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Welcome to Reference Resources section of our Web site.  Here you’ll find links to some general resources you might find useful.

 

 

Vermont Online Library

A collection of resources available to libraries throughout the state of Vermont.

 

Note: You need a password to use these resources, so ask a librarian.

 

·      Description of VOL resources

·      Begin using the VOL resources

 

 

 

Reference Web Sites

Compiled by the State of Vermont Department of Libraries

 

ALMANACS

Celebrity Trivia Collection:  Some famous firsts, arranged by century, mainly related to people.

50 States.com:  State bird, flower, nickname, motto and song, colleges and universities, constitution, genealogical resources, highest point and geographical center, national forests and parks, newspapers, population, state and federal representatives, and date of entry into the union.  Links to over 21,784 authoritative sites, most government related.

Infoplease.com:  Abridged version of print.  Perpetual calendar for 1583-   .   History/current events through 2005.  Useful for keyword searching.

 

Nations of the World:  Library of Congress site with links to information about international governments plus links to the World Factbook, Country Studies and Human Rights reports, Background Notes.

World Almanac and Book of Facts:  2000-2004 editions included in the Vermont Online Library, General Reference Center Gold.

World Factbook:  Produced by the CIA, with clearly outlined directory and statistical information in a consistent and convenient format for all countries of the world.  Updated throughout the year.  Also included in the Vermont Online Library.

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DIRECTORIES

Findarticles.com: Free index to last 2 or 3 years of 300 magazines, including Ladies Home Journal, Seventeen, Rolling Stone, New Statesman.  Free full-text articles.   See directory of periodical titles at foot of opening screen.   Use in addition to the Vermont Online Library. 

Google:  Excellent index to Internet web sites.

Infobel.com: White and yellow pages.  Links to online telephone, fax and business directories worldwide.  “Criss-cross.”

 

Internet Public Library:  Reliable list of web sites coordinated by the School of Information and Library Studies at the University of Michigan.

 

Librarians’ Index to the Internet: Reliable, trustworthy, librarian-selected Internet resources.  Hosted by the State Library of California.

Vermont Library Directory:  Directory of Vermont libraries.  Use link from Vermont Dept. of Libraries web site.

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ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Columbia Encyclopedia:  6th ed., updated, Nov. 2004.  Full-text of excellent one volume print resource.  Browsable alphabetic index with over 51,000 entries.  Also included in the Vermont Online Library.

DiscoverySchool.com Homework Helper:  Not a traditional encyclopedia, but a wealth of useful links, annotated and arranged by subject.  Lots of homework answers.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise:  Complete content of the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, 28,000 article, single-volume encyclopedia from the editors of Encyclopædia Britannica.   Britannica Concise is included in the Vermont Online Library.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (free version):  Brief versions of articles from the famous scholarly encyclopedia.  Includes links to fee-based information, may be frustrating. 

Encarta Encyclopedia Article Center: Free abridged version of Encarta.  Useful for quick facts, last minute projects.  Includes links to fee-based information, may be frustrating.

Wikipedia:  Encyclopedia created by volunteer writers and editors.  Wide range of interesting articles, quality is not guaranteed.

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RELIGION AND MYTH

Bullfinch's Mythology:  “Age of Fable.”  Text and illustrations.  Also available, a similar site, Encyclopedia Mythica, an encyclopedia on mythology, folklore and legend, emphasizing mythology.  Brief entries, authorship may not be given.  Full-text searching.

Catholic Encyclopedia:  Full-text of 1913 edition of classic print source.

Jewish Virtual Library:  Covers some of the topics found in the classic print source, the Encyclopedia Judaica.

 

King James Bible:  Full-text, searchable.

Virtual Religion Index: Annotated directory of links to world religion sites.  Choose "confessional agencies" for specific denominations and then use a “find” search.

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STATISTICS

American factfinder:  Comprehensive statistics related to population, housing, economic and geographic data.   Latest information  from U.S. Census 2000.

Fedstats: Statistics from 100 federal agencies.  A-Z index.  If older statistics are not available here, send request to DOL_ILL.

Statistical Abstract of the United States:  Full-text of popular statistical tables in PDF format.  Requires free Adobe Acrobat. Opening screen lists contents by subject.  Historical statistics from colonial times to current. 

