AskAway Best Practices 62107

1
Ask?Away Best Practices 6/21/07

• Free Web Sites to Help Library Staff Provide
  Excellent Reference Service
• Presented by
• Loretta Broomfield
• Information Services Consultant
• Shawnee Library System
• Carterville, IL
• 618-985-3711 ext. 2014
• lbroom_at_shawls.lib.il.us

2
Almanacs

• The Old Farmers Almanac http//almanac.com Find
  information about phases of the moon, tides, when
  to plant a garden and much more!
• Information Please Almanac http//www.infoplease.
  com/almanacs.html A wonderful free online
  resource for general reference information.

3
Arts and Entertainment

• Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music
  http//levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu A collection
  consisting of 29,000 pieces of popular American
  sheet music from 1780-1960.
• Internet Broadway Database http//www.ibdb.com A
  comprehensive database of shows produced on
  Broadway. Searchable by show, people, theatre,
  and character name.
• Internet Movie Database http//www.imdb.com A
  wealth of information about movies, actors,
  characters, and plots.

4
Consumer Information

• Consumer Reports http//consumerreports.org
  Consumer information about a variety of products.
  Must subscribe for actual ratings.
• Kelley Blue Book http//www.kbb.com A standard
  resource for determining the value of vehicles.
• National Automobile Dealers Association
  http//www.nada.com Vehicle pricing and
  information for buyers, sellers and shoppers.
  Includes RVs, motorcycles, boats and manufactured
  homes.

5
Finance and Business

• Currency Converter http//www.oanda.com/convert/c
  lassic Allows users to convert world currency.
  Updated daily with the latest exchange rates.
• Library Centers for Effective Nonprofits (CEN)
  http//nonprofitcenters.lcls.org Free web
  resources of particular interest to nonprofit
  organizations (how to form a nonprofit,
  prospecting, grant writing, etc.).
• Thomas Register http//www.thomasnet.com A
  Comprehensive resource for industrial
  information, products, services, CAD drawings,
  and more.
• How Much is That? http//eh.net/hmit Access
  economic history calculators from way back!

6
Geography

• National Atlas http//nationalatlas.gov Tons of
  U.S. maps. Transportation, topographical,
  county, climate, population and many other types
  of maps--all free!
• CIA World Fact Book https//www.cia.gov/library/p
  ublications/the-world-factbook/index.html
  Contains national-level information about the
  geography, people, government, economy, etc. of
  countries, territories and dependencies.

7
Government

• U.S. Government Printing Office
  http//www.gpoaccess.gov Find links to various
  government information and publications (Code of
  Federal Regulations, Federal Register,
  Congressional Record, Supreme Court website).
• Thomas http//thomas.loc.gov In the spirit of
  Thomas Jefferson, legislative information from
  the Library of Congress.
• United States Census Bureau http//www.census.gov
  A variety of statistics from the U.S. Census
  Bureau.

8
History

• The History Channel http//history.com Find not
  only programming information for the History
  Channel, but also articles and videos and lots of
  other historical information.
• Digital History http//www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
  An extensive collection of multimedia materials
  of historic importance.

9
Literature/Style Manuals

• Bartleby http//www.bartleby.com Free full text
  books, quotations, encyclopedias, thesauri, and
  more.
• Sparknotes http//sparknotes.com Free online
  study guides for a large variety of topics
  (literature, poetry, math, biology, test prep,
  and much more)!
• Citation Builder http//www.lib.ncsu.edu/lobo2/ci
  tationbuilder/citationbuilder.php Online
  citation help.

10
Literature/Style Manuals cont.

• Citation Machine http//citationmachine.net/
  Online citation help.
• Microsoft Office Online http//office.microsoft.c
  om Lots of free clipart, citation help, and
  templates for cards, resumes, invitations,
  newsletters, etc. Also information from Crabby
  Office Lady.
• A Research Guide for Students http//www.aresearc
  hguide.com Everything a person needs to write an
  first class research paper.

11
Medical

• DoctorFinder http//webapps.ama-assn.org/doctorfi
  nder/home.html?03138022 Providesbasic
  professional information on virtually every
  licensed physician in the United States. This
  includes more than 690,000 doctors.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  http//www.cdc.gov Your online source for
  credible health information.
• Household Products Database http//householdprodu
  cts.nlm.nih.gov From the National Library of
  Medicine. Over 4,000 products are represented
  including Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and
  a listing of ingredients in each product.

12
Medical cont.

• MEDLINE plus http//medlineplus.gov A
  government site featuring a medical encyclopedia,
  a medical dictionary, links to related news
  items, a directory of doctors and hospitals and a
  section containing over 165 interactive tutorials
  relating to medical tests and procedures.
• National Library of Medicine http//www.nlm.nih.g
  ov Information on diseases and disorders as well
  as information about current medical research.

13
Google

• We all know that Google is a powerful search
  engine, but have you used
• Google Web Alerts http//www.google.com/alerts
• Google Books http//books.google.com/bkshp?tabwp
  
• Google Docs and Spreadsheets http//docs.google.c
  om/?tabwo
• Google Glossary http//www.google.com/search?qde
  fineclew
• Google Maps http//maps.google.com/maps?tabwl
• Google Scholar http//scholar.google.com/schhp?ta
  bws
• Google Suggest http//www.google.com/webhp?comple
  te1hlen

14
Other Lists

• MARS/RUSA Best Free Websites http//www.ala.org/a
  la/rusa/rusaourassoc/rusasections/mars/marspubs/ma
  rsbestref2006.htm
• Online Education Database The Best Online
  Research Apps/Sites You've Never Heard Of
  http//oedb.org/library/features/best-online-resea
  rch-sites

15
Wrap Up

• Questions?
• Comments?
• Discussion?