Reference Questions

Rather than attempt to compile links in various subject areas, this page has a few very good sites that do reference, and do it well. Bookmark them, or set them as your start-up page at the Reference Desk. They are listed in order of preference.

ReferenceDesk.com

This site bills itself as “the single best source on the Net for facts.” ReferenceDesk has an atomic clock, almanacs, dictionaries, statistics, area codes, flight trackers, calculators, consumer information, dictionaries and more dictionaries, encyclopedias and more encyclopedias, weather and news from an astounding number of places, and a set of “find a…” that is mind-boggling (doctors, houses, jobs, companies, colleges, ad infinitum). For a more concise desktop version, consider http://www.refdesk.com/facts.html.

Desk Ref: Sources for Quick Answers

There's a keyword search, but the best part of this reference tool is the subject directory, which is thankfully annotated. Take a look at the rather uncommon category of Household, which has clothing size charts and help with determining a child's shoe size. Desk Ref is maintained by the Ramapo Catskill Library System, famous for KidsClick! (http://www.kidsclick.org/)

The Internet Public Library

You do not pass GO as a librarian if you don’t use the very first Internet public library – IPL – developed by the brilliant faculty and students of the University of Michigan School of Information. Each reference source selected and featured here is top-notch, including the one created by an IPL staffer – POTUS: Presidents of the United States (http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/).