DICTIONARY & THESAURUS
Free access to basic edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.
http://webster.com/
Merriam-Webster Online’s Dictionary, Thesaurus, Spanish-English Dictionary and Medical Dictionary.
https://www.thesaurus.com/
Roget's Thesaurus
ENCYCLOPEDIAS
http://www.encyclopedia.com
"Encyclopedia.com was created by Infonautics Corporation to provide Internet users with a simple, one-stop research site. Composed of high-quality articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, the site links more than 50,000 diverse articles to the resources available on Infonautics' popular online research."
ONLINE BOOKS
http://www.bartleby.com/reference/
"Bartleby.com combines the best of contemporary and classic reference works, verse, fiction, and nonfiction into the most comprehensive public reference library ever published on the web."
https://librivox.org/
Free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers from around the world.Read by volunteers from around the world.
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
“The Online Books Page is a website that facilitates access to books that are freely readable over the Internet. It also aims to encourage the development of such online books, for the benefit and edification of all.”
https://openlibrary.org/
The World's classic literature at your fingertips. Over 1,000,000 free e-Book titles available.
“If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given us permission, you'll be able to see a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy.”
RUMOR AND URBAN LEGEND FACT CHECKING
"This rumor-busting site originated in 1995 with David Mikkelson’s interest in researching urban legends. With more than 20 years of professional research experience and a small staff of investigators, Mikkelson produces work that is reliable and backed up with facts. Is that story that just went viral really true? Are left-handed people now eligible for disability benefits under the “Justice for Dexterously Challenged Act”? Search the site by keyword, browse the list of 25 top trending legends, or peruse the archive by topic."
DIRECTORIES OF REFERENCE WEB SITES
This is an index of the web sites included in the 1999-2013 annual lists issued by the RUSA Best Free Reference Web Sites - Emerging Technologies in Reference Section of the Reference and User Services Association ( RUSA) of ALA to recognize outstanding reference sites on the World Wide Web.
http://libguides.sau.edu/hottopics
A selection of guides on popular topics with authoritative sources to help students gather excellent information for their papers and projects. O'Keefe Library, St. Ambrose University
Library of Congress’ Virtual Reference Shelf. Selected Web resources compiled by the Library of congress.
http://libraryspot.com
"Libraryspot is a library and reference portal to more than 5,000 libraries around the world. Search this free virtual library resource center for reference tools, periodicals and online texts, library information, encyclopedias, dictionaries, quotations, etc."
"The Smithsonian Institution’s vast archival collections document the cultural history of the United States. Search more than 7,000 resource descriptions by subject, name, geographic name, or culture. While not all the archives are digitized, the search function allows for limiting to “only collections with digital assets.” The descriptions are essential tools for accessing the materials as they contain links to digital content and information about accessing the archival materials. An additional feature is ArchiveGrid, which searches for related content outside the Smithsonian’s collections."
Images
http://www.sil.si.edu/imagegalaxy/
Galaxy of Images from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
National Gallery of Art
List of stock images online; some offering Creative Commons (CC) license or royalty-free use.
The Johns Hopkins The Center for Educational Resources directory of media resourcers offers links to images online.
The University of Washington Library's Resarch Guide for Copyright Free Images - Creative Commons licences.
Prints and photographs available through the Library of Congress.
Library of Congress's Guide to Online Resources for Moving Image Material.
The Moving Image Source Research Guide is a gateway to the best online resources related to film, television, and digital media.
