Best Free Reference

This is the public face of OCLC. It includes reviews pulled from a number of sources, including professional review journals, Amazon, and Goodreads. You can also use the subject headings to give you ideas for searching.

For researchers interested in international, national, and local migration issues, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has produced its Migration Information Source, which is chock full of reports and data. This think tank is funded by an assortment of philanthropy groups both in the U.S. and abroad, and benefactors include the Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation, Danish, Norwegian, and Dutch groups, as well as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The data sources are authoritative and current, and the site is attractive and user-friendly. The Migration Information Source includes US census and Eurostat data, maps, charts that show migration history, country reports, feature stories and news. The site is a must for anyone researching immigration, asylum, and refugee questions.

SeatGuru is “The ultimate source for airplane seating, in-flight amenities and airline information.” This site provides users with detailed maps of commercial airliners. Included are the locations of the galley, restrooms, exits, and closets. Color codes on the seats indicate uncomfortable or unpopular seats, average seats and preferred seats. In addition to seating information, SeatGuru provides information about each airline’s luggage restrictions, traveling with pets, and in-flight amenities such as meals and entertainment. Links to each airline’s web page are prominently displayed on the first review page. Web site directions are clear and easy to understand. Casual and frequent flyers will find this site very useful.

Trip Advisor is very useful for anyone planning a trip to somewhere. The site provides a brief overview of the city you are going to, and names and locations of hotels, attractions, and restaurants. Web site users are encouraged to post their experiences, videos, pictures, and advice about visiting the city. Names of hotels and restaurants can be sorted alphabetically or by user popularity. In addition to user reviews, reviews from professional travel organizations such as Frommers are also available. Although the web site does not make travel arrangements directly, airplane and hotel reservations can be made through their associates Expedia.com®, Orbitz, and Hotels.com A helpful search engine allows users to narrow their searches for information inside the web site.

Non-profit conservation organization, NatureServe, with its colorful website and troves of animal, plant, and ecological data, is a superb resource for academics and members of the public. Two separate databases NatureServe makes available stand out: NatureServe Explorer: an Online Encyclopedia of Life and InfoNatura. NatureServe Explorer covers the United States and Canada, with information on more than 65,000 plants, animals, and ecosystems, particularly endangered species. InfoNatura focuses on 8,500 birds, mammals, and amphibians of Latin America, from the common to the rare and endangered. NatureServe draws its data from scholarly sources and databases compiled by local and national conservation organizations. NatureServe's detail and presentation will be of value to all users who are gathering biological and ecological data.

Giving visitors detailed information about the world’s largest museum complex and its exhibits, the Smithsonian Institution’s site also includes interactive on-line exhibits, supplementary information on the physical exhibits, and an impressive collection of interactive, multimedia resources found under the “Explore & Learn” section, divided into three areas: Art & Design, History & Culture, and Science & Technology. Users also can find information on the Smithsonian Institution’s research centers and outreach programs of traveling exhibits and affiliate museums. This site is ideal for museum visitors and interesting for everyone.

Zillow.com, a new venture of the founder and former employees of Expedia.com, provides estimates of home values and related data for over 70,000,000 properties to prospective buyers and sellers. Entering an address will produce a satellite photograph and street map, as well as data on home features such as number of bedrooms. Users can refine the valuation of a home by adding information on renovations and special features and by selecting comparable recent home sales. As a Beta site, data coverage is not completely even, but information is provided on data quantity and accuracy of estimates by state and for various metropolitan areas. Homeowners and buyers will find Zillow.com a quick and useful way to estimate a home’s current value.

While primarily a conduit for information on the current television programs and their schedule, the additional features at The History Channel make it well worth a visit. “This Day in History” provides a snapshot of what happened in a variety of topics (though most relate to modern wars) and “World Timeline” offers brief descriptions of events by year, decade, or century (500 BC to 2005 CE). Discussion lists and resources for classroom teachers abound, and “Speeches & Video” offers over 2,000 multimedia clips. The “Maps” section provides simple geopolitical and thematic (e.g., “Growth of the Roman Empire” and “World Tectonic Plates”) maps and “Games” have a weekly trivia quiz. This site is useful for learning about what happened and when.

The site of the National Institute of Mental Health, the major federal agency responsible for conducting research on mental illness and on behavioral disorders, provides comprehensive information for the general public on mental health, as well as information aimed at researchers seeking funding. In addition to basic data on various disorders, with links to sources of help and to additional resources and relevant research, there are links to related news articles. The website includes sections specifically addressing mental health problems in children and adolescents, older adults, men, and women. This well-organized site is a great place to start for anyone researching mental health issues.

Author/Publisher: National Institute of Mental Health

Although this site provides a for-fee service for subscribers, it also features an easy-to-use free hospital look-up tool, which links to hospital websites and basic statistics. Users can also drill down by state to see statistics that have been gathered from both proprietary and public sources including Medicare cost reports and claims data. Non-subscribers can view data on total numbers of beds, discharges, patient days, and gross patient revenue. Users who are researching the health care industry or who are themselves health care professionals or administrators may require more detailed information that only comes with a subscription. American Hospital Directory is a well-designed and reliable source for the general public and users who may otherwise not have much luck locating hospital information.