Vermont Statistics via the Center for Rural Studies:  Statistics from the U.S. Census for Vermont, including median income, population below poverty level, population projections, employment by occupation.   See the section Vermont Indicators Online  for summary data.

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BUSINESS (including non-profits)

Business and  Company Resource Center included in the Vermont Online Library.

The Foundation Center: Includes Foundation Finder, a directory of foundations, and 990 Finder with grantmaker tax information that gives a full list of their funded grants.  Full-text “Proposal Writing Short Course.” For federal government grants, use Grants.gov.

GuideStar: Directory of 700,000 U.S. nonprofits with addresses, assets and links to web sites if available.  Keyword searching.  Advanced searching with subscription fees.  For overlapping listings, prefer more current Foundation Finder.

Hoover's: Profiles of very large companies, such as Green Mountain Coffee Roasters or Ben and Jerry's, with annual reports, some financial info and names of directors.  Search by company name or keyword.  Greater financial detail is available at $399.00/yr.  

IRS.gov: Learn about electronic filing, download tax forms.

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Start a business: Sponsored by the Vermont Dept. of Economic Development.  Permits and regulations, tax documents, links to financial assistance.

 

Switchboard.com  Yellow pages style listings for businesses.  Lists national businesses first, followed by local businesses.

U.S. Small Business Administration: How-to information for starting and managing a business.  See also valuable information at the non-profit site, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Vermont Business Magazine:  Search by name of business, county or topic.  Minimal information.  Greater depth with subscription fee.

Vermont Business Registry:  Directory of Vermont businesses by town or type of business.

Vermont Corporations Databases: Directories of Vermont corporations, trademarks and trade names sponsored by the Vermont Secretary of State. In the same site, A Short Guide to Vermont's Nonprofit Corporations Law.

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CAREERS

Careerbuilder.com:  Want ads from U.S. newspapers as well as directly from employers.  Yahoo Hotjobs.com and Monster Jobs have additional listings.  Craig’s List works for Burlington only.  Web sites for individual newspapers also useful for classified ads.

Peterson's College Search: Detailed descriptions of colleges in outline or narrative format.  Links to web sites of institutions.  Search by name of institution, location, major, tuition, size, GPA, sports.  Collegeboard.com: Comprehensive information.  Interesting searching for colleges with similar characteristics.

Occupational Outlook Handbook: Full-text of 2006-07 book-length federal document.  Descriptions of occupations with working conditions, salaries, prospects and lists of sources for additional information, including web links.

Salary Calculator:  Compare cost of living, including real estate and salaries between cities you select.  May not be available.

Scholarships, Fellowships and Loans (print source) included in the Vermont Online Library.

Vermont Dept. of Labor’s Licensed Occupations:  Directory of links to the state agency responsible for each professional license, e.g. dental assistants, etc.

VSAC:  Vermont Student Assistance Corporation’s site with links to information on scholarships and loans as well as to the VSAC library.  VSAC library is also on the Web2 multiple library search screen where you may request interlibrary loans.

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CONSUMER 

Consumer Price Index:  Federal government inflation rate statistics.  Used to calculate child support payments, alimony, etc.  Go to Economic News Releases, Current, and use the HTML version.  Next choose Consumer Price Index Summary.

Consumer Reports:  full-text articles in Vermont Online Library.

ConsumerSearch: Top-rated products in 13 categories including photo and video, health and fitness, etc.  Comparison charts, background information.

eHow.com:  How-to for range of topics, computers to cooking.

Kelley Blue Book: Trade in and market prices for used cars. Search by year, make, model, accessories, condition, mileage and zip code of owner.  NADAguides.com: Pricing for cars, motorcycles, boats, rv’s and manufactured homes.  Used by dealers.

Vermont Housing Data:  Statistics, arranged by city or town, for housing demand, costs of homeownership and rental housing.  Includes historical data.  Also a Vermont directory of affordable rental housing, subsidized housing, a calculator for mortgage payments, a glossary of housing terms and more.

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GOVERNMENT

Governments on the WWW:  Directory of official sites for national governments agencies, political parties, courts, embassies and consulates for more than 220 countries and territories.   Nations of the World:  Library of Congress site with links to information about international governments plus the World Factbook, Country Studies and Human Rights reports.  World Factbook:  Produced by the CIA, with clearly outlined directory and statistical information in a consistent and convenient format for all countries of the world.  Updated throughout the year.  Print available, $39.95, but web version is complete and easy.  Included in the Vermont Online Library.  

