Helpful Websites
Art
Artcyclopedia The Fine Art Search Engine. Find information on art and artists.
ArtLex Art Dictionary Contains definitions for over 3,600 art-related terms, as well as images, quotations and more.
Articles
Illinois Newspaper Project A project from the University of Illinois, to preserve newspapers through microfilm. Browse the catalog or explore holdings by county.
Directory of Open Access Journals Search the DOAJ for free articles from full text, vetted scholarly journals of all subjects.
MagPortal Online article search from magazines.
Articles Base Free online article search. You can also upload articles to this site.
Books
Barnes and Noble Review Find current reviews from Barnes and Noble.
Shmoop Online source of study guides for literature, poetry, essays and more.
Entertainment Weekly Books Get the latest news and reviews on books from Entertainment Weekly right here.
Fresh Fiction Books and Authors for today’s readers of Mystery, Thrillers, Romance, Suspense, Fantasy, and Science Fiction.
The Reader’s Robot A Reader’s Advisory Service from Thompson Nicola Regional District Library System in Canada.
The Online Books Page Find online books at this digital library compiled by the University of Pennsylvania.
AudioFile The Magazine for people who love audiobooks!
Stop, You’re Killing Me! Find information about the latest Mysteries here.
KDL What’s Next An amazingly useful database of series books, you can use this site to find out the order of books in a series or make a list of all the series written by any particular author.
Reading Group Choices Another great site for book clubs.
Reading Rants! Out of the ordinary teen booklists!
Book Finder Searching for an out of print book? Call us at the library first! If we can’t get it though, try Book Finder. This website provides information on finding rare and out of print books for purchase.
ReadingGroupGuides.com An online community for reading groups.
Book Group Buzz An online discussion of Book Clubs, Reading Lists, and Literary News, brought to you by Booklist Online.
Comic Book Resources Find daily Comic Book news, previews, reviews, and message boards for the comic book community.
BookSpot.com Book reviews, book awards, poetry, literary criticism, authors & more.
BookBrowse.com More than 20,000 book reviews, reader reviews, critic’s reviews, book excerpts & more.
AALBC.com The African American Literature Book Club, with author information, book reviews, and more.
BiblioTravel - For books that take you away. Search for books set in specific locales!
Red Room Where the Writers are. Find out all about your favorite authors, or browse books by title or genre.
Business and Economy Information
North American Industry Classification System Look up NAICS codes on this helpful government site.
Business Rankings from the Library of Congress Many helpful sources are available here to start with your business research.
Yahoo! Finance Visit this site to check your stocks, create online portfolios, and read about the latest industry information.
Business Plans Handbook Reference composed of real business plans for companies in North America.
Carnegie Library’s Business Plans and Profiles Index This website includes sample business plans and profiles for small business types. From the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Small Business Administration Programs and services to help your small business succeed, including a small business planner, information about financial assistance, and more.
SCORE Counselors to America’s small businesses. Get free in-person or online business mentoring from experienced professionals.
Better Business Bureau Find business information and reviews at this site.
Market Research Browse this site for information on major industries in the United States, including consumer goods, technology, and service industries.
Global 500 Fortune Magazine’s annual listing of the largest 500 companies in the world, ranked by revenue.
Encyclopedia of American Industries Browse this site for an overview of the major American industries.
Liber8 The Research Library of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, this site includes extensive international economic statistics, articles and more.
Venture Capital and Private Equity from the Harvard Business School Starting place for research on the venture capital and private equity industry.
GlobalEDGE Your source for global business knowledge, from the International Business Center at Michigan State University.
Hoover’s Browse free company information from Hoover’s, including business reports and profiles.
ThomasNet® Information on Machining, Metal Stamping, Gaskets, Fasteners and other industrial products and services.
Current Industrial Reports From the U.S. Census, this site includes current information about industrial activity.
Economic Census The Economic Census provides an overview of American business from the national to the local level.
Doing Business Browse this site for the largest free source of legal business information for the countries of the world.
United States Patent and Trademark Office Find patents and trademarks, or learn how to register your own at this government site.
EDGAR Filings and Forms If you have a company in the US, you’ll occasionally need to file these forms online.
