Online Reference Collection

Acronym Finder
The Acronym Finder is a worldwide web searchable database of more than 410,000 abbreviations and acronyms about computers, technology, telecommunications, and military acronyms and abbreviations.

50 States and Capitals
Use to locate information about states.
InfoPlease
Online almanac

Biographical Dictionary
Distinguished Women of Past and Present
Site has biographies of women who contributed to our culture in many different ways.

Calculators
Calculators Online Center
Over 18,000 calculators covering every walk of life.
Conversion of Units 
Conversion of any weight or measurement

Converters
Currency Converter
Converts US dollars to other currencies ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. All conversion rates may be varied according to financial markets.
Worth of a Dollar
Online Conversion
Convert just about anything to anything else.
Unit Converter           
Converts just about every possible measurement, every possible way. Just a few of the possibilities are: acceleration, area, luminance, mass, pressure, velocity, voltage, and volume.

Perpetual Calendar
Enter month and year for display of calendar month. Includes a daily almanac.
Timeanddate.com
Site has the current time and date for 512 cities, worldwide, and Greenwich Mean Time. World times can also be displayed for each continent, or sorted by country or by time zone. An annual or monthly calendar (1 to 3999 A.D.) can be displayed, showing the phases of the moon, and holidays for select countries. Also display the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds that exist between 2 dates.

Occupational Outlook Handbook 
The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives.  Revised every two years, the Handbook describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations.

American Factfinder
This vast site provides users with the capability to browse, search, and map data from many Census Bureau sources including the 2000 Census, the 2003 American Community Survey, and the latest Economic Census.
Population Reference Bureau Country Statistics and Reports
PRB's country pages provide quick access to essential information on population, health, and the environment for over 200 countries.
International Data Base
The International Data Base (IDB) is a computerized data bank containing statistical tables of demographic, and socio-economic data for 227 countries and areas of the world.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Collection of statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States. Selected international data are also included. The Abstract is also your Guide to Sources of other data from the Census Bureau, other Federal agencies, and private organizations. 

Library of Congress Country Studies
The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world.
World Factbook
The U.S. government’s complete geographical handbook, featuring 268 full-color maps and flags of all nations and geographical entities. Each country profile tracks such demographics as population, ethnicity and literacy rates, as well as political, geographical and economic data.
Flags of the World 
The Internet's largest site devoted to vexillology (the study of flags). Here you can read more than 27,000 pages about flags and view more than 50,000 images of flags.

Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com is a multi-source dictionary search service produced by Dictionary.com, LLC, a leading provider of language reference products and services on the Internet.
One Look Dictionary Search
Search more than 595 general and specialized English dictionaries simultaneously, or select specific dictionaries.
Phrase Finder
Search for phrases, idioms, sayings, and clichés.
Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus
Contains 35,000 synonyms and over 250,000 cross-references in an easy-to-use format, this thesaurus features succinct word definitions and an innovative hyperlinked category index.

Encyclopedia.com
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Encyclopedia Britannica Online
Full text of the 32-volume Encyclopedia Britannica and more. (Normandale students and staff only)
World History: HyperHistory Online
HyperHistory is an expanding scientific project presenting 3,000 years of world history with an interactive combination of lifelines, timelines, and maps
Britannica.com
Free version of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, and Thesaurus.
US State Gazetteers
Profiles for 179,000 cities, towns, neighborhoods and subdivisions. Maps, data and directions for 1.8 million physical, cultural and historical features.

The Elements of Style by William Strunk, 1918
Asserting that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference book is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer. Intended for use in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature, it gives in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.

Robert’s Rules of Order
In 1876 General Henry M. Robert set out to bring the rules of the American Congress to members of ordinary societies with the publication of Pocket Manual of Rules of Order. It sold half a million copies before this revision of 1915 and made Robert’s name synonymous with the orderly rule of reason in deliberative societies.
Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
Illustrated and annotated edition of all Inaugural addresses from George Washington to George W. Bush.