 

USA.gov: All in one site for federal government information with links to websites for individual agencies.  Congressional Directory: Full-text. Use "Browse" as a table of contents.  Directory is in text file or PDF (publication-quality format) requiring download of Adobe Acrobat Reader software.  Complex results with keyword searching.    United States Government Manual:  Full-text.  Use "Browse" as a table of contents.  Manual is in text file and PDF (publication-quality format) requiring download of Adobe Acrobat Reader software.  Complex results with keyword searching.

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Vermont.gov: Links to the websites for each agency in Vermont state government.  Vermont Legislative Directory: Full-text biographical sketches with email addresses, committees.  Vermont State Government Directory with address, phone, fax, email for executive branch employees.  Guide to Vermont’s town clerks, treasurers and county clerks: Published by the Vermont Secretary of State.  Directory of town officials.   Includes town copying fees.

Robert's Rules of Order: 1915 edition.  Robert’s Rules of Order web site has “Quick Chart of Motions” with rules for debate and voting.

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LAW

American Law Sources On-Line:  Links to free sources of U.S. and Canadian state and federal constitutions, laws, court rules and legal forms.

Findlaw: Links to many sources of legal information. Choose "cases and codes" for court cases and laws, federal and state. “Find Lawyer” for directory of attorneys.

Renting in Vermont: Full-text. Link on left.  Links from table of contents to sections and subsections, but no keyword searching.  Use “Find” search.

Vermont Pro Se Center:  Information on Small Claims Court, administering estates, municipal ordinance violations, divorce/child support, traffic tickets and jury duty.

Vermont Statutes:  Full-text of current Vermont laws.  Use statutes by titles in center of screen to search by title or section number. Use “official version” at Michie's Legal Resources for keyword searching.    Print version in town clerks’ offices, larger libraries.

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LANGUAGE

Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations:  Included in the Vermont Online Library.

 

AF: Acronym Finder: Dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms.

 

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:  Full-text of 4th edition, 2002.  No browsing, search only by single words.  Search entry words or full-text.  90,000 words, 70,000 audio pronunciations and 900 color illustrations.  Included in the Vermont Online Library.

 

AskOxford.com: Content from the Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English.  Choose “English dictionary” in drop down search menu.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary:  Full-text of 10th edition, 1995.  No browsing, search by individual words.  New words from 11th edition not included at this web site, but included in the Vermont Online Library.  Links to entries for same word in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus  also 1995 edition.

OneLook Dictionaries:  Index of 750 dictionaries with four million words including subject dictionaries and foreign languages, “from banjo terms to wine glossaries.”  Search entire database or select individual titles.

Online Etymology Dictionary:  Explanations of what selected words meant in the past.  Limited but interesting.

Pseudodictionary: (with words used in sentence) or Word spy (with dated sources, including newspapers).  Words not yet found in a dictionary.

Roget's II: Full-text of 3rd edition, 1995.  Classic thesaurus.  Also included in the Vermont Online Library.

Roget's International Thesaurus: 1922 edition.

 

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE DICTIONARY

Babel Fish:  Translates any text or web site from English to Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean or Chinese and reverse, plus numerous other combinations. Similar, although with fewer combinations of languages, FreeTranslation.com. 

Logos Dictionary: 7.5 million words in dozens of languages.  Search by phrase or single word.  Other possibilities are Language Dictionaries and Translators  and Eurodicautom. 

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SCIENCE

All about Birds:  Comprehensive. “Bird guide” contains in-depth descriptions with color photographs, sound, video, and distribution maps.  From Cornell University and the National Science Foundation.

Eight Planets:  Astronomy and space travel.  Beautifully illustrated and fun to use.  Comprehensive coverage.  NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration site  with space travel, ozone and earth science topics plus history of flight.

Eric Weisstein’s World of Science:  Scholarly explanations of math, physics, chemistry and astronomy with biographies of scientists.

 

Fear of Physics:  Easy access to straightforward explanations of basic concepts, e.g. gravity, acceleration, pendulums, etc.

Also, Physics and Astronomy Reference:  Fundamentals plus biographies of Nobel and Bruce Medal winners. 

