talks. About 60,000 of the 100,000 entries contain a speaker icon which, when clicked, plays an audio clip of the pronunciation of the word.
Miriam-Webster Online
Online versions of the Collegiate Dictionary and Collegiate Thesaurus
Merriam-Webster Word Central
Student dictionary, a place to create your own dictionary, and a daily buzzword to build your vocabulary.
Image Search
AltaVista Image Find
Search for photos, graphics, offers ability to choose color or black and white images.
American Memory Collection
Library of Congress collection of digitized images. Search by keyword or browse through collections. This collection includes sound recordings, maps, and documents as well as images and motion
pictures.
Google Image Search
Find images on the world wide web by keyword search. Advanced search functions allow you to specify image file type or size.
New York Public Library Digital Library Collection
Online database of over 30,000 images.
Postal Information
Postal Addressing Guidelines
Country by country guidelines for preparing envelopes for international mailing. From the Universal Postal Union.
ZIP+4 Code Lookup
U.S. Postal Service ZIP Code look up engine.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations
Searchable resource allows you to lookup passages by keyword.
The Quotations Page
Database offers searches by topic and author and features quote of the day and random quote generator.
Statistical Resources on the Web
Wide variety of statistical information from the University of Michigan Documents Center.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
U.S. Department of Labor site offers information on wages, consumer price index, productivity, demographics, and a host of other statistics.
Economagic
Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau, and Federal Reserve available in chart and Excel formats. Government information is free. There is also subscriber services.
FedStats
"More than 70 agencies in the United States Federal Government produce statistics of interest to the public. The Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy maintains this site to provide easy access
to the full range of statistics and information produced by these agencies for public use."
National Priorities Project Database.
Developed by a 501 nonpartisan education organization created "to educate the public on the impacts of federal tax and spending policies at the community level", you can get statistics on Poverty,
Housing, Military, Hunger, Education, Health, Labor, Energy and Basic Demographics. Free, but you must register after first visit.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Condensed version of the print edition featuring frequently requested tables.
U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics, economic statistics, and more.
AltaVista Translation
Free text and web page translator.
American Translators Association
Locate a human translator.
Xlation
Over 1600 dictionaries and glossaries in a wide variety of languages.
National Weather Service
Current weather, forecasts and more From the
site: "The National Weather Service provides weather, hydrologic, and climate
forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters
and ocean areas, for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of
the national economy. [The site also provides] warnings and forecasts of
hazardous weather, including thunderstorms, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes,
winter weather, tsunamis, and climate events. The NWS is the sole United States
OFFICIAL voice for issuing warnings during life-threatening weather situations."
Weather Underground
In addition to current weather conditions and forecasts, this website also has historical weather information, ski reports, a tropical storm map, international weather conditions, and more.
Space Weather
"News and information about the Sun-Earth environment." Includes information
about eclipses, solar storms and flares, auroral (Northern Lights) activity and
more.
Copyright 2001, (written, graphic and pictorial material) Highland Park Public Library, Highland Park, Illinois. Permission for reproduction of any material included on this website must be obtained from the Library.
E-mail comments or corrections to hpplweb@nsls.infohpplweb@nslsilus.org