Reference services
Ask Jeeves! http://www.ask.com/
Answers questions put in natural language. Most popular.
@sk Me.com http://www.askme.com/
"Get answers to your questions from real people - for free! Join the over 10 million users who found answers at AskMe.com." Requires registration of email address. Answers from experts by email.
Electric Library by Infonautics Corporation http://www.elibrary.com/
A commercial reference and information services site. Requires membership, but some services can be accessed without it. "Get real answers from real people by asking one of the thousands of experts in our database."
ExpertCentral.com http://www.expertcentral.com/
List of categories and topics (some 300) with names of volunteer experts to answer questions. Includes an expert on category: TV Shows: Science Fiction & Fantasy/I Dream of Jeannie
Library of Congress. Ask a Librarian. http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/askalib2.html
Questions can be submitted electronically to experts in various areas covered by Library of Congress. Many libraries (particularly academic and research libraries) have instituted a similar service, even using the same name "Ask a Librarian."
Library of Congress. Virtual Reference Shelf. http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/virtualref.html
A treasure cove of links to reference sites compiled by Library of Congress. Organized by subject. Leads to more than a hundred refernce sites.
Martindale’s Reference Desk http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/~martindale/Ref.html
Probably the most comprehensive reference source on the Web. HUGE! Navigation through classified sources. Run by Jim Martindale at University of California at Irvine. Received many awards. He also maintains a comprehensive:
Martindale’s Health Sciences Guide http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/HSG/HSGuide.html
Reference Desk http://www.refdesk.com/
"Refdesk is only about indexing quality Internet sites and assisting visitors in navigating these sites." Rich array of sources. Current information.
US Central Intelligence Agency. The World Factbook http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
Basic facts about the countries in the world, listed alphabetically. Provides maps and statistical information. Links to list of chiefs-of-state and cabinet members in world's countries.
Webhelp http://www.webhelp.com
"We offer real-time search assistance with a real live expert - any time, day or night." A number of sources and search capabilities plus a live online conversation with one of the 1000+ "Web wizards." Not clear on membership.
Collaborative reference projects
Library of Congress. QuestionPont. (formerly Colaborative Digital Reference Service). http://www.loc.gov/rr/digiref/
A cooperative project to provide reference services online by member libraries and institutions. "The Collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDRS)[now QuestionPoint] provides professional reference service to researchers any time anywhere, through an international, digital network of libraries and related institutions. Libraries can assist their users by connecting to the CDRS to send questions that are best answered by the expert staff and collections of CDRS member institutions from around the world." OCLC (http://www.oclc.org/home/) is a partner in building the architecture fro the service.
The Virtual Reference Desk (VRD). http://www.vrd.org/
A cooperative consortium offering reference services. "... a project dedicated to the advancement of digital reference and the successful creation and operation of human-mediated, Internet-based information services. VRD is sponsored by the United States Department of Education. Digital reference, or "AskA", services are Internet-based question-and-answer services that connect users with experts and subject expertise." AskA service is organized in subject categories to provide answers by experts in the given area. International in scope. It also has a Learning Center for reference covering schools K-12, as well as othre activities and projects.
Sample of reference sources
Artcyclopedia http://www.artcyclopedia.com
"Explore 125,000 great works of art." Provides searching and organization by artist name, genre, period etc. Links to museums. Multimedia presentations. Articles about artists and other art topics. A rich, authoritative, and preeminent source for art.
Bartleby.com http://www.bartleby.com/
"The preeminent publisher of literature, reference, and verse, providing ... the intellectually curious with unlimited access to books and information on the web, free of charge." Among the richest sources of reference materials. Includes access to works in reference, fiction, nonfiction, Columbia encyclopedia, Roget Thesaurus, the ever popular Columbia World of Quotations, and much more. Provides a search engine for each source.
Encyclopedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/
Authoritative encyclopedic content plus great many cross-references and other sources. Current events.
Farmer's Almanac http://www.almanac.com/
With all its old goodies. Weather information and predictions. Many useful (and useless) pieces of information. Long tradition.
Information Please http://www.infoplease.com/
Almanacs and much. much more, particularly as related to factual information. Separate pages for education.
Onelook - dictionaries http://www.onelook.com/
OneLook Dictionary: indexes words in over 600 dictionaries. Leads from a word to dictionaries defining it. Includes major and minor dictionaries in a number of languages.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/
"... designed from its inception (September 1995) as a dynamic reference work. In a dynamic reference work, each entry is maintained and kept up to date by an expert or group of experts in the field. All entries and updates are refereed by the members of a distinguished Editorial Board before they are made public." Covers philosophy, philosophers, and more. Includes a seacrh engine. Excellent tool.
last update 7 July 2003 Tefko Saracevic