Best Free Reference

An extensive collection of hundreds of thousands of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms, Abbriviations.com is neatly arranged by broad areas (e.g. Medical, Internet, International, Community). Each area is further broken down into more specific, browsable categories such as Veterinary, Emoticons, or Non-Profit. The "International" area is multilingual, featuring hundreds of entries in Spanish, German, French, and other languages. Users can contribute abbreviations as well as look them up. In addition to browsing, search options are also available: word to abbreviation, abbreviation to word, word in definition, There is also a metasearch option that seems deliver term use in Amazon and Google, but what it actually does is unexplained.

This free digital collection from Duke University contains over 7,000 advertisements from print magazines and newspapers, published from the 1910s-1950s, primarily in the United States and Canada. Content focuses on five areas: radio, television, transportation, beauty/hygiene, and World War II. Users can search by keyword or browse the broad focus areas and then narrow results by company, product, subject, or year. Three different browse displays are available—grid, list, or scrolling wall. Individual images can be viewed in three different sizes, can be downloaded, may be used for research and teaching with attribution. Both black & white and color images are included. Ad*Access is of interest to anyone researching American history, culture, or advertising.

A site with free television episodes, full-length movies, and video clips may seem like a strange nomination for MARS, but if your library has a bustling media department, this is a good referral for patrons frustrated that Season X of Favorite-Cult-Classic is always checked out. Browse by genre, search for a particular show or movie, or create a free account for notification of new shows. From documentaries to popular series, huluTM’s varied collection has something for everyone—just don’t cancel cable yet. The downside is that the user’s computer must meet many system requirements and requires a high-speed internet connection; even so, huluTM is a nice alternative to lurking in wait for the DVD shelving cart.

Each morning, almost 800 newspapers from around the globe send the front page of their newspaper to the Newseum which posts these original, unedited pages online. Newspaper pages can be viewed as a gallery, list, or map, and may be sorted by region or continent, such as North or South America. Daily front pages from previous dates are not available but there is a newspaper archive where newspaper front pages are grouped by "events of historical significance." While some material may be objectionable to viewers, the content is undeniably worldwide in scope.

Video is as much a part of history as text. The Living Room Candidate presents video advertising for presidential candidates—Democrat, Republican, and significant third party, when applicable—from1952 to the present. Accompanying descriptive matter places the ads in context. Transcripts of the ads are included, along with full credits and production information. Numerous commercials are available for each election year, plus, text overviews of campaign years, information on party nominees, and election results. Other browse categories are thematic: biographical, ads utilizing fear, featuring children, etc. Useful for researchers and the general public of all ages, the site requires Adobe Flash Player 8 or above and a screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher. Major web browsers are supported.

The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) provides statistics and graphical data on the amount of time people in the U.S. spend on various activities: watching TV, eating, working in the yard. Use the ATUS Tables or Charts to find statistics by either demographic characteristic (older Americans or students, for example) or area of activity (such as work, leisure, or sleep). If existing tables and charts are not sufficient, microdata files from 2003-8 can be freely downloaded for more additional analysis. Supporting documentation explains how the data is used by the government. Useful for business or cultural research, the American Time Use Survey provides a snapshot of how Americans spend their days.

The Special Issues Index provides access to special issues from business trade journals and industry associations. Special issues provide key statistics on products, industries, markets, and consumers, and are indispensable for business research. Browse the Special Issues Index by subject or journal, or keyword search across report citations. When you've found a report of interest, use the Get Article drop-down menu at right to check on its availability. Most reports are freely available online, although some of those listed are only index entries to print journals.

Through the ARDA, the Association of Religion Data Archives provides statistics on religious bodies here--both the in U.S. and internationally. Data varies by location. Figures for U.S. denominations in the U.S. can be had at the state, county, and zip code level for 1980, 1990, and 2000 while profiles for the entire denomination can include more historic data. Statistics on religious adherents are available for entire countries along with various socio-economic measures. GIS Maps are available, and it is possible to cross-reference geographies with practices. Downloadable datasets allow users to work with data independently of the site. A research-oriented site, the ARDA includes much information of use to educators, journalists, religious workers, and the general public.

For up-to-date statistics and easy access to U.S. economic information, this is a site to bookmark. Users can browse monthly unemployment rates and also track changes in payroll employment, average hourly earnings, and the consumer price index. Statistics are provided by month or quarter, and users can access back data as well. Besides national data, users can narrow results by state, region, or metro area. This site is ideal for users seeking quick information and basic economic data.

“A world of information” is at your fingertips by browsing data series or searching by keyword more than 55 million records from the databases of the UN on employment, education, energy, environment, health, population, refugees, and much more.

Allows users to search for and track legislation being debated in the U.S. Congress. They can an set up alerts for particular bills and pieces of legislation as well as follow individual Congress members’ work on bills and resolutions, voting records, and committee work.

This database includes information about Supreme Court decisions from 1953-2008. Clicking on the "Analysis" section allows users to search for a specific decision. This database is a "definitive source for researchers, students, journalists, and citizens interested in the U.S. Supreme Court." Examples of information about each case available include “the parties to the suit, the legal provisions considered in the case, and the votes of the Justices.” A Getting Started section is helpful to first-time database users.

The State Department’s Travel website contains indispensable information for domestic and international travelers. Here, visitors can learn about applying for passports and visas, airport security restrictions (including traveling with liquids), currency exchange rates, and much more. Of particular note is the country-specific list of travel warnings and alerts, which describes potentially dangerous situations for Americans traveling abroad. International travelers will also want to look at the section containing emergency assistance resources for American citizens traveling abroad. Any first- time international traveler (and many seasoned travelers) will want to check out this website.