This Internet resource, first launched in 1997, is a valuable resource for genomics research. The institute’s mission is to “encompass a broad range of studies aimed at understanding the structure and function of the human genome and its role in health and disease.” The site supplies information about consumer health and counseling information for genetic disorders; and in-depth information for medical and scientific professionals, such as grants, policies and ethics, educational resources, and careers and training information.

Many people would like to improve their health but are uncertain where to begin. Created by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, smallstep encourages people to make small changes in their diets and lives to achieve their goal of weight loss and to promote physical fitness. Information on the Web site includes how to create a healthy balanced meal, how to estimate serving size, and how to integrate physical activity into your life easily. Interactive menus help you determine if you are exceeding your daily intake of fats, sodium, cholesterol, and calories.

Google Maps drives this environmental atlas produced by the North American Node of UN's GRID group, which is co-located in Sioux Falls, S.D. at the USGS EROS Data Center. This group works to leverage technologies such as remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), and online mapping tools to create an information format to influence environmental policy decision makers. The atlas highlights sites around the world that have witnessed dramatic environmental changes. Each location is documented by striking satellite images that poignantly illustrate environmental changes such as glacial melt, desertification, deforestation, pollution, and population growth. The site's authors use quality information from scientific sources to produce an impressive online reference tool for geographers, political scientists, and environmental researchers.

Librarians at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis designed this indispensable portal to economic information. This site's goal is to provide information professionals, the academic community, and the public with centralized access to important free online economic materials, databases, and Web sites. A few valuable in-house databases are offered, such as the IES (International Economic Statistics) Database, an important aid in identifying other free Internet resources and sites available for specific countries.

Description: The Bill of Rights Institute, a non-profit organization whose mission to teach youth “about the words and ideas of America's Founders, the liberties guaranteed in our Founding documents, and how our Founding principles continue to affect and shape a free society,” includes a great deal of free information on its web site. Teachers (and others) can sign up for newsletters with links to lessons on the topics of Bill of Rights in the News, First Amendment in History, and Landmark Supreme Court cases. There is also a link to their web site for high school students, which includes video and audio clips and a study guide to the Constitution. This site is an excellent resource for both teachers and high school students.

Author/Publisher: Bill Of Rights Institute

“Welcome to Who's Alive and Who's Dead - the site that helps you keep track of which famous people have died and which are still alive!” The web site lists each person’s date of birth, death (if applicable) and cause of death (if known). Hyperlinks from the person’s name display a _very_ brief synopsis of each person’s achievements. Categories include: Actors and actresses, sports, political figures, TV shows, musicians, and artists. The creator admits that his decision on what to include is somewhat subjective. Useful for seeing who has died from famous musical groups, or who is still alive from famous TV shows.

This free Internet site, first launched in 2003, is a highly successful resource for “comparing business regulations.” In-depth data and reports about and rankings of regulations relevant to doing business are supplied for 175 economies, along with tools for comparative analyses. The rankings, data, and reports are derived from quantifiable data that are a reflection of the costs, number of requirements, and time involved in specific business functions and operations. Policymakers, the aid community, and researchers, as well as business executives and foreign investors can use this resource effectively.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) is your government resource for competing in the global marketplace.

Description: Son of Citation Machine is an “interactive web tool designed to assist high school, college, and university students, their teachers, and independent researchers in their effort to respect other people's intellectual properties.” This tool allows users to enter citation information for various types of print and electronic resources to produce a MLA, APA, or Chicago formatted bibliographic reference and parenthetical citation. The Turabian citation section is under construction. Son of Citation Machine is very simple and straightforward to use. Although advertising appears on the site, a registration and login procedure allows schools to block ads on the site. Teachers and students will appreciate the ability to simplify the process of creating citations.

The Shodor Foundation, a nonprofit education and research corporation, is “dedicated to the advancement of science and math education, specifically through the use of modeling and simulation technologies.” Shodor recognized that professional computational science tools, especially graphics and animations, could be adapted for classroom use. The foundation’s Web site offers access to a repertoire of software and provides value-added aids, such as curriculum materials for students, sorted by grade and subject, for students, teachers, and parents.

Nothing is more frustrating that trying to reach a human when you’re having a problem with a product or service and getting caught in an endless phone loop. Building on that frustration, in 2005 this company began what is now the web’s largest database of customer-service information with a catalog of direct phone numbers for large companies in 50 countries. For each company it lists the best phone number to connect with a live person, or a place to leave a message, and even indicates what recent wait times have been.

The impressive Chinese-language learning site Xuezhongwen.net includes this powerful online Chinese-English dictionary, which has a simple, well designed interface that accepts both English, pinyin (transliterated Roman), and Chinese characters. The dictionary features sound files, radicals, stroke order, and links to online flash cards that users can flip through to learn new characters. The greatest advantage of the dictionary may be a drawback for some users: it has wiki functionality, so the amount of new content may seem overwhelming to students of Chinese who are learning basic vocabulary. As the site expands to include more specialized language as well as idioms and proverbs, it could easily become one of the most important tools for Western students of Chinese on the Web.

WordReference consists of free bilingual dictionaries, including these dictionaries from Oxford: English to Spanish, Spanish to English; English to French, French to English; and English to Italian, Italian to English. In addition, WordReference features Language Forums, in which non-native speakers can ask native speakers their grammar and vocabulary questions. Forums currently exist for English, German, Dutch, Spanish, French and Italian.