with reviewing and voting for his or her favorite nominated websites. The aim of this season’s committee was to make a final list with roughly 15 to twenty high-quality reference websites. It had been a great year when it comes to nominations. Over 45 websites were nominated and voting to find the best ones was challenging. After careful review, the committee people recognized 14 new Best Free Reference Websites for 2014.
Winning sites were notified digitally having a letter of recognition in the MARS Best Free Reference Websites Committee, plus they were asked to connect to the internet form of their list. The annotations for winning websites were also edited through the chair to make sure that they’re of optimal use to librarians and fit the factors in the above list
RUSA Machine-Aided Reference Section (MARS)
contributing people: Janice Wilson, Chair.
Georgia Baugh, Sarah Lehmann, Rosemary oil Meszaros, Ashley Rosener, Colleen Seale, Virginia Sojdehei, and Paul Victor, Junior.
BEST WEB WINNERS 2014
College Navigator, nces.erectile dysfunction.gov/collegenavigator
The School Navigator enables students and fogeys to look for universites and colleges of possible interest by a few characteristics for example location and distance at home programs and majors institution type (public, private, 2-year, 4-year) institution size cost setting (rural, suburban, urban) and much more. Special features include the opportunity to produce a My Top Picks List to check schools a roadmap which to pinpoint a school’s location a save your valuable search function and the opportunity to export results like a spreadsheet. This can be a very helpful and simple-to-use tool for creating a summary of universites and colleges for more analysis and possible attendance.
Author/Writer: National Center for Educational Statistics
Free/Paid: Free
Date Reviewed: March 5, 2014
Dino Directory, http://www.nhm.ac.united kingdom/nature-online/existence/dinosaurs-other-extinct-creatures/dino-directory/index.html
Bone on dinosaurs with this particular guide that gives details, figures and pictures for more than 300 dinosaurs. Explore them by name, timeline (Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods), country, or physique. Each dinosaur entry includes a brief fact file using the phonetic pronunciation and concept of its name, info on its length, height, weight, teeth, diet, food, the way it moved, if this resided, where it had been found. Images, general information, taxonomic details and links are also provided.
Author/Writer: Natural History Museum, London
Free / Fee-based: Free
Date Reviewed: Feb 20, 2014
Encyclopedia Iranica, www.iranicaonline.org
“The Encyclopædia Iranica is really a comprehensive research tool focused on study regarding Iranian civilization in the centre East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and also the Indian subcontinent.” Records are extended as well as in-depth, and contain extensive bibliographies. The information is searchable in addition to browseable, and also the web site is easy-to-navigate. This can be a collaborative resource “records are solicited through invitation only, and therefore are exposed to see review to make sure factual reliability, scholarly objectivity, and political independence.” An Option Outstanding Title this year, this is a great source of info on Iranian culture and history from prehistoric occasions with the present.
Author/Writer: Encyclopaedia Iranica / Columbia College Center for Iranian Studies
Free/Fee-based: Free
Date Reviewed: 1/31/2013
Global Edge, globaledge.msu.edu
This site offers an abundance of details about worldwide business. The Worldwide Insights section “provides worldwide business and trade info on over 200 countries, the 50 U.S. states, in addition to nearly 24 domains, and most of the world’s trade blocs.” The “Reference Desk” provides use of sources on worldwide trade laws and regulations and record data sources for worldwide business. Within the “Tools and knowledgeInch section, researchers have access to the MPI (Market Potential Index) and DIBS (Database of Worldwide Business Statistics) totally free, as lengthy as it is for academic use (users must register using the website utilizing a .gov or .edu current email address).
Author/Writer: Michigan Condition College
Free/Paid: Free
Date Reviewed: March 7, 2014
Great Websites for children, http://gws.ala.org/
“Great Websites for children is really a selection of websites tailored for children from birth to age 14. Recommended sites are evaluated through the Great Websites for children Committee using established selection criteria. The committee consists of people from the Association for Library Plan to Children, a division from the American Library Association.” This website enables for keyword searching or going through the listed headings of Creatures, The Humanities, History & Biography, Literature & Languages, Mathematics & Computers, Reference Desk, Sciences, or Social Sciences. Each heading is further subdivided into special interest areas. Yet another link results in suggested sites for moms and dads, caregivers, teachers, yet others. You will find prominent links to Sites each week, Recent Sites, Most Widely Used, and Best.
Author/Writer: American Library Association, Association for Library Plan to Children
Free/Fee-based: Free
Date Reviewed: March 7, 2014
Practical Money Skills – Financial Literacy for Everybody, www.practicalmoneyskills.com
“To assist consumers and students of every age group discover the essentials of private finance, Visa has partnered with leading consumer advocates, educators, and banking institutions to build up the sensible Money Skills program. At practicalmoneyskills.com and whatsmyscore.org, consumers, educators, parents, students and policymakers have access to free educational sources, including personal top finance articles, games and lesson plans.” Available videos cover Personal Finance, Financial Football and Soccer (covers financial planning, not playing), Khan Academy, and Financial Literacy Summits. Various calculators can be found to assist explore options before choosing a vehicle, home, getting financing, having to pay for school, or retirement.