 

Firstgov.gov Science and Technology:  Comprehensive index to quality sites.  Each site is independent and may take time to explore.

Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia. Gale Co., included in the Vermont Online Library.

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Life Science Dictionary:  Information on thousands of life science terms.  Several dozen scientists from a variety of U.S. academic institutions support this resource.

NOAA:  National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration site covering current weather, climate, fisheries, oceans and costal topics. 

North American Mammals:  From the Smithsonian.  Describes 400 mammals, includes pictures.  Search by geographic area, scientific or common name, conservation status.  Additional photos at United States Fish and Wildlife Service Digital Library System although the Northeast Image Library is disappointing.

Plants Database:  From the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.  Scientific descriptions, beautiful color photos.  Not a gardening guide. 

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TECHNOLOGY and VETERINARY MEDICINE

Boston Cooking School Cook Book (Fanny Farmer):  Full 1918 edition.  AllRecipes, Recipe Source, GourmetSpot,  Epicurious

 

Car and Truck Repair Information:  Explains how vehicle parts work, how they fail and gives approximate cost of repairs.

 

Care for Pets: American Veterinary Medical Association site for animal medicine, concentrating on dogs, cats and horses.  "Selecting a proper pet" includes birds and other caged pets.  Try the Merck Veterinary Manual,  9th ed. for additional free, full-text information.  Another possibility, Dogster's Breed Home Page, has brief descriptions with photos.               

How Products are Made:  from accordion to zirconium.  Content from the Thomson Gale print product.

HowStuffWorks: Illustrated tours of appliances, gadgets, brand name products.   From Christmas to DNA to caffeine.  Knowledge Hound: the How-to Hunter  Directory of free how-tos, browsable by subject.  Useful despite some dead links.  RepairClinic.com  For a dozen household appliances, with free diagrams and repair instruction, links to sources of parts for purchase.  E-how  Instructions are easy to understand and follow.  From playing a kazoo to fixing a car.

Mother Earth News Article Archive:  Full-text 1970-2004 issues including illustrations.  How-tos of all sorts, emphasizing organic, back-to-the land.

TechEncyclopedia: Clear definitions of terms related to computers and technology.

USDA Consumers: Gardening:  Many useful gardening resources, including organic vegetable gardening and plant hardiness zones.  Requires browsing.  American Garden Museum  Images of gardens throughout the U.S. with details of garden design and garden flowers.  Newly established, limited content.  Botany, the encyclopedia of plants and gardening  Description and cultivation for selected plants of all types, including flowers, trees, shrubs.  Commercial.

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HEALTH

Best Hospitals, 2006:  U.S. News and World Report’s compilation of rankings for U.S. hospitals by patient’s medical condition and treatments.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:  Articles on diseases and chronic conditions with statistics.  Information for travelers.

FamilyDoctor.org:  Sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians.  Regularly reviewed and updated by Academy physicians and patient education staff.  Full-text of complete book, easy to navigate, uniform format.

Health and Wellness Resource Center and Alternative Health Module included in the Vermont Online Library. 

 

KidsHealth:  Content divided between information directed at parents and at children.

 

Mayo Clinic:  Excellent reliable information in easy-to-read format with many visuals and graphics.  Wide range of topics.  Drug information including images, similar to PDRHealth (below)

Merck Manual of Medical Information: Second Home Edition, Online Version:  Full-text of trusted medical text. 

National Institutes of Health sites: 

National Cancer Institute:  A highly regarded source of answers on wide range of related topics. 

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine:  Objective, evidence-based information about complementary and alternative medicine. 

National Institute of Mental Health:  Comprehensive and aimed at the public. 

NIHSeniorHealth.gov:  Information on health problems, fitness, taking medicine correctly and Medicare.  Users may adjust type size and contrast.  Includes audio version.

 

National Library of Medicine sites: 

Medlineplus: All purpose health information source, includes link to the Merriam-Webster’s Medical Desk Dictionary (included in the Vermont Online Library), and a current medical encyclopedia. 

MedTerms Medical Dictionary, another medical dictionary, includes some commercial links, but contains lay person-friendly definitions from the Webster’s New World Medical Dictionary.  

Go Local Vermont  for Vermont doctors, hospitals and medical services.

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NutritionSource:  Harvard School of Public Health.  Lengthy, but clearly written articles on topics of common interest, e.g. calcium, fiber, etc.  Another option, What to eat, is a companion to the excellent book on nutrition by Marion Nestle.