This site helps users identify tests and instruments used in education, business, psychology, etc. Ways to search the Reviews include an alphabetical search, a category search, and a keyword search. The online index provides author, title, purpose of the measure, publisher address and other contact information, along with a cross-reference to the volume and page of the review in Mental Measurements Yearbook (1985-present). This feature makes the site particularly useful for libraries with print volumes but no online access. Full reviews are available in pay-per-view.

IMSLP is the International Music Score Library Project (or Petrucci Music Library) which was started in 2006. The ultimate goal of the IMSLP is to gather all public domain music scores, in addition to the music scores of all contemporary composers (or their estates) who wish to release them to the public free of charge. IMSLP has over 102,959 works, 342,314 scores, 38,827 recordings, 13,705 composers, and 353 performers.

This is an excellent resource for finding poems in full-text and finding articles about poetry and poets. The Poetry Tool site can be searched or browsed by category, occasion, geographic area, first line, time period or popularity of a poem. There are articles, hundreds of podcasts, as well as audio versions of poems sometimes read by the author of the poem. College and high school students will find a wealth of information quickly and efficiently.

As amazing a resource as the photos printed in LIFE alone are, the LIFE Photo Archive, hosted by Google, is even more so. With millions of photos accessible at the click of a mouse, the archive is a rich resource for anyone seeking images relating to U.S. history and world events. Approximately 10 million images are available, and because most of the photos were never published, the collection contains many “never before seen” pictures. Users can search by keyword, browse by decade, or explore featured events, people, or places. Names of photographers and the dates that photos were taken are identified. With images ranging from 1750 to the 2000s, the site will be popular with users wanting images with historical context.

The Baby Name Wizard helps a parent-to-be to find that perfect name. The Find a Name feature allows users to create a list of potential names by length and letter preference, heritage, and popularity. The Namipedia provides the etymologies, suggests popular sibling pairings, and presents reader-generated information and experiences related to particular names. Registration is required to add make contributions. Mapping and graphing features, recently upgraded to Flash technology, pull data from the Social Security Administration to track name popularity by state or by year, back to the 1880’s for the country, and to the 1960’s for states. Whether browsing for inspiration (or entertainment) or researching a short list, this is an informative and entertaining site with lots of visual appeal.

More than 25,000 maps, most in the public domain, have been digitized at the Perry-Castañeda Library at the University of Texas at Austin. Although there is an emphasis on Texas, maps from around the world are also available. Of special interest is the Historical Collection, which contains earlier editions of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency maps, U.S. Army maps, and U.S. Geological Surveys, among others. In the unlikely event that you can't find a suitable map for your project, the site offers advice on searching for specific maps online. These quality images are a delight to view and would enhance any presentation.

The Speech Accent Archive is a teaching and research tool for linguists, ESL teachers, and anyone interested in the accents of various English speakers. It provides short audio recordings of native and non-native speakers of English saying the same English paragraph. Basic demographic information, such as age, place of birth, and languages spoken, are provided for each speaker. Phonetic transcriptions and linguistic analysis of the recordings are available. Users need to download a free QuickTime plug-in to hear the recordings. The Archive is a project of the Linguistics Program in the Department of English, the College of Arts and Science's Technology across the Curriculum Program, and the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. This is a helpful site that is easy to use.

Car shoppers should drive over to Cars.com for easy to understand information on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a new or used auto or truck. It includes comprehensive pricing and financing information, side-by-side comparison tools, photo galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and a large selection of new- and used-car inventory. Search for specific makes, models, and years, or browse current models. Opinions are available from experts and consumers alike. Additional tools include an auto loan calculator and Kelley Blue Book values. Current car owners will also find this an excellent resource for recall data, repair cost estimates and tax credits.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s website is an essential resource for anyone concerned about the safety and potential health risks of consumer products. One of the most useful features on the site is the Recall and Product Safety News database, which is searchable by date, product type, company, country of manufacture, and more. Visitors to the site will also find information about safety in the home, product safety standards, and a section with kid-friendly articles about safety.

"Wordnik is based on the principle that people learn words best by seeing them in context. We've collected more than 4 billion words of text (web pages, books, magazines, newspapers, etc.) and have mined them exhaustively to show you example sentences for any word you're interested in." Wordnik also features a thesaurus and a Word of the Day.

A collaboration among the members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and institutions in the University of California system, Hathi Trust is a repository for the archiving and sharing of digitized collections, which can range from 19th century periodicals to historical bicycling to war to hard-to-find Government documents and congressional materials. The site’s main page allows for general catalog searching as well as the ability to browse collections or search within the full-text of collections. A limit to “Full View Only” retrieves items freely available online. Result lists can be narrowed by many options including subjects, language, and date, while full records include hotlinks on the author and subject and for similar items.

" The WDL makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures from around the world on one site, in a variety of ways. These cultural treasures include, but are not limited to, manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings." The site was developed by "the U.S. Library of Congress, with contributions by partner institutions in many countries; the support of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the financial support of a number of companies and private foundations." After selecting a region the user is able to narrow the documents by time period, country, topic, type of item, or institution. Ease of use encourages exploration.

Launched in 2006, FedSpending is a project of OMB Watch, a non-governmental agency that works to increase government transparency and accountability. All data is collected from United States government sources, with the largest providers being the Federal Procurement Data System for federal contracts and the Federal Assistance Award Data System for federal financial assistance (e.g. grants, loans). With separate tabs for contracts, assistance and recovery, the user interface is simple and easy to use. Information is available by state, congressional district, contracting agency, product/service or other options depending on the tab selected. Information on the top 100 contractors or recipients begins in 2000; click dollar amounts for detailed profiles. The site is useful for anyone interested in government.