Selected Online Resources for Research
- Abbreviations
- Almanacs & Fast Facts
- Architecture
- Art
- Business
- Calculators
- Calendars & Time
- Children & Parents
- Consumer Information
- Dictionaries & Thesauri
- Directories
- Education
- Encyclopedias
- English Language & Literature
- Full-text Books & Periodicals
- Genealogy
- General Reference Resources
- Grant Resources
- Health/Medical
- History (U.S.)
- Images
- Law
- Libraries
- Maps
- Music & Performing Arts
- Politics & Government
- Quotations
- Research & Documentation
- Science & Technology
- Statistics
The Library's E-Resources Online Catalog provides information on the subscription databases to which the Library subscribes for the use of its on-site researchers. The catalog also provides information on freely-accessible resources on a variety of topics that may be accessed anywhere.
Abbreviations
Almanacs & Fast Facts
Architecture
- American Institute of Architects
- Archinform: International Architecture Database
- Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey, 1933-Present (Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division)
- Cities/Buildings Database (University of Washington)
- Guides to Architectural Research (Environmental Design Library, University of California, Berkeley)
- PreserveNet Historic Preservation resources.
Art
- Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online (Getty Research Institute)
- Art and Art History Links (University of Michigan)
- Art Source
- Artcyclopedia
- Artlex Art Dictionary
- Getty Research Institute
- Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
- Smithsonian Archives of American Art
For more information, see: Arts, Fine and Decorative: General Resources (Library of Congress Humanities & Social Sciences Division)
Business
- Bloomberg Business news and information.
- Business.gov The official business link to the U.S. Government.
- BusinessWire A commercial news distribution service that transmits press releases, regulatory filings, photos and other multimedia content to journalists, financial professionals, investor services, regulatory authorities and the general public worldwide.
- Economic Indicators A monthly compilation prepared for the Joint Economic Committee by the Council of Economic Advisors. Provides economic information on prices, wages, production, business activity, purchasing power, credit, money and Federal finance.
- Economic Indicators.gov Provides access to the daily releases of key economic indicators from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Global Edge: International Business Statistics Web site
Created by the International Business Center at Michigan State University (IBC), globalEDGE™ is a knowledge web-portal that connects international business professionals worldwide to a wealth of information, insights, and learning resources on global business activities - Google Business News
- North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
- Thomas Register of American Manufacturers
For more information, see: Internet Resources: Subject Guides Links to freely available Internet resources on business and economics topics arranged by subject. (Library of Congress Business Reference Services)
Calculators
Calendars & Time
- Earth Calendar A daybook of holidays and celebrations around the world.
- Timeticker
- US Time Zone Clock (Official U.S. time)
- Walk Through Time The evolution of time management through the ages. (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
Children & Parents
- Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids Ben's Guide serves as the educational component of GPO Access, the U.S. Government Printing Office's service to provide the official online version of legislative and regulatory information.
- BJ Pinchbeck's Homework Helper Directory of free educational sites; students can post questions to an online bulletin board.
- Homework Center
- Homework Spot Directory of free educational sites, organized by grade level and subject, with a list of frequently asked questions.
- Kids.gov The official kids' portal for the U.S. government.
- Kidspace Links to online resources in science, history, and other topics. Students can email an "Ask a Question" service, which often refers students back to their local libraries. (Internet Public Library)
- Resources for Kids and Families (Library of Congress)
Consumer Information
- Consumer Action Website Consumer news and information on a variety of topics of interest to consumers. (Federal Citizen Information Center)
- Consumer Reports
- Federal Trade Commission: Consumer Information
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Information on product safety standards and recalls.
For more information, see: BEOnline: Consumer Information (Library of Congress Business Reference Services)
Dictionaries & Thesauri
- Dictionary.com
- The Free Dictionary
- Language Dictionaries and Translators
- Merriam-Webster Online
- ODLIS: Online Dictionary of Library and Information Science
- OneLook Dictionaries
- Roget's International Thesaurus
Directories
- Federal Government
- National Contact Center (Federal Citizen Information Center)
- General
- Organizations
- Other
Education
- College Guides
- College Navigator (National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education)
- Index of American Universities
- Peterson's Guide to Colleges and Universities
- Resources for Teachers
- EDSITEment A site for teachers, students, and parents searching for high-quality material on the Internet in the subject areas of literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and culture, and history and social studies.