 

Our Bodies Ourselves:  Companion to the classic book, not full-text of book.  Current news and links to other web sites.  Go to “Browse topic index” on left or search by your own choice of topic.

 

PDRHealth:  Free information about diseases and drugs.  Not as extensive as print version.  RXList: internet drug index  Another source, recommended by the American Library Association, for free information about drugs.

PubMed: MEDLINE medical periodical index with citations and some brief abstracts. Links to selected full-text articles.  Obtain others via interlibrary loan. Search by topic, author or journal title.  Use “limits” for advanced searching. 

Vermont Dept. of Health website:  Dept. rules and regulations, programs and updates on public health concerns.  For information on all topics covered, choose “Contents, A to Z” link in left column.

YourSurgery.com:  Explains surgical procedures, patient preparation, recovery, possible complications and treatment alternatives.  Graphics are excellent.  Some free information.  $5.00 per session or $100/yr for in depth information.

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ARTS

Artcyclopedia:  Search or browse by artists’ name, title of work, museum, historical period or movement.   Art and Culture for biographies of performing and visual artists, writers.  Essays on arts movements, links to related resources.  Metropolitan Museum of Art's Timeline of Art History with illustrations from the Museum’s collections.  SIRIS Art Inventories with 360,000 records describing American paintings executed before 1914 and American sculpture through the 20th century.  No images of the art works. Search by keyword, artist, title, subject, object type or owner.  World Wide Arts Resources has links to sites for artists, museums, arts education, dance.  The “Art History” database is searchable by artist with links to color reproductions of artwork.  Commercial site.

Costumer’s Manifesto:  Commercial site with uneven quality, but plenty to offer.  Use “(Costume) History sorted by period” for images and sewing patterns.

Dance Style Locator:  Illustrated descriptions of world dance styles. 

Instrument Encyclopedia:  Selection of interesting instruments, does not include some common ones.  

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LyricsWiki:  240,000 entries, 1930 to date.  Mostly current pop bands.  Search by artist (first name for individuals or first word of band name), album title or song title.   Allmusic.com contains biographies of musicians and others in the music business, directory of albums, links to song audios.   For additional listings of albums, use CastAlbumDB.com, an index to over 28,000 songs in over 3200 Broadway musicals.  For each musical, browse song titles and names of cast members.   SongFacts.com has more song lyrics.

 

Music History 102:  Essay on famous Western composers and their music from the Middle Ages to the present with links to additional information.

 

Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary: Thorough coverage and depth, cross reference links within definitions

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TV & FILM

Encyclopedia of Television:  No current programming, but easy to use and thorough for selected older shows, e.g Lassie, Leave it to Beaver.  Also TV.com for current and classic shows, including cast and crew members.

Internet Movie Database:  Less sophisticated than print, but broad range of titles.  Inconsistent reviews.  Movies listed with full casts and crews.  Links from names to biographies, filmographies. Search by title, performer or crew member.  Some television shows and television performers also listed.  Metacritic is similar, includes recorded music and games.  Also useful, the New York Times Movie Review Archive.  Greatest Films also includes film history, although a commercial site.

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ATHLETICS

Baseball-reference.com or Baseball-almanac.com: Players, teams, leagues, awards.  Also Pro-football-reference.com and Basketball-reference.com

JockBio.com: Biographies by published sports writers for selected baseball, basketball, football, golf, ice hockey, soccer and tennis players, auto racers and Olympic athletes. 

Yahoo! Recreation: Sports: Another directory of sports sites.  Includes cockfighting, footbag, extreme sports, etc.

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LITERATURE

Amazon.com: Catalog of books and other media currently for sale as well as titles that are out of print.  Many titles include reviews from database editors, edited portions of reviews from Booklist, Library Journal and from the site's visitors.  New York Times Sunday Book Review (1981-   ) and BarnesandNoble.com are additional choices.

 

American Heritage Book of English Usage: Full-text of the 1996 edition, respected publisher.  May search simultaneously with several other classic manuals including Strunk's The Elements of Style: Classic handbook of English composition and usage, including words and expressions commonly misused.  One more guide for writers at the Writing Center, University of Wisconsin’s guidelines for writing.  Brief, but clearly written.

