Catawba College /
CLB Library
/ Services / Reference / Virtual Reference Desk
Virtual Reference Desk
The Virtual Reference Desk area of this site is designed to provide
quick access to a virtual library of sites and electronic resources
available freely on the web. While it is relatively small compared to
larger subject directories, each site listed has been reviewed by
librarians to ensure that the information provided is clear and
reliable.
The Virtual Reference Desk is best used to find one or a few Web
sites introducing a topic. It should point you in the right direction
without producing a long list of sites to sort through and evaluate.
- Almanacs
-
InfoPlease
Combining the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas and
several up-to-the minute almanacs loaded with statistics, facts, and
historical records, Infoplease places the resources of an entire
reference information center at your fingertips.
-
CIA World Factbook
Offers country profiles and reference maps.
- Dictionaries
-
American
Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
-
The Wordsmyth
English Dictionary
-
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary
-
OneLook
Dictionaries
Allows you to search for multiple definitions of a word from a variety
of online dictionaries.
-
Encarta
World English Dictionary
-
YourDictionary.com
This resource provides an English dictionary and thesaurus, as well
as several foreign language dictionaries.
-
A Dictionary of
Slang
This resource offers links to various slang dictionaries available
on the web.
- Encyclopedias
-
Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
-
Encarta
Encyclopedia, dictionary with pronunciations, and atlas.
-
Encyclopedia Britannica
-
Encyclopedia.com
Encyclopedia that also provides access and links to full-text articles
from various publications for a fee via E-library.
- Quotations
-
Bartlett's Quotations
-
Columbia World of Quotations
Quotations by authors constitute this authoritative collection.
-
Simpson's Contemporary
Quotations
Features thousands of quotes culled from the period 1950 to 1988,
including source, date, and occasion.
- Thesauri
-
AskOxford.com
Contains a dictionary and thesaurus, as well as quotations, word of the day, games, and lexicography.
-
Roget's Thesaurus
-
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus
- Abbreviations
-
All that JAS
Journal Abbreviation Sources is a registry of Web resources that list or
provide access to the full title of journal abbreviations.
-
Acronym Finder
Searchable database containing common acronyms and abbreviations about
all subjects, with a focus on computers, technology, telecommunications,
and the military.
-
The
World Wide Web Acronym and Abbreviation Finder
Acronyms from all subject areas.
- Directories
-
AnyWho
Has yellow pages, white pages, and
reverse lookup, as well as access to international directories, maps,
area codes tools, google, and a toll-free directory.
-
Switchboard
Includes
yellow pages, white pages, reverse lookup, web search, area and zip code
tools, maps and directions.
-
InfoSpace
Provides yellow pages, white pages, web search,
maps and directions, browseable categories, reverse lookup, address
proximity search, e-mail search, and world directories.
-
BigBook
Includes yellow pages, merchandise price comparison, ebay search,
web search, people lookup, city guides, and other directory services.
-
Bigfoot
Provides yellow pages, white pages, e-mail search, people search,
job search, Amazon.com search, Hotels.com search, and web search.
-
Yahoo!People Search
Has white pages for people, and email search.
- Address Tools
-
Cedar
National Address Server
Will transform a physical mail address
into proper USPS format along with the ZIP+4 code, and allows download of
the address as a Postscript or GIF file for labels.
-
USPS Zip
Code Lookup and Address Information
From the United States Postal Service website, has Zip Code lookup, Zip
Code FAQs, USPS Abbreviations, and other tools
and information.
- North Carolina Libraries / Catalogs
-
Carolina Area University and College Library Catalogs
Listing of library web pages and catalogs in North Carolina.
-
Carolina Public Libraries
Alphabetical listing of NC public libraries on the Internet.
- Salisbury Area Libraries / Catalogs
-
Livingstone College-Carnegie Library
-
Pfeiffer University-G.A. Pfeiffer Library
-
Rowan Public Library
- Other Libraries / Catalogs
-
Libweb
Lists over 7000 pages from libraries in over 100 countries.
-
LibDex
A worldwide directory of library homepages, web-based OPACs,
Friends of the Library pages, web OPAC vendors and libraries using their
software, and library e-commerce affiliate links.
-
The
Center for Research Libraries
The online public access catalog (OPAC) of the Center for Research Libraries.
-
WorldCat (NCLive)
WorldCat, the OCLC Online Union Catalog, is the world's largest library
holdings database, covering more than 20,000 North American libraries and
over 3,000 libraries from over 60 countries outside of North America.