Consumer Information
Consumer Search Almost a free version of Consumer Reports (which the library also subscribes to online), this site provides reviews of many products for consumers.
Household Products Database This government site provides health and safety information on common household products.
Kelley Blue Book for cars, online! Find pricing information and reviews for new and used cars.
MotorTrend
Motor Trend magazine is an industry-leading automotive publication, featuring trademark authoritative and unique editorial content. Find thousands of in-depth new and used car reviews, a continually updated car pricing guide, up-to-the-minute news and a prestigious automotive blog run by top Motor Trend editors and contributors. In addition, both new and archived content from Motor Trend’s print magazine is available online.
Edmunds A great online source for finding information on used and new cars.
Current Events
FactCheck.org A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, FactCheck.org aims to check the facts in popular news stories.
NPR National Public Radio : find news & analysis, music and the arts at this website.
Reuters This website includes world, US, and financial news.
Salon.com Breaking news, opinion, politics, entertainment, sports and much more.
Slate Magazine News, Politics, Arts, Business, and Technology are just a few of the topics covered here.
Education
Academic Earth View free video lectures from the world’s top scholars. Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, MIT, and Princeton are all contributors.
ERIC ERIC is a government database indexing information in the fields of education. Find articles, search subject headings, and more.
Peterson’s Search for Colleges and Universities, Graduate Schools, Online Degrees, and Private Schools at this popular website for education seekers.
Food and Cooking
Supercook Search for recipes containing ingredients that you already have at home!
For Jobseekers
Career Onestop Explore careers, do a job search, or brush up on resume and interview strategies.
Free Resume Builder Use this site to build a resume that works for you.
Illinois Worknet Center Find jobs, connect to support services, research industries and more on this site.
Indeed One simple job search shows many open positions within a particular area. You can also create a profile or track salaries of specific careers.
LinkUp Job Search Engine Search job openings taken directly from company websites.
Simply Hired According to them, “The biggest, smartest job search engine on the web.”
Genealogy
FamilySearch.org Free family history and genealogy records, from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Social Security Death Index Interactive Search A free search from RootsWeb, this is a good place for genealogists to start.
Ellis Island Search the Ellis Island Foundation website for Ellis Island and Port of New York records.
Relatively Curious about Genealogy A great blog for researchers of family history.
General Reference and other Useful Websites
The Quotations Page Your Source for famous quotes.
Bartleby Use this site for online reference versions of dictionaries, thesauri, and more.
Metacritic Find reviews for Movies, TV, Video games, Music, and more at this review site.
Zabasearch Free online people search.
Recycling Centers Find a local recycling center for electronics, cars and other items.
Print What You Like Save paper by printing only what you want from any website.
Top 5 Citation Applications Instructify’s list of the top 5 citation applications for students, along with the links to the sites for these useful tools.
timeanddate.com A very simple, very helpful site- this contains information on holidays, daylight savings time changes, and all timezones across the world.
Guinness World Records Browse the online version of the Guiness Book of World Records.
CIA – The World Factbook The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities. View maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.
Babel Fish Translation Translate words or blocks of text into various languages, or from various languages.
RhymeZone rhyming dictionary and thesaurus Writing a poem that rhymes? Use this online rhyming dictionary to help find suggestions for hard-to-rhyme words.
FOLDOC – Computing Dictionary Use this free online computing dictionary to look up computer-related terms.
Dictionary.com Need to look up a word? Dictionary.com is a free online dictionary that uses definitions from reputable reference sources. There’s a thesaurus here, too!
AnyWho Search white and yellow pages, or do a reverse telephone lookup at this site.
USPS – ZIP Code Lookup Looking for a zip code? Find it here at this easy to use site, provided by the United States Postal Service.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac Browse the Old Farmer’s Almanac online.
Abbreviations and acronyms dictionary Find definitions for over 4 million abbreviations and acronyms.
Voice of the Shuttle a great resource for those doing research in the humanities, Voice of the Shuttle was created by the University of California at Santa Barbara.
ALA’s Best Free Reference Sites 2009 The American Library Association’s picks for the best free online reference sites of the year.
ALA’s Best Free Reference Sites 1999-2008 The American Library Association’s past picks for best free online reference sites.
Fact Monster An online reference source, Fact Monster includes an online Almanac, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, and Homework Help.