 

Brewer’s Phrase and Fable:  1894 version.  Choose link listed in right-hand column.

Literary Market Place:  Abridged directory of publishers’ with addresses, phone numbers.  Use password: mzunder, username: mzunder.

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Playfinder:  Full synopsis of plays sold by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.  Keyword searching.  Inter-Play: Index of plays in collections developed by the Portland (OR) Area Library System. Lists plays NOT indexed in standard play indexes such as Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections or H.W. Wilson's Play Index.  Also does not cite plays published separately only.  No full-text of plays.  Use for interlibrary loan. Samuel French, Inc: Product catalog for this major play publisher.  Very brief comments with play listings.    Keyword searching.  Use author’s name as keyword if needed.  New York Times Theatre Review Archive (use account: zunder, password: zunder during this class).

 

Poets’ Corner:  6,700 full-text poems, all over 75 years old (not under copyright), by 780 poets.  Also, biographical articles for 31 poets, 120 pictures of poets.  American Verse Project:  Easy searching for full-text classic American poetry, prior to 1920, mainly 19th century.  “View text” often requires loading full volume.  Instead, use “table of contents” for access to individual poems.  Bartleby.com Verse:  Full-text of poems from standard anthologies, e.g. The Oxford Book of English Verse, and from numerous volumes by famous pre-1920 poets, e.g. Frost, Hopkins, Housman, Keats, Millay, Sandberg, etc. plus portraits and brief bios of selected poets, links to literary criticism. 

Short Story Index:  Index to short stories in collections and anthologies at the Los Angeles County Public Library.  Only includes stories that are not listed individually in the Library’s online catalog.  Use to find the title of an anthology containing the short story you need.

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QUOTATIONS

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations: 1919 edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations plus Simpson’s Quotations and Columbia World of Quotations.  Scroll down to browse by author (chronologically or alphabetically) or search by keyword. Use quotation marks around phrases.

Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations: Searchable version of the 2nd edition, 1953, containing more than 4,000 quotations on over 250 subjects. Gives both the author of the quote and the work where the quote appeared.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Quotations:  Included in the Vermont Online Library.

Quotations Page: Small collections of quotations searched individually or in combination, by word, phrase or author.

Quoteland:  Commercial site, but easy searching by subject, author, special occasion.

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BIOGRAPHY

Allbiographies.com  Extensive content.  Cannot confirm authority.

 

Biography:  Many articles based on the Cambridge Biographical Dictionary.  25,000 names.  Lengthy articles.

 

Chambers Biographical Dictionary:  Full 1997 edition, with amendments, of print version.  Change search menu to “Chambers Biographical,” not “Chambers 21st Century Dictionary.”

 

Distinguished Women of Past and Present: Biographies from diverse sources representing many countries, historical periods and fields. Some drawn from Microsoft's Encarta.  Contains some dead links.  300 Women Who Changed the World by Encyclopedia Britannica contains similar subjects.  Women of the Hall has biographies of prominent women from U.S. history.  A little more specialized, First Ladies' Gallery, contains brief biographies of all U.S. First Ladies, some with image.  Includes link to information about life in the White House.

Merriam-Webster’s Biographical Dictionary:  Included in the Vermont Online Library.

POTUS: Presidents of the U.S.:  Extensive information about each of the U.S. presidents, including election results and cabinet members, with links to other sites for information about presidents' wives and political opponents.

The Political Graveyard: Directory of 120,948 politicians, judges and diplomats, giving biographical information along with burial sites. Browse names alphabetically, search by state and office, by birth or death date.   Includes gazetteer.

s9.com: Biographical Dictionary:  28,000 names, living and dead.  Brief, but current biographical sketches.

 

Who2:  Reliable facts about celebrities, including historical figures, names from fiction.  Brief sketch with links to additional sites.  Browse alphabetically or geographically.

 

Who’s alive and Who’s dead:  Recently prominent people.  Browse by category (actors, sports figures, murderers, etc.), by recent deaths, new listings, and today birthdays, or search the alphabetical list.

 

Additional web sites from this list that include biographical articles:  Vermont Legislative Directory, Eric Weisstein’s World of Science, Physics and Astronomy Reference, Allmusic.com, Art and Culture, Internet Movie Database, JockBio.com, Poets’ Corner.  See descriptions given above.