- Course Catalogs
-
CollegeSource Online
Contains full text course catalogs from over 30,000
2-year, 4-year, graduate, professional, and international schools.
- College Directories
-
Colleges Colleges
Directory of US Colleges and Universities
-
Central and Eastern Europe Education Directory
A guide to higher education programs offered by over 1300 universities
in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS.
- College/Graduate School Planning
-
Peterson's Guide to Four Year Colleges
A college preparation site with tools for searching colleges, preparing
for tests, admissions essay help, financial aid help, and other services.
-
Peterson's Guide to Graduate Schools
A graduate school preparation site with tools for searching graduate
programs, test preparation, personal statement help, financial aid
help, and other services.
-
USNews.com Best Colleges
Annual rankings of US colleges, school profiles, top 100 honor rolls,
new interactive schools, application tips, and other information.
-
College Foundation of
North Carolina
State resource for preparing for, finding, applying for, and paying for
college, as well as information on careers, repaying loans, and other
topics.
-
Students.gov
Portal for information on preparing for college, financial aid, career
development, military service, government, community service, travel,
and more.
- Financial Aid
-
US Department of Education Financial Aid
US Government resource for finding and applying for financial aid of
various types, consolidating or repaying loans, and information for
financial aid professionals.
-
FastWeb
Online resource for locating scholarships, part time jobs, and colleges
that offer scholarships.
-
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
Online Application for Federal Student Aid from the US Department of Education.
- Federal Government General Information
-
Internal Revenue Service Tax Forms and Publications
-
E-file Information
-
Infomine Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
Developed and supported by the Library of the University of California,
Riverside, Infomine is a virtual library of Internet resources which
contains searchable database of government information as well as many
other scholarly topics.
-
Government 101 from Students.gov
Information resource on government from Students.gov.
-
US House of Representatives
-
US Senate
-
US White House
- Federal Government Legislative and Regulatory Information
-
Congress.org
A non-partisan site geared towards facilitating civic participation, with
information on government officials, current legislation before congress,
voting registration, and current issues.
-
GPO Access Multple Database Search
Form for searching any or all GPO Access databases for government documents.
-
CapWeb
Political information website covering congress and politics by state,
with an online forum and blogs from liberals and conservatives.
-
FindLaw
Law portal for public, business, students, and legal professionals
with searches for cases, codes, lawyers and news.
-
US Legislative Branch
Library of Congress portal to web sites relating to the legislative branch
of the US Government.
-
Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet
Searchable databases of legislative information provided by the Library
of Congress
- State Government Information
-
Legal Information Institute Constitutions, Statutes and Codes
Cornell University database of federal and state constitutions,
statutes, and codes.
-
American Law Sources Online (ALSO!)
A compilation of links to freely accessible online law sources for the
United States, Canada, and Mexico.
-
State Legislative History Research Guides on the Web
Indiana University School of Law Library, Bloomington compilation of
web sites relating to legislative history by state.
-
FindLaw
State Law Resources
Provides law resources by state jurisdiction.
-
State and
Local Government on the Net
The State and Local Government Internet directory provides access to
the websites of state agencies, and city and county governments.
-
Federation of Tax Administrators State Tax Forms
Links for state tax forms and information.
- International and Foreign Government Information
-
Library of Congress Country Studies
Online versions of books published by the Federal Research Division of the
Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program
sponsored by the US Dept. of Army.
-
U of Mich Government Documents Center
Central reference and referral point for local, state, federal, foreign,
and international government information.
-
Northwestern University International Documents
Portal to official websites of foreign governments.
-
U of CA Berkeley International Government Organization Resources
Portal to International Government Organization web directories and research guides.
- Statistical Resources
-
Bureau of Labor Statistics
U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics web site.
-
Fedstats
Gateway for government statistics and data.
-
U.S. Census Bureau
- Search Engines
-
Google
-
Google U.S. Government Search
-
Google News
-
Google Images
-
Google Maps
-
Google Scholar
Search Journal Articles (results may or may not be full text)
-
Google Books
Search Full-Text of Books (results may or may not be full text)
-
Google Blog Search
Search Blogs
-
Yahoo
Combined Search Engine and Internet Directory
-
Ask.com
Search Engine with enhanced guided search features
- Subject Directories
-
Librarians' Index to the Internet
A searchable, annotated subject directory of tens of thousands of web sites
that meet various selection criteria.