WolframAlpha Experience a new way to search with WolframAlpha, the “world’s first knowledge engine”. Searching the web on WolframAlpha is quite different than what you might be used to with Google. Give it a try and see what you think!
Internet Public Library The Internet Public Library is an index to the Internet, with sites that are recommended by librarians. Browse websites by subject or check out the reference section.
Librarians’ Internet Index Similar to the Internet Public Library, the Librarians’ Internet Index is a pathfinder of websites across the Internet, selected by librarians and organized by subject.
HowStuffWorks Learn how everything works at this fun, encyclopedia-like website.
WordReference.com A helpful language translator.
Foundation Center The website for the Foundation Center. Find funders, foundation information, including information from the 990 tax forms, access reports on giving and more, here.
Geography
USGS – U.S. Geological Survey A multi-disciplinary science organization that focuses on biology, geography, and geology.
NationMaster View world statistics, country comparisons, flags, maps, and more.
Earth Trends Environmental Information This site includes the latest news and information about our environment. Includes many different types of maps, country profiles, and more.
50states.com Find quick reference information on all of the United States.
Earth Resource System Provides basic information about the United States and U.S. cities.
National Geographic Visit the website of the popular periodical and see maps, read about world culture, science, and more.
Geography and Map Reading Room (Library of Congress) Visit this site to learn more about geography and view digitized versions of rare maps.
Background Notes Background Notes is a great reference source for information on countries of the world, including geography, governments, politics, and demographic information.
Atlapedia Online Atlapedia contains full color maps and factual information on the many countries of the world.
Health
healthfinder.gov Your guide to reliable health information, free from the US government.
MedlinePlus Free Health Information from the National Library of Medicine
American Hospital Directory Find ratings of hospitals across the U.S.
AMA Doctor Finder Find a doctor at this site from the American Medical Association.
Illinois Physician Profile Search Look up contact information for Illinois doctors from this database.
RxList The Internet Drug Index for prescription drugs and medications. Search for medications.
Merck & Co., Inc. Browse the online versions of the Merck Manual and other similar manuals, published by the Merck pharmaceutical products company.
MayoClinic Medical information and tools for healthy living from the Mayo Clinic.
PubMed More free health information, in a different format, from the National Library of Medicine.
History and Biography
American Rhetoric: Online Speech Bank This website contains full length speeches for many historical events. Many are available in both text and audio formats.
Major Directories of History Web Sites From the University of Washington, this site lists helpful history-focused sources, including information on where to find primary source material.
Mail Order Homes Website This site provides a look at the homes that are thought to be mail order homes along the Old Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. Browse or search through the listings of homes based on city, the company that made the house, or by the model name and number.
American Presidents Browse this website for background information about the Presidents of the United States.
Chronicling America View historic American newspapers through this Library of Congress site.
Biography.com Biography, Videos and Interviews of people worldwide. Find pictures or search by name.
This Day in History Find out today’s history. From the History Channel.
dMarie Time Capsule Visit this site for a rundown of what happened in history on a particular date.
American Presidency Project Find presidential speeches, proclamations, conferences, and more at this extensive site about our Presidents.
Encyclopedia of Chicago The online version of the amazing local history text.
Hanover Historical Texts Project A project of Hanover College in Indiana, the Hanover Historical Texts Project includes links to many primary sources.
Images and Photographs
Chicago Public Library Digital Collections View images from the Chicago Public Library’s web archive.
Public Domain Pictures Browse this site for free, public domain pictures.
NYPL Digital Gallery New York Public Library Digital Gallery.
ImageChef Customize Photos, Clip Art and more at this fun site.
American Memory from the Library of Congress This extensive history site includes collections of images, videos, music and other primary sources from the Library of Congress.
Legal and Governmental Information
THOMAS Find Legislative information on the Internet, from the Library of Congress.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance This website is designed to track the federal dollars obligated to domestic assistance programs.
Write Your Representative Contact your Congressperson in the U.S.
Cook County Clerk’s Office Learn how to get a marriage, birth or death certificate, redeem your property taxes, and more at this useful local website.