- Education Resources Information Center, ERIC Database
- EDUCAUSE A nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.
- FREE: Federal Resources for Educational Excellence FREE makes it easier to find teaching and learning resources from the Federal government. (U.S. Department of Education)
- Gateway to 21st Century Skills (National Education Association)
- Learning Network (New York Times)
- MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching
- National Center for Education Statistics
- TeacherServe (National Humanities Center)
- Teachers Page (Library of Congress)
For more information, see: Education: Alcove 9: An Annotated List of Reference Web sites (Library of Congress Humanities & Social Sciences Division)
Encyclopedias
- Britannica.com
- Encyclopedia Mythica An encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and legend.
- Encyclopedia.com
English Language & Literature
- Aesop's Fables Online
- Library of Congress Poetry Resources
- Lost Titles, Forgotten Rhymes: How to Find a Novel, Short Story, or Poem Without Knowing Its Title or Author (Library of Congress Digital Reference Section)
- Poetry Foundation
- Poetry Reference Resources (Library of Congress Digital Reference Section)
- Poets.org (Academy of American Poets)
For more information, see: Literatures in English (Library of Congress Humanities & Social Sciences Division)
Full-text Books & Periodicals
- Bartleby.com (Great Books Online)
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- Google Books
- Hathi Trust
- Internet Archive: Texts
- LibriVox Free audio books.
- National Academies Press - Full Text Books
- Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
- The Online Books Page - Full Text Books and More (University of Pennsylvania)
- Project Gutenberg
Genealogy
- AfriGeneas
- Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Web
- Ellis Island
- Family Search
- Genealogy Gateway
- JewishGen
- The National Archives site for Genealogists/Family Historians
For more information, see: Local History
and Genealogy Resources (Library of Congress Local History and Genealogy Reading Room)
General Reference Resources
- Alcove 9: An Annotated List of Reference Web sites (Library of Congress Humanities & Social Sciences Division)
- ipl2 A compilation of Web sites on many different subjects, selected and maintained by librarians and library school students. The result of a merger of the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index (LII).
Grant Resources
- Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
- The Foundation Center
- Grants.gov A single access point for more than 900 grant programs offered by the 26 Federal grant-making agencies.
- Schrock's Guide for Educators
Health/Medical
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Genetics Home Reference
- Household Products Database Health and safety information on household products.
- Intelihealth
- Medline Plus
- Merck Manual: Medical Information
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) Senior Health
- National Library of Medicine
- Rxlist
- State Health Facts (Kaiser Family Foundation)
For more information, see: Health/Medical Resources (Library of Congress Science Reference Services)
History (U.S.)
- American President (Miller Center, University of Virginia)
- Best of History Web sites
- Center for History and New Media (George Mason University)
- Digital History (University of Houston and partners)
- Digital Librarian: History
- Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
- Harpers Weekly Online: Explore History
- Historical Census Browser (University of Virginia Library)
- History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web
- National Archives: Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents
- Outline of American History
- State Digital Resources: Memory Projects, Online Encyclopedias, Historical & Cultural Materials Collections (Library of Congress Digital Reference Section)
For more information from the Library of Congress's Web site, see:
- American Memory Digitized historic maps, manuscripts, motion pictures, sheet music, photographs and prints, sound recordings, sheet music and texts, from the collections of the Library of Congress and partner institutions.
- Browse by Topic: American History Find digitized historical resources from the Library of Congress's collections.
- Chronicling America This site allows you to search and view newspaper pages, 1880-1922, and find information about American newspapers published 1690-present.
- Map Collections Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress.
- Performing Arts Encylopedia Collections, articles and special presentations on music, theater and dance materials.
- Prints and Photographs Online Catalog Catalog records and digital images representing a rich cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division and, in some cases, other units of the Library of Congress.
- Veterans History Project The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.
Images
- FLICKR: The Commons
- LC Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
- New York Public Library Digital Gallery
- U.S. Government Photos and Images (USA.gov)
For more information, see: Other Picture Catalogs Online (Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division)
Law
- Avalon Project Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy. (Yale University Law School)
- Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875 (Library of Congress).
