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BCPL
Information Services Blog (local interest)
Get answers from a person, not a machine. AskUsNow! info experts 24/7. A cooperative service of Maryland libraries.
Select this link to visit the Ask a Librarian web page. (Questions? Ask a Librarian by email.)
Author sites
In the Books and More InfoCenter.
Great Writers and Poets
According to Book Lovers bookstore.
Online Literary Criticism
Collection
Over 4000 web sites with critical and biographical information about US
and British authors. Browse by author, title or literary period. From
Internet Public Library
Inventors
Biographies
Inventor's Hall of Fame index of inventors.
Presidents and First
Ladies of the United States of America
Picture and background on each past President and First Lady. Available
en espanol.
Saint Search
Alphabetical listing, brief biography and feast days, from Catholic Online.
Distinguished Women of Past and
Present
Search by name or subject.
Women's
History Month: Biographies
Biographies, activities and a timeline, provided by Thompson Gale
Publishing.
Women's International Center Biography Index
Biography Resource Center
A comprehensive database of biographical information. Includes full-text
articles from 250 periodicals. Search for people based on personal facts,
nationality, ethnicity, occupation or gender, or combine words to create a
customized search. (Available on
public PCs in BCPL Libraries or elsewhere with a valid BCPL library card.)
Bio Search
Search Biography.com for famous names, past and present.
Dead People Server
Database of celebrities who are long dead, newly dead or might plausibly
be dead.
Virtual
Perpetual Calendars
Calendars for the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
Cooking Measures and Conversion Calculator
U.S.-British
measurement equivalents and oven
temperatures. U.S.-Metric volume, weight and length tables.
USA
Today Calculator
Calculate not only currency but
consumer loans, tuition, new car payments, mortgage, retirement, and 401(k).
Home
Depot
Provides a list of calculators to estimate the amount of carpet, drywall, insulation,
grass seed, paint, tile or wallpaper needed
in standard or metric units.
Inflation
Calculators
NASA's list of many on-line
inflation and cost of living calculators.
Body
Fat and Mass
Choose from several calculators.
How Far Is It?
Provides a calculator to determine "as the crow flies" distances
between cities worldwide.
Martindale's
Reference Desk
Just about every calculation you can think of.
The Original Tipping Page
Provides guidelines for domestic and international tipping as well as
a tipping calculator.
Grolier Online: Lands and Peoples
Provided by Grolier. An encyclopedia of countries, cultures, and
current events with the latest information on every country in the
world. Describes the country's land, people, economy, history, and
government, as well as statistics, a full-color map and photographs. (Available
on public PCs in BCPL Libraries or elsewhere with a valid BCPL library card.)
Background Notes
Country information recommended for school projects, provided by the
U.S. Department of State.
Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments
CIA World Factbook
The most up-to-date information for quick country overviews including
geography, demographics, government, and economy.
Country Studies
102 countries and regions are covered in this highly used source
provided by the Library of Congress.
Embassies - Foreign
Foreign Embassies in Washington, D.C.
Embassies - United States
U.S. Embassies in Foreign Countries
Library of Congress Portals to the World
World Rulers
Prime Ministers, Presidents, Kings and more in order.
States and Counties
Grolier Online: America the
Beautiful
Provided by Grolier. Authoritative information on U.S. states and
territories. Articles describe the geography, plants, animals,
history, economy, language, religions, culture, sports, art, and
people of each state with maps and photographs.
(Available on public PCs in BCPL Libraries or elsewhere with a
valid BCPL library card.)
BCPL Government
InfoCenter
Local Maryland and Baltimore County links, including Census
information.
50states.com
U.S. state symbols, flags, seals, geography, and people.
State and County QuickFacts
Includes Census 2000 data for quick access to facts about people,
business and geography. Highly recommended!
Statistical Abstract of
the United States
Published by U.S. Census, available in free Adobe Acrobat PDF
Files. Links also to State and Metropolitan Area Data Book and
County and City Data Book.
See also Maps and Atlases | Travel InfoCenter
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Encyclopedias:
BCPL Encyclopedias
and Magazine Databases
General and Topical Encyclopedias
WWW Acronym Server
Finds abbreviations. Search by acronym or by word.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary and
Thesaurus
Very easy to use.
OneLook Dictionary Search
A search engine for words and phrases that indexes more than 5 million words
in over 900 online dictionaries. It can be used to define words, translate
words, or find words using a pattern search (useful for crossword puzzlers).
It also includes a reverse dictionary feature.
Rhyming Dictionary
From the RhymeZone. Rhymes, synonyms, definitions and more.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913, Merriam)
Topical Dictionaries and Glossaries
Dictionary of Phrase
and Fable (1894)
Over 18,000 entries giving the derivation, source, or
origin of common phrases, allusions, and words that have a tale to tell
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Alphabetical list of names and places from the Bible.
American Sign Language Browser
Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary
From Intelihealth.com. Basic and advanced search engine.
OneLook Dictionaries
Uses many dictionaries to find definitions and translations.
Babel Fish
Translation
Free text translation to and from various European and Asian languages.
Provided by AltaVista.
Foreign Language
Translation
Free text translation from English to Spanish or Spanish to English, and
other European languages. Also includes Russian and Chinese.
General and Topical Encyclopedias
Catholic Encyclopedia
Alphabetical index of information on Catholic interests and doctrine.
HighBeam Encyclopedia
Search by keyword or phrase more than 57,000 articles provided for free by
the Columbia Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia Smithsonian
Answers to many frequently asked questions at the popular museums. Topics from Aeronautics to Zoology.