Illinois Legal Aid
is a non-for profit organization (funded by the state and federal grants) to help low income residents, senior citizens, and disabled persons in Illinois solve their legal problems. This organization’s website contains articles and guides written by lawyers to help this segment of the population get information about their legal problems and the necessary steps and forms to fill out.
Government Contacts A simple page with directions on contacting government departments and officials.
Census Bureau Home Page Check out the Census for information on US demographics, industries, and more.
FindLaw Find a Lawyer, or browse free legal information here.
Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School Legal information organized by topic from Cornell Law School.
GPO Access Information on obtaining government documents.
Local Resources
West Suburban Access News Provides information and education which will be of assistance to persons with disabilities in suburban Cook County.
Movies
allmovie This website is like allmusic, but for movies. Browse movies by genre, or search by a specific title.
The Internet Movie Database Search for actors, specific movies, TV actors, and more at this site for movie lovers.
Common Sense Media A website for parents and educators, with reviews and ratings for family movies and media. You can sort media by age group to find media that is appropriate for children.
Moviefone Find the latest showtimes, or view trailers or movie information at this site.
Rotten Tomatoes Browse new Movie Reviews and Previews.
Music
Pitchfork A Chicago-based music site, Pitchfork has grown to be a nationally recognized leader for independent music reviews. Each summer, Pitchfork hosts a growing music festival in Chicago.
allmusic Looking for a particular song? Or do you need to know every album that was released by a particular artist? Allmusic has it all. Search by song, album, artist, or try the classical works search.
OperaStuff Learn all about opera at this website.
Operabase Another great opera website.
American Musicological Society Sites for Musicologists Check out this extensive pathfinder for great links related to Music and Music History.
Lyric Opera of Chicago The website of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
OperaGlass Stanford’s opera website provides full libretti, synopses, discographies and histories of many operas.
Musicals101.com – The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musicals Learn all about popular musical theatre at this extensive website.
Ricci Adams’ Musictheory.net Free online music theory training lessons.
Smithsonian Jazz All about Jazz from the Smithsonian Institution. Learn with online Jazz classes!
Internet Broadway Database The official source for Broadway information.
Pets
PetPlace.com This site provides over 10,000 veterinarian approved articles on pet health.
Pet Captain This site aggregates information from multiple online pet resources to create a one-stop spot to access to quality pet information.
Veterinary Partner A client education website provided by the Veterinary Information Network. Find information on behavior and health topics from vets.
Philosophy and Religion
Virtual Religion Index Search this site for information on the world’s religions.
Blue Letter Bible Search the Bible in many different versions.
Philosophy Research Base Search for Philosophy-related topics here.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Search this encyclopedia for philosophy-related topics from the folks at Stanford.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy A peer-reviewed online resource, hosted by the University of Tennessee.
BibleGateway.com A searchable online Bible in over 50 versions and 35 languages.
Encyclopedia Mythica Browse this online encyclopedia for mythology, folklore, and religion.
Real Estate
PropertyShark Find real estate maps, Foreclosures, property reports and comparables on this helpful website for househunters.
Redfin Online Real Estate brokerage. Find homes and brokers at this site.
Science
The National Science Digital Library Find free online articles and resources for students of science.
Webelements- Online Periodic Table Perfect for science students. Browse information by element.
World Wide Science A global science gateway, enabling federated searches of international scientific databases.
EurekAlert! Find the latest science news at this free site.
U.S. Science This government site provides an extensive pathfinder to science websites, organized by topic.
Technology
CNET Check out this site for reviews of technology-related products.
CNET Downloads Browse this site for the latest in free downloads and software reviews.
Teens
YALSA: Young Adult Library Services Association Visit this website to find great Teen booklists or to read about the latest award-winning Young Adult authors.
VOYA: Voice of Youth Advocates VOYA is for teachers, librarians, and any other professionals who work with young adults. Read about current issues or find out about the latest materials for teens.
Travel
Virtual Tourist Find travel guides, hotel reviews, photos, and deals on tickets at this site.
Voting, Representatives and Elections
Project Vote Smart Find information about American government, elections, candidates and voting, along with your local representatives.
Voterinfonet.com The website of the Cook County Election Department, this site includes information on registering to vote, upcoming elections and representative information.
Directory of Cook County Elected Officials This site provides an easily searchable interface for finding your local Cook County Representatives.