- Congress.gov (Beta) United States Legislative Information.
- FindLaw
- Legal Information Institute (Cornell University)
- The Oyez Project A multimedia archive devoted to the Supreme Court of the United States and its work.
- Regulations.gov
- Supreme Court of the United States
- THOMAS Legislative information from the Library of Congress (See also Congress.gov).
For more information, see: Guide to Law Online (Law Library of Congress)
Libraries
- Federal Depository Libraries Federal government publications and other information products are made available for free public use in Federal depository libraries throughout the United States.
- National Network of Libraries of Medicine
- Presidential Libraries (National Archives and Records Administration)
- Public Libraries Links to national, state and university libraries.
- Public Library Locator (Department of Education)
- State Libraries
- WorldCat A database of catalog records from thousands of libraries.
Maps
- Atlapedia Online
- CIA - The World Fact Book
- David Rumsey Map Collection
- Geodata.gov Federal, state, and local geographic data.
- Google Maps
- Library of Congress Online Map Collections
- MapQuest
- University of Texas: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
For more information, see: Reference Web Resources (Library of Congress Geography & Map Division)
Music & Performing Arts
- American Ballet Theatre Ballet Dictionary
- Archives of African American Music and Culture(Indiana University)
- ChoralNet
- Dance Heritage Coalition
- Internet Broadway Database The official database for Broadway theater information. IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theater until today.
- Performing Arts Encyclopedia (Library of Congress)
- Sheet Music Consortium
- Society of Dance History Scholars
- Theatrecrafts Technical theater glossary (University of Exeter - U.K.)
- Websites of Interest to Musicologists (American Musicological Society)
For more information, see: Internet Resources for Music, Theater and Dance
(Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room)
Politics & Government
- Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress: 1774 to Present
- Budget of the U.S. Government (Government Printing Office)
- Center on Congress (Indiana University)
- Congress.org A nonpartisan news and information Web site devoted to encouraging civic participation.
- Contact Your Government (USA.gov)
Links to contact information for federal agencies, officials and offices.
- Core Documents of U.S. Democracy (Government Printing Office)
- C-SPAN C-SPAN is a private, nonprofit company, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. Its mission is to provide public access to the political process.
- Factcheck.org A nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.
- FDsys (Government Printing Office)
FDsys provides free online access to official Federal Government publications.
- Fedstats
The gateway to statistics from more than 100 U.S. Federal agencies. - FOIA.gov
Resources related to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). - GovSpeak: A Guide to Government Acronyms & Abbreviations
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
The official repository of documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government. - Project Vote Smart
- Resources for Legislative Researchers (THOMAS)
- THOMAS Legislative information from the Library of Congress.
- United States Government Manual (Government Printing Office)
The official handbook of the Federal Government, the United States Government Manual provides information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. It also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees. - USA.gov The U.S. government's official Web portal.
- Women in Congress
Quotations
Research & Documentation
- APA - Electronic Reference Formats
- Citing Electronic Sources (Library of Congress)
- Citing References in Your Paper (Writing Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
- Research and Citation Resources (Purdue Online Writing Lab)
- Research and Documentation Online
- Writing: Standard Documentation Formats (University of Toronto)
Science & Technology
- Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a consortium of 12 major natural history museum libraries, botanical libraries, and research institutions organized to digitize, serve, and preserve the legacy literature of biodiversity.
- Biology Browser
- Encyclopedia of Life
- EurekAlert! Science News from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
- How Stuff Works
- National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII)
- National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- National Science Digital Library
- National Science Teachers Association Learning Center
- National Weather Service
- Public Library of Science (PLOS)
A nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. - Science.gov Searches more than 42 databases and more than 2000 selected Web sites, offering 200 million pages of authoritative U.S. government science information, including research and development results.
- Scirus A searchable index of scientific information.
For more information, see: Selected Internet Resources in Science and Technology (Library of Congress Science Reference Services)
Statistics
- American FactFinder (U.S. Census Bureau)
- FedStats
The gateway to statistics from more than 100 U.S. Federal agencies.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States (U.S. Census Bureau)
- Statistical Resources on the Web
- Statistics.com
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
A source for internationally comparable statistics on education, science and technology, culture, and communication for more than 200 countries and territories.
If these resources don't meet your information needs,
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