Grolier Online
Includes the following databases:
How Stuff Works
Collection of articles that explain the workings of everyday things in
the world. Diagrams are provided to complement the simple and detailed essays.
Information Please
Encyclopedia,
dictionary, atlas, almanac and more.
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Contains texts of classic philosophers plus concepts, biographical and historical
articles.
Islam Online
Portal to subjects and news of Islamic interest.
Judaism 101
Encyclopedia of Judaism. People, places, holidays and
customs.
The Mystica
Encyclopedia of
topics relating to mysticism, magic, and the paranormal.
Symbols.com
Signs and ideograms searchable by word or graphic,
including descriptions.
The Why Files
Science for
school age students on topics including the environment, health and
technology. Includes the latest "News of the Day". Maintained by the
University of Wisconsin.
AllPages.com
Locate businesses by state and city or use the extensive subject
headings.
AnyWho Info
Includes reverse lookup, toll-free numbers, maps and
directions.
Associations on the
Net (AON)
Links to trade and professional associations, cultural and arts
organizations, political parties, advocacy groups, labor unions.
Directory of
Maryland Ethnic Organizations and Resources
Sixth edition, available online only (fifth edition from 2002 available
in print format)
Reference USA
11 million company profiles. (Available
on public PCs in BCPL Libraries or elsewhere with a valid BCPL library card.)
Thomas Register
of American Manufacturers
Free but requires
registration.
Foundation Center
Information about foundations, corporate giving and
related subjects.
Maryland
Grant Resource Center
provided by the Maryland
Department of Planning.
SRA
International Grants Web
A mega site for government, general and private funding resources.
Canadian
Postal Code Lookup
ZIP codes for Canadian addresses.
US
Postal Service
Complete postage rates,
ZIP Code Lookup, fees and services.
International
Country Dialing Codes
Country and city codes.
Internet 800 Directory
Find toll free phone numbers searchable by product, service, company
name or toll free number.
Switchboard
Find a person, business or product.
Telephone
Directories on the Web
White, yellow and business
pages, plus e-mail and fax listings from more than 140 countries.
Maps of the United
States
Provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the
Interior
National Geographic Society's MapMachine
Grolier Online: America the Beautiful
provided by
Grolier. Authoritative information on U.S. states and territories. Articles describe the geography, plants, animals,
history, economy, language, religions, culture, sports, art, and people of
each state with maps and photographs. (Available
on public PCs in BCPL Libraries or elsewhere with a valid BCPL library card.)
Tip: Access the Grolier Online atlas by selecting
"Atlas" in the bottom pane of the Grolier Online screen.
Grolier Online: Lands
and Peoples
provided by Grolier. An encyclopedia of countries, cultures, and current events
with the latest information on every country in the world. Describes the country's land, people, economy,
history, and government, as well as statistics, a full-color map and photographs. (Available
on public PCs in BCPL Libraries or elsewhere with a valid BCPL library card.)
Tip: Access the Grolier Online atlas by selecting
"Atlas" in the bottom pane of the Grolier Online screen.
See also Countries and States | Travel InfoCenter
American Rhetoric
Access to full text, audio and video versions of public speeches,
lectures, debates, interviews and more.
Bartleby.com
Search full texts of 'great books' (fiction, nonfiction,
poetry, reference).
Bartlett's
Familiar Quotations
A
searchable classic resource for proverbs, phrases and
quotations.
Bible
Gateway
Offers several Bible
versions for searching.
English
Religious Resources
Search the Book of Mormon, the
Koran and King James and Revised Standard versions of the
Bible.
Poets'
Corner
Includes medieval ballads to early 20th
century English and American poetry.
Writing and Literary
Criticism
Citations and
Bibliographic Formats
The following provide tip sheets for some of the common citations used in
bibliographies.
APA Style Guide
Turabian (Chicago) Style
Guide
Citing
Electronic Sources:
APA Style
Citation Styles
Includes MLA, APA and Chicago styles.
Copyright Internet Resources
United States Copyright Office
Provides
application forms and registration information
Common
Errors in English
Explains common spelling and English usage errors.
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Provides suggestions about writing in a hyperlinked format. Searchable
through an index or search engine. Created and updated daily an English professor at
Capital Community-Technical College.
Random
House
Suggestions for avoiding biased and sensitive language.
Literature Resource
Center
A full text database
that provides biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of novelists, poets
and essayists from Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism and
other literary sources. Searchable by author, title, time period and literary themes.
(Available
on public PCs in BCPL Libraries or elsewhere with a valid BCPL library card.)
Literary Resources on the Net
A
searchable collection of links to English, American and ethnic literature.
May be searched by historical literary periods.
OnLine Literary Criticism
Critical and biographical web sites about authors and their works that can be browsed by
author, by title, or by nationality and literary period
Quick Look-Up of Titles or
Authors
Search for the title or author of a literary work to locate discussion in of
Gales literature series.
CliffsNotes Read literature notes online. Commercial site.
SparkNotes Literature study guides like CliffsNotes. Commercial site.
NoveList
Contains full text book reviews and book lists for all ages: children, teens
and adults. Locate books to read by describing a plot or find similar titles
or authors. (Available
on public PCs in BCPL Libraries or elsewhere with a valid BCPL library card.)
On-line Writing Lab,
Purdue University
Handouts and links to other writing-related sites
intended to help authors meet a variety of writing demands including
punctuation, grammar, writing the research paper and business writing,
including English as a Second Language (ESL) materials.
This page is provided by the Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, Maryland USA.
The text version of this page was last revised on
26 August 2008.
The graphics version of this page was last revised on
26 August 2008.
You are welcome to provide feedback.