State Government
Minnesota NorthStar
Official web site for the state of Minnesota. Gateway to all state agency web sites.
Minnesota State Legislature
Full text of bills, laws, statutes, including House and Senate legislative activity and membership directories.
State and County QuickFacts
Quick, easy access to facts about people, business, and geography.

Federal Government
FedWorld 
The FedWorld.gov web site is a gateway to government information.
USA.gov
On USA.gov, you can search millions of web pages from federal and state governments, the District of Columbia, U. S. territories, tribal governments, and foreign nations. Most of these pages are not available on commercial web sites.
GPO Access
GPO Access is a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office that provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government. The information provided on this site is the official, published version and the information retrieved from GPO Access can be used without restriction, unless specifically noted.
Tax Forms
This site is the official source of IRS tax products.
U. S. House of Representatives
Membership directory, legislation, committee information and more.
U. S. Senate  
Membership directory, legislation, committee information and more.
The White House
Official site.

Law
FindLaw 
Search for federal and state laws, Supreme court cases, and U.S. Code.
Thomas: Federal Legislative Information on the Internet
Access Congressional Record, bills, Public Laws, Committee Reports and much more.

Medical Encyclopedia
The A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia includes over 4,000 articles about diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries. It also contains an extensive library of medical photographs and illustrations.
MedlinePlus 
MedlinePlus will direct you to information to help answer health questions. It brings together, by health topic, authoritative information from the world’s largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. Designed for both health professionals and consumers, this service provides extensive information about specific diseases and conditions.
Merck Manuals
The site gives access to the full-text of the Merck Manual of Geriatrics, selected chapters from the Merck Manual of Medical Information (Home Edition), and The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy.
AMA Physician Select
This American Medical Association site provides addresses, specialties, education and other background information on licensed physicians in the U.S. and its possessions. Search by physician name or medical specialty.

Map Collections: 1500 – 2004
The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection.
Perry-Casteñada Library Map Collection

Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 10th ed.
This tenth edition of 1919 contains over 11,000 searchable quotations and was the first new edition of John Bartlett’s corpus to be published after his death in 1905—the new editor, however, choosing more to supplement than revise the work of the first name in quotations.
Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations Requested from the Congressional Research Service  
The 2,100 entries in this eminently researched collection form the constellation of collected wisdom in American political debate. In fulfilling decades of requests from Members of Congress for citation of quotations, the Library of Congress compiled the most frequently asked questions of the legislature for the edification of every citizen.

Sciences

Anatomy of the Human Body by Henry Gray, 1918
The Bartleby.com edition of Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body features 1,247 vibrant engravings—many in color—from the classic 1918 publication, as well as a subject index with 13,000 entries ranging from the Antrum of Highmore to the Zonule of Zinn.
Plants Database
The PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories. Search for classification, endangered status, distribution, and characteristics information.
Roots of Botanical Names
Here are over 1000 root word of botanical names from a- to zyg-.
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) 
Taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.

American Rhetoric: Online Speech Bank
Index to and growing database of 5000+ full text, audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, and a declaration or two. Includes 100 of the most significant American political speeches of the 20th century, e.g. MLK’s “I have a dream”, JFK’s Inaugural Address, FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address, and ER’s “The struggle for human rights.”

FedStats
The gateway to statistics from over 100 federal U. S. agencies.
International Statistical Agencies 
Start with the US Census Bureau to visit dozens of national data collecting agencies.
International Data Bank (IDB)
The International Data Base (IDB) is a computerized data bank containing statistical tables of demographic and socioeconomic data for 227 countries and areas of the world.
U. S. Census Bureau

National Weather Service (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) 
“The National Weather Service" (NWS) provides weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas, for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. NWS data and products form a national information database and infrastructure which can be used by other governmental agencies, the private sector, the public, and the global community.