-
InfoMine
A directory of scholarly Internet Resource Collections
-
RDN: Resource Discovery Network
Gathers resources which are carefully selected, indexed and described
by specialists in partner institutions... comprised of over
seventy educational and research organisations, including the
Natural History Museum and the British Library.
-
About.com
A directory of internet resources managed by individuals with expertise
in specific subject areas.
- Metacrawlers
-
Mamma
Mamma simultaneously queries numerous search engines and organizes the
results into a uniform format and presents them by relevance and source.
-
Dogpile
Searches multiple search engines and provides combined results, as well
as the capability to separate out results by engine and see which
results are unique to the various search engines.
-
Clusty
Clusty takes search results and clusters them into groups of similar
results, allowing users to quickly focus their search.
- MLA: Modern Language Association
-
MLA Style Quick Reference
Examples of MLA citations, maintained by the University of North
Carolina Greensboro.
-
MLA Style FAQ
Modern Language Association's frequently asked questions about MLA
Style, including how to cite Web sources, proper use of spaces in
citations, citing sources without page numbers, and more.
-
Columbia Guide To Online Style
The Columbia Guide to Online Style presents a guide to locating,
translating, and using the elements of citation for both a
humanities style (i.e., MLA and Chicago) and a
scientific style (i.e., APA and CBE) for
electronically-accessed sources.
-
Citing References in Your Paper
A guide to citing references in various Styles, maintained by the
University of Wisconsin Madison Writing Center.
-
The library currently keeps print copies of MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers on permanent reserve for in-library use. Check with the Public Services desk to see these copies.
- APA: American Psychological Association
-
APA Style Guide
APA Style Guide, maintained by the University of Southern Mississippi Library.
-
APA Style Quick Reference
Examples of APA citations, maintained by the University of North
Carolina Greensboro.
-
APA Style Electronic References Guide
APA's guide to citing electronic resources.
-
Columbia Guide To Online Style
The Columbia Guide to Online Style presents a guide to locating,
translating, and using the elements of citation for both a
humanities style (i.e., MLA and Chicago) and a
scientific style (i.e., APA and CBE) for
electronically-accessed sources.
-
Citing References in Your Paper
A guide to citing references in various Styles, maintained by the
University of Wisconsin Madison Writing Center.
-
The library currently keeps print copies of APA Publication Manual on permanent reserve for in-library use. Check with the Public Services desk to see these copies.
- Turabian
-
Turabian Style Quick Reference
Examples of Turabian citations, maintained by the University of North
Carolina Greensboro.
-
Turabian Style Guide
Guide for Turabian Style citations, maintained by the University of
Southern Mississippi Library.
-
Citing Electronic Sources in Turabian
Although there are no specific official guidelines for citing electronic
resources using Turabian style, this resource provides guidelines
that are consistent with Turabian style. Maintained by the University
of Richmond.
-
Citing References in Your Paper
A guide to citing references in various Styles, maintained by the
University of Wisconsin Madison Writing Center.
-
The library currently keeps print copies of A Manual for Writers of
Term Papers, Theses, and Disserations on permanent reserve for
in-library use. Check with the Public Services desk to see these
copies.
- Blue Book
-
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation
A primer on basic legal citation by Peter W. Martin at Cornell Law School
Legal Information Institute.
-
The library currently keeps print copies of The Blue Book on
permanent reserve for in-library use. Check with the Public Services
desk to see these copies.
- ACS: American Chemical Society
-
ACS Style Guidelines
Examples of ACS Style citations, maintained by The Chemistry Library at
the University of Wisconsin Madison.
-
ACS Citation Style for Internet Sources
Examples of citations of common Internet sources, maintained by Penn
State Lehigh Valley.
- CBE: Council of Biology Editors
-
CBE Citation Guide
A guide based on Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for
Authors, Editors, and Publishers, maintained by Ohio State University
Library.
-
Guide to CBE Style for Electronic Resources
Guide for citing electronic resources in CBE Style, maintained by Columbus
State University Library.
-
Columbia Guide To Online Style
The Columbia Guide to Online Style presents a guide to locating,
translating, and using the elements of citation for both a
humanities style (i.e., MLA and Chicago) and a
scientific style (i.e., APA and CBE) for
electronically-accessed sources.
-
Citing References in Your Paper
A guide to citing references in various Styles, maintained by the
University of Wisconsin Madison Writing Center.
- Other
-
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
-
Strunk's The Elements of Style
Intended for use in which the practice of composition is combined
with the study of literature, it gives in brief space the principal
requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the
rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.