Author/Writer: Visa
Free/Fee-based: Free
Date Reviewed: March 7, 2014
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, www.albany.edu/sourcebook
The internet Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics is really a treasure chest of criminal justice-related statistics. One of the broad groups of statistics incorporated are criminal justice characteristics public opinion crime, victims arrests, seizures courts, prosecution, sentencing and parole, jails, prisons, and also the dying penalty. Data tables are supplied in PDF or spreadsheet CSV formats and updated as new data arrives. Accurate documentation of past Sourcebooks can also be available.
Author/Writer: College of Albany, Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center
Free / Fee-based: Free
Date Reviewed: Feb 11, 2014
Condition of Working America, http://stateofworkingamerica.org/
This site presents a by-the-figures summary of the way the economy affects the living standards of working Americans. It offers data on “family incomes, wages, jobs, unemployment, wealth, and poverty.” The charts, graphs, and knowledge sets are simple to read, and in addition they have a very useful “documentation and methodology” paragraph which is the way the data was collected and the way to understand it. Several “Fact Sheets” offer overviews on sub-topics for example women, youthful workers, collective bargaining, and inequality. It is really an very well-designed and accessible website with an abundance of valuable details about US workers and also the economy.
Author/Writer: Economic Policy Institute
Free/Fee-based: Free
Date reviewed: March 7, 2014
U.S. Department of Veterans Matters, www.veterans administration.gov/
“The United States Department of Veterans Matters provides patient care and federal advantages to veterans as well as their dependents.” The Veterans administration Website offers a good amount of important sources on benefits and services for example compensation, pension, survivor benefits, rehabilitation, employment assistance, education assistance (GI Bill), mortgage loans and existence insurance policy. Another valuable section includes healthcare information & sources (together with a helpful hospital locator) and mental health sources and services (with links towards the 24/7 Veteran’s Crisis Line & the nation’s Center for Post traumatic stress disorder). Additional information includes information for beginning a company and finish of existence sources (funeral, etc.).
Author/Writer: U.S. Department of Veteran’s Matters
Free/Fee-based: Free
Date reviewed: Feb 25, 2014
Vocabulary.com/Dictionary, www.vocabulary.com/dictionary
In no way only a dictionary, this website offers vocabulary lists, a dictionary, and word challenges. All of them interact to create an intensive, practical, and fun grounding in mastering new words. Vocabulary lists happen to be produced from products for example popular movies, historic documents, for entertainment, political speeches, literature, or test prep. The task section quizzes yourself on word meanings, tracks words missed and adds these to a summary of words being learned. All purposes of a thing are defined and usage examples given.
Create a forex account for personalized vocabulary instruction, charts and graphs showing progress along with other features.
Author/Writer: Thinkmap, Corporation.
Free/Fee-based: Free
Date Reviewed: March 8, 2014
What Must I Read Next? http://whatshouldireadnext.com/
This straightforward, user-friendly website provides quick book recommendations. The website enables anyone to go into the title of the book that they like so the site may use its large database of readers’ favorite books to create book suggestions associated with the themes from the original book title joined. In the search engines, it’s possible to also browse books by subject.
Author/Writer: Thoughtplay Limited
Free / Fee-based: Free
Date Reviewed: Feb 24, 2014
Whichbook, http://www.openingthebook.com/whichbook/
Whichbook supplies a unique, easy-to-use tool that can help readers select a book to see based on a multitude of factors such as mood, emotion, plot shape, kind of primary character, country it is placed in, and much more. Books within this database are fiction or poetry, written or converted into British and printed within the last ten years. All titles on Whichbook happen to be read by certainly one of a altering group of 70 people attracted from libraries and literature organizations.
Author/Writer: Opening it
Free / Fee-based: Free
Date Reviewed: Feb 24 2014
Wikitravel – The Disposable Travel Guide, http://wikitravel.org/en/Primary_Page
Wikitravel is definitely an free world-wide travel guide with up-to-date info on attractions, hotels, restaurants, travel tips and much more for a lot of locations. Individuals from around the world lead their advice for this guide, inspired by Wikipedia. This website includes a comprehensive search feature and nearly 95,000 pages in British.
Author/Writer: Wikitravel.org
Free / Fee-based: Free
Date Reviewed: Feb 24 2014
World Public Opinion, www.worldpublicopinion.org
Within our growing global atmosphere, this site provides information and analysis about public opinion all over the world, and works as a ready reference source for topical information in addition to being fully embedded on the research level. “Because the world becomes more and more integrated, problems have grown to be more and more global, pointing to some greater requirement for understanding between nations as well as for elucidating global norms.” The regularity where the general public opinion details are provided is excellent for a lot of regions and topics.
Author/Writer: Program on Worldwide Policy Attitudes
Free/Fee-based: Free
Date Reviewed: March 8, 2014
Resourse: http://ala.org/rusa/sections/mars/marspubs/marsbestfreewebsites/
