Best Free Reference

With the aim of improving access to information about Australian plants, animals, and microorganisms, this site was publicly launched with government support in November 2010. And when Tropical Cyclone Yasi struck coastal Queensland on February 3, 2011, with winds of 185 mph, it proved a valuable tool for identifying the flora and fauna devastated in the region. A work in progress: you can search by species, many of which are unique to Australia—like the iconic lyrebird, the duck-billed platypus, or even the Tasmanian devil; create your own species distribution maps; check out photos, links, and data­sets; or learn how to become a contributor through an affiliated organization.

Looking for a job? Let employees tell you the best places to work. Glassdoor.com provides the 50 top-ranked companies; Facebook tops the list. In the sciences, The Scientist reports the best places to work in academia, in industry, and for postdocs; think Princeton University, New England Biolabs, and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, respectively. Rankings for both sites are based on employee surveys that analyze factors such as pay and benefits, career opportunities, work/life balance, and job satisfaction. Both sites also provide salary comparisons. Of significant general interest, Glassdoor.com posts employee reviews of companies, interview comments and questions, and available jobs—though registration (free) is required for some of this content.

Looking for a job? Let employees tell you the best places to work. Glassdoor.com provides the 50 top-ranked companies; Facebook tops the list. In the sciences, The Scientist reports the best places to work in academia, in industry, and for postdocs; think Princeton University, New England Biolabs, and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, respectively. Rankings for both sites are based on employee surveys that analyze factors such as pay and benefits, career opportunities, work/life balance, and job satisfaction. Both sites also provide salary comparisons. Of significant general interest, Glassdoor.com posts employee reviews of companies, interview comments and questions, and available jobs—though registration (free) is required for some of this content.

The NSIDC at the University of Colorado supports research into the world’s frozen realms. Check out its “Easy To Use Data Products” like the Sea Ice Index, or click on the Education Center to learn “All About Snow.” Turns out it snows everywhere, even at the equator, and that New York state is home to the snowiest cities in the United States. Meanwhile, if all the land ice melted, the sea level would rise 70 meters worldwide—a scary thought! For a visual taste of winter, you can even check out pictures of past blizzards in the image galleries.

ReliefWeb is an online gateway to a gold mine of information related to humanitarian emergencies and disasters. Created by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in late 1996, the site provides the most up-to-date information regarding humanitarian crises.
Information updates are made around the clock and include maps and documents from other UN offices, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, and media outlets. The site also has a searchable database so users can locate the amount of funding that has been given to a crisis, as well as the amount of funding believed necessary to help those individuals in a crisis area.

Want to determine your flood risk? Or learn to dance for fitness? This site is the centralized online resource for the Cooperative Extension System, where anyone can find research-based and credible information they can use every day to improve their life. Content of the site originates in land-grant university research and is organized around communities of practice related to major areas of emphasis of the Extension System, including youth; leadership development; agriculture; natural resources; family, food, and consumer services; and community and economic development. You can read news, ask an expert, use interactive lessons, or link to the nearest extension office for information of local interest.

President Obama’s signing—and Michelle Obama’s championing—of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act child nutrition bill not only provides increased funding for school lunches but also calls for the replacement of junk food outside the cafeteria. Likewise, this nonprofit research and policy organization is devoted to improving the world’s diet, preventing obesity, and reducing weight stigma. You can click on “hot topics” to follow the debate on school nutrition, read recent center publications like “Front of Package Food and Beverage Labeling,” or use the legislation database link to search for bills on a variety of ­topics.

Housed at the Center for Gender Equity at the nonprofit Academy for Educational Development, this site functions as an archive describing the nature of the problems of labor and sexual exploitation of humans, broken out by country. There’s a link to the 10th Annual Trafficking in Persons report released in June 2010 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with coverage of 177 nations; despite some progress, millions continue to suffer modern forms of slavery while human trafficking remains a foremost concern in many countries.

Since 2005, Mashable has provided news relating to social and digital media, technology, and web culture. Mashable now boasts 40 million page views per month, earning high marks among the tech and social media elite for early and consistent reporting on what’s what on the web. Want the low-down on Facebook’s “share” button or the background on what’s going viral on YouTube? If you and your patrons want the breaking news to keep up with the bleeding edge, Mashable is the site to bookmark

Trusted for decades and recognized with Pulitzers, the New York Times (NYT) is the place to turn for the latest news on the protests and related events in the Middle East and northern Africa. Taking a country-by-country look at recent political events, these sites provide links to the latest news stories and the latest Tweets. In addition to linking to the paper’s own coverage, the Lede also has extensive links to other blogs, blog rolls, news sites, and news videos. At this writing, Libya is the focus; use the blog’s archive for coverage of other countries.