 

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GENEALOGY

 

Ancestry.com:  Easy searching by individual name in family trees, Social Security death index, selected census and vital records.  Fees for full-text.  Free access at the Vermont Dept. of Libraries Law Library, Montpelier.

 

cyndislist.com:  Links to 181,400 genealogy related pages.

 

Death Indexes:  Organized by state, most links require fees for all or most records.

 

Ellis Island:  Passenger lists, multiple searching options.  Requires free registration.

 

Family Search:  Mormons’ genealogy web site.   

HeritageQuest.com available to Vermont libraries eligible for the Vermont Online Library.

RootsWeb.com:  Commercial and related to Ancestry.com, but links users to message boards, volunteer projects and genealogy information submitted by other researchers.  The USGENWEB project is part of this site.  Queries can be posted and “look-ups” requested.

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GEOGRAPHY see also ALMANACS

 

Columbia Gazetteer of North America:  Full-text of very comprehensive dictionary of place names.  50,000 entries, 1990 U.S. Census figures.  Some advertising windows.

Gazetteer of Vermont Places: Real and Imagined: Vermont Center for Rural Studies alphabetical list of real and imaginary town, city and place names with location and some historical notes.

Getty Thesaurus of Geographical Names:  International, similar to the Columbia Gazetteer of the World, not as detailed.

Mapquest: U.S. maps with selected street level detail.  Links to travel info with driving directions.  Search by city, state, zip code or country.   Also available, Google maps, with road maps for many countries.  None for parts of South America and Africa.

Merriam-Webster’s Geographical Dictionary:  Included in the Vermont Online Library.

National Geographic MapMachine: National Geographic world maps with legible, basic detail.  National Geographic print atlases are still superior.

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection: More than 5000 international maps, from many historical and federal government sources.  Most are in the public domain.  Sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin.

Topozone:  Online USGS topographic maps.  60,000 maps searchable by place name, latitude and longitude.  Use for physical features, not streets.

U.S. Gazetteer: U.S. Census Bureau place name index with links to basic maps.  Streets and other features in maps are not named.

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TRAVEL

Expedia.com: Major commercial site for reservations, also Travelocity.com, lots of others.

Fodor’s 2006-2007:  coming to the Vermont Online Library.  Also, borrow all current Fodor’s guides from the Central Collections at the Vermont Dept. of Libraries through interlibrary loan.

Fodor's Travel Online: Travel information for major U. S. and international cities. Small portion of content from print series.  Other abridged versions of print travel guides at Frommers.com, Lonely Planet Online.

Yahoo! Travel:  Even greater variety of travel information.

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HISTORY & NEWS

 

American Women’s History: a research guide:  Subject and state indexes to print and internet sources.  General history as well as women’s history.

 

Best of History Web sites:  Annotated links to over 1000 quality history web sites, useful for schoolwork.

 

Burlington Free Press/Rutland Herald Index:  Vermont newspaper index via the Vermont Dept. of Libraries web site.

 

CNN.com

 

Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates:  Included in the Vermont Online Library.

 

History Link 101:  Active and well-selected links to ancient world history and World War II sources for grade 12 and under. 

 

HyperHistory Online:  Color-coded timelines of people and events by historical period over the past 3000 years.  Deceased people only.  Most prominent individuals only.  A similar resource, World History Timeline, gives a comprehensive narrative of world events, 1000-1799 by decade, 1800 to present by year.  From the History Channel.  To search, choose World Timeline on left, then select century.

 

Library of Congress American Memory:  Access to the manuscript collections at the Library of Congress, selected topics only, best for browsing.  View documents, photographs, videos.

 

New York Times Article Archives, 1851-1980: Citation index only.  Fee for articles.  Request full-text or microfilm from DOL ILL.  New York Times Archive Since 1981  has many full-text articles.  New York Times 1995 – present is available full-text in the Vermont Online Library.  A similar newspaper index, the Washington Post Archives, 1877 to present, most recent 14 days not included.  Indexing is free, full-text may require fee.  

 

Vermont Life Index:  Keyword searching within article titles for issues 1946-    .  No keyword searching within text of articles.  No links to full-text, only links to back issue purchase.  Request articles from DOL ILL.

 

Vermont Timeline:  Brief list of events in Vermont history including a few pre-historic events.  Produced by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

 

 

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