This guide will help online and distance students understand and access library services. It is also a good help for on-campus students who need to access library resources from home.
Answer.com's Online Reference LibraryAnswers.com is an Internet-based knowledge exchange, which includes WikiAnswers, ReferenceAnswers, VideoAnswers, and five international language Q&A communities.
InfoPleaseInfoplease.com, a free, authoritative, and respected reference for Internet users, provides a comprehensive encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, dictionary, and state profiles.
Visual Dictionary OnlineA quick glance at the index is all it takes to
connect words with images. Explore the 15 major themes to access
more than 6,000 images and see words
like never before.
World Bank Open Knowledge RepositoryThe World Bank is the largest single source of development knowledge. The World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (OKR) is The World Bank’s official open access repository for its research outputs and knowledge products.
Employment
Career One StopSponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, this is a free source for career exploration, training, and jobs.
IndeedIndeed.com is an employment-related search engine for millions of job listings from thousands of company web sites, job boards and newspapers.
Occupational Outlook HandbookThe Occupational Outlook Handbook is a publication of the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics that includes information about the nature of work, working conditions, training and education, earnings and job outlook for hundreds of different occupations in the United States.
Facts & Figures
Census DataIndex of data provided by the US Census Bureau, including population, ethnic, divorce, economic, poverty, and migration statistics,
CIA's World Fact BookThe CIA World Factbook is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. It provides a two- to three-page summary of the demographics, geography, communications, government, economy, and military of 267 entities including U.S.-recognized countries, dependencies, and other areas in the world.
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice StatisticsThe online Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics is a treasure trove of criminal justice-related statistics. Among the broad categories of statistics included are criminal justice characteristics; public opinion; crime, victims; arrests, seizures; courts, prosecution, sentencing; and parole, jails, prisons, and the death penalty. Data tables are provided in PDF or spreadsheet CSV formats and updated as new data arrives. An archive of past Sourcebooks is also available.
Statistical Abstracts of the United StatesThe ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political and economic conditions of the United States.
US CensusU.S. Census serves the public as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy.
WorldometerWorldometer is run by an international team of developers, researchers, and volunteers with the goal of making world statistics available in a thought-provoking and time relevant format to a wide audience around the world.
Consumer Research
Consumer ResearchConsumer Research names the best products in top categories, covering
housewares, appliances, family, technology, beauty and more.
EdmundsResearch new and used cars including car prices, view incentives and dealer inventory listings, compare vehicles, get car buying advice and reviews.
Kelley Blue BookCheck KBB car price values when buying and selling new or used vehicles. Recognized by consumers and the automotive industry since 1926.
United States Patent and Trademark OfficeThe United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.
Zillow.comZillow has data on 110 million homes across the United States, not just those homes currently for sale. In addition to giving value estimates of homes, it offers several features including value changes of each home in a given time frame (such as one, five, or 10 years), aerial views of homes, and prices of comparable homes in the area. Where it can access appropriate public data, it also provides basic information on a given home, such as square footage and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
Law & Government
Follow the MoneyThe National Institute on Money in State Politics states it is the only nonpartisan, nonprofit organization revealing the influence of campaign money on state-level elections and public policy in all 50 states. The comprehensive and verifiable campaign-finance database and relevant issue analyses are available for free. The site aims to encourage transparency and promote independent investigations of state-level campaign contributions by journalists, academic researchers, public-interest groups, government agencies, policymakers, students and the public at large.
Geaux BizThe Commercial Division encompasses the Corporations, GeauxBiz, Administrative Services and Uniform Commercial Code departments of the Secretary of State's Office. This page is a clearinghouse for all business related information, from searching our database, filing a business online to business licensing information. Access is also available to our Administrative Services department for service of process information and UCC department.
Geaux VoteWelcome to GeauxVote. This page is a clearinghouse for all elections-related information, from elections and voter registration information to statistics and educational materials. If you cannot find your answer here, please click on the "Contact Us" button or call 800.883.2805. Our goal is to increase voter participation throughout Louisiana, so get informed and GeauxVote!
Louisiana Workforce CommissionThe Louisiana Workforce Commission’s vision is to make Louisiana the best place in the country to get a job or grow a business, and our goal is to be the country's best workforce agency. The LWC is ideally positioned and structured to support and serve Louisiana’s employers, job seekers and workforce partners.
Project Vote SmartProject Vote Smart, also called Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in six basic areas: background information, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances, interest group ratings, and speeches and public statements.
USA.govFind government information on topics such as agencies, grants and loans, immigration and citizenship, passports and travel, jobs and education, health insurance, mortgages, and taxes.
