The University of Toledo Libraries : Internet Ready Reference Shelf

The following resources are ones that the Reference Librarians at UT have found useful for quick answers to common questions. Some of these are online equivalents of resources we have at the reference desk, others are close substitutes that provide the same sort of information. They are in a general Library of Congress call number order, and are chosen because they give direct access to data. It is, in some sense, an attempt to duplicate the material available at the Information Desk's Ready Reference Collection.

Alphabetical Listing of General Categories

Library of Congress Order Listings

Local Information

• UT Phone Book - can be searched by name or department.
• UT Course Catalog Current 2004-2006
• UT History
• Carlson Library Globe Information
• Toledo-Lucas County Public Library Catalog via the web.  

A General Works

• World Almanac from FirstSearch
• Information Please Almanac
• Bartleby.com Reference - multiple reference books
• Ultimate White Pages and Yellow Pages - Search multiple phone directories with yellow, white, business, government, reverse lookup
• Biography Search - short 'thumbnail' biographies (see also the Biography Resource Center from Gale for lengthier biographies)  
• Subject Encyclopedias at UT's Carlson Library

B Psychology, Philosophy, Religion

• Mental Measurements Yearbook (Buros)
• Adherents.com - Religion Statistics giving number of adherents of different religions/beliefs, with citations.
• Bible Gateway - Modern English Translations & some Foreign Language
• OhioLINK's Bible in English database - 10th through 20th Century English Translations
• Encyclopedia Mythica - An encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, & legend  

 C, D, E, F History & Related Subjects

• IPL POTUS -- Presidents of the United States - biographical information, statistics, and internet links.
• Biography Search of the Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia  (see also the Biography Resource Center from Gale for lengthier biographies)
• AFRO-American Almanac - of African American History
• New York Public Library Image Collection - Mostly before 1923

G Geography

• BBC News Country Profiles Country Studies / Area Handbooks of 101 countries from Library of Congress (will not be updated, most current are from 1998).
• TopoZone - The Web's Topographic Map USGS Topographic maps online
• PCL Map Collection A quality collection of maps including outline (blank) maps
• USGS Mapping Information: Geographic Name Information Service Data Base (includes Longitude & Latitude)
• Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
• Google Maps to display a map or calculate a route and distances between two US cities (alternative sites are MapQuest, MapsOnUs, or Yahoo! Maps.)  

H Social Sciences, including Business

• Area Code Lookup - from Fone Finder
• Hoover's Company Fact Sheets
• EDGAR  (SEC filings, including 10-K reports) 
• Fortune 500
• Current Foreign Exchange Rates from Yahoo!  or Currency Converter - 164 currencies
• The Inflation Calculator (Calculate US currency value from 1800 to present)
• Hypertextual Finance Glossary - Over 7,200 terms, from a Duke finance professor
• Consumer Price Indexes Home Page
• NAICS--North American Industry Classification System (Includes corresopnding SIC Codes)
• Congressional Budget Office includes the Federal Budget and Economic Outlook
• Handbook of International Economic Statistics (from 1999) US Industry Imports and Export Data arranged by SIC and NAICS
• Dictionary of Occupational Titles Occupational Outlook Handbook and (from the same people)
• The Career Guide to Industries
• Money Magazine: Best Places to Live and a related Salary/Compensation Wizard
• State and Metropolitan Area Data Book - 5th Edition statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States at the State and metropolitan area levels
• Thomas Register Home Page - requires free registration

J Political Science

• International Data Base (IDB) statistical tables of demographic, and socio-economic data for all countries of the world.
• Country Studies / Area Handbooks of 101 countries from Library of Congress (will not be updated, most current are from 1998).
• The World Factbook from the CIA
• Country Background Notes from U.S. Dept. of State
• Foreign Embassies in the U.S. from U.S. Dept. of State
• Leadership Views - Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments (from CIA)
• This Nation - American Government & Politics portal

K Law

• Bureau of Justice Statistics
• Supreme Court of the United States The official Site
• Judicial Opinions including Supreme Court Cases
• Ohio Revised Code - Searchable, and browseable by Title and Section.
• Ohio Constitution U. S. Constitution - Annotated, Plain Text

L Education

•  Encyclopedia of Educational Statistics (including Digest of Education Statistics and The Condition of Education) from U.S. Dept. of Education
• The University Pages - homepages of U.S. universities.
• U.S. News & World Report:  Grad School  & College Rankings
• Peterson's Guides
• College Board's College Search
• Science Fair Project Index

 M Music

•  All Music Guide - to music by artist, album, or song.  

 N Fine Arts

• AskArt - directory of North American Artists
• Artcyclopedia - Search or browse artists, works, movements, etc.
• Art & Architecture Thesaurus - From the Getty Museum
• Union List of Artists Names - From the Getty Museum Internet Movie Database
• Inter-Play Index to plays in print in anthologies, collections, and periodicals.

P Language & Literature

•  Merriam Webster Dictionary and thesaurus
• American Heritage Dictionary of the English Lanugage, 4th Ed.
• Oxford English Dictionary
• Your Dictionary (Many Languages & Subject Dictionaries)
• Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. 1995 (also try Wordsmyth's combined dictionary/thesaurus)
• Acronym and abbreviation list
• Bartlett's Familiar Quotations from the 1919 edition, and  Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations 1988.
• Literary Index of Gale Literary Criticism series (such as Contemporary Literary Criticism, etc.)
• Citing Electronic Resources from the Internet Public Library
• Guide to Grammar & Writing
• Inter-Play Index to plays in print in anthologies, collections, and periodicals.
• Academy of American Poets - Find poet's biographies and selected poems.

 Q Science

•  eNature.com - Field Guides for plants and animals of all types in North America (from National Audobon Society)
• US Fish & Wildlife Service National Image Library
• WebElements Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements
• Science Fair Project Index

 R Medicine

•  Health, United States - From the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics
• Journal Database Browser - For Medline - convert titles to abbreviations and vice versa
• adam Health Illustrated Encyclopedia - a medical encyclopedia with photos
• MedTerms - Medical Dictionary
• Merck Manual - Home Edition- a brief guide to medicine and diseases in everyday language, also available in non-layman's terms as The Merck Manual 
• Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body - The classic anatomy text
• IBIDS Database - on dietary supplements

 S Agriculture

• USDA'S Agriculture Fact Book

 T Technology

• Kelly Blue Book (Automobile Pricing)
• U.S. Patent Bibliographic Database Search Site
• eFunda - Engineering Fundamental, a handbook for Mechanical Engineers
• Science Fair Project Index

U, V Military, Naval Science

 Z Library Science

•  OhioLINK Troubleshooting Guide - list of known problems with the OhioLINK databases, etc.
• Toledo-Lucas County Public Library Catalog via the web.
• Library of Congress Catalog Library of Congress Classification System (or the Official LoC site: Library of Congress Classification Outline)
• JAKE - (Jointly Administered Knowledge Environment) look up which databases index which journals
• AcqWeb - Publisher Information, pseudo-Books-In-Print

 Government Documents

• Congressional Research Service Reports
• The United States Government Manual
• Statistical Abstract of the U.S. - Frequently Used Tables and Adobe Acrobat version 
• State and Metropolitan Area Data Book statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States at the State and metropolitan area levels
• County and City Data Book
• Census
• American FactFinder - form driven census information
• State and County QuickFacts
• Historical United States Census Data Browser 1790 - 1960
• USPS ZIP Code Lookup and Address Information
• Consumer Price Indexes Home Page
• Dictionary of Occupational Titles
• Occupational Outlook Handbook and (from the same people) The Career Guide to Industries
• NAICS--North American Industry Classification System (Includes corresopnding SIC Codes)
• Encyclopedia of Educational Statistics (including Digest of Education Statistics and The Condition of Education) from U.S. Dept. of Education
• Health, United States - From the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics
• Supreme Court of the United States - The official site
• Judicial Opinions including Supreme Court Cases
• Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
• Uniform Crime Reports including Crime in the United States, Hate Crime Statistics, etc. 
• Bureau of Justice Statistics
• IRS Forms And Publications - Ohio Tax Forms and Toledo Tax forms as well
• Ohio Revised Code - Searchable, and browseable by Title and Section.