Medical
Body MapsThis site allows visitors to explore the human body in 3-D. By mousing over the male or female body provided on the landing page, users can learn more about many aspects of human anatomy. Bodies can be rotated around and viewed through different layers such as the circulatory or the lymphatic system.
Merck Manual Consumer VersionTransforms the language of the professionals' version into commonly used English while retaining the vital information about diseases, diagnosis, prevention, medical topics, symptoms, drugs, procedures, news and more.
PubMedPubMed comprises more than 24 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
Science
Bug GuideAn online community of naturalists who enjoy learning about and sharing our observations of insects, spiders, and other related creatures.
Cornell Lab of OrnithologyThe Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a world leader in the study, appreciation, and conservation of birds. Their hallmarks are scientific excellence and technological innovation to advance the understanding of nature and to engage people of all ages in learning about birds and protecting the planet.
Dino DirectoryThe Natural History Museum's online guide to dinosaurs with images, facts and figures
for over 300 dinosaurs.
Encyclopedia of LifeThe Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is a free, online collaborative encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing databases and from contributions by experts and non-experts throughout the world.
Plants DatabaseThe PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories.
Education
Child Care and Early Education Research ConnectionsResearch Connections produces an interdisciplinary, Web-based, relational database of more than 10,000 research documents and public use data sets on topics related to child care and early education. In addition, Research Connections conducts literature reviews, develops and disseminates materials designed to improve child care policy research.
Digital LearnDigitalLearn.org provides free learning tools to help you feel comfortable and confident with technology.
GFCLearnFree.orgGCFLearnFree.org has free tutorials in math, reading, career, everyday life, and technology.
Notable Children's Digital MediaThe Notable Children’s Digital Media list includes real-time, dynamic, and interactive media content for children 14 years of age and younger that enables and encourages active engagement and social interaction while informing, educating, and entertaining in exemplary ways.
Open CultureOpen Culture brings together high-quality cultural & educational media for the worldwide lifelong learning community. Web 2.0 has given us great amounts of intelligent audio and video. It’s all free.
ShmoopOver 100,000 Common Core aligned courses, test prep resources, and learning guides for 8th grade to college ages.
VideoLectures.netVideoLectures.NET is an award-winning free and open access educational video lectures repository. The lectures are given by distinguished scholars and scientists at the most important and prominent events like conferences, summer schools, workshops and science promotional events from many fields of Science. The portal is aimed at promoting science, exchanging ideas and fostering knowledge sharing by providing high quality didactic contents not only to the scientific community but also to the general public. All lectures, accompanying documents, information and links are systematically selected and classified through the editorial process taking into account also users' comments.
Family SearchFamilySearch is a genealogy organization operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch maintains a collection of records, resources, and services designed to help people learn more about their family history.
Find a GraveFind A Grave is a commercial website that allows the public to access and add to an online database of cemetery records. The website contains listings of cemeteries and graves from around the world. American cemeteries are organized by state and county, and many cemetery records contain Google Maps (with GPS coordinates supplied by contributors) and photographs of the cemeteries.
LA Vital RecordsLouisiana Birth Certificates, Death Records, Marriage Licenses and more
Louisiana
Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project (DLNP)LSU Libraries is proud to present the Digitizing Louisiana Newspaper Project (DLNP), which offers 78 titles from the state of Louisiana published between 1836 through 1922 — a total of 211,500 pages. An additional 117,000 pages from 49 new titles are currently being processed for digitization and will be available by the end of 2015. Access to the complete list of newspapers via the Title, Parish, Decade, Historically Black, or Multi-Language Titles links on the left. Browse newspapers from Louisiana and other states at Chronicling America.
KnowLAKnowLA is a comprehensive, dynamic online reference guide to the history and culture of Louisiana. The encyclopedia is accessible to anyone with a web-enabled device, free of charge.
Louisiana Historical AssociationThe LHA's primary resource for sharing information on the history of the Pelican State is through the publication of the state historical journal, Louisiana History. Published quarterly, the journal began in 1960 and is consistently ranked as one of the top state-level historical journals in the country. Issues of the journal contain award-winning secondary articles, notes and documents of primary source material, book reviews, profiles of historical architecture, biographical sketches, and much more.
Louisiana State Documents Digital ArchiveThe primary goal of the Digital Archive is to provide the public with permanent access to these digital publications that state agencies submit. Louisiana state documents, print and digital, are cataloged in the online catalog of the State Library and are available for use by all libraries regardless of depository status.
Public Affairs Research Council of LouisianaPAR is an independent voice offering solutions to crucial issues in Louisiana through accurate, objective research and focusing public attention on those solutions.
Entertainment
Google Arts and CultureChoose a museum from the homepage and then use Street View technology to virtually explore the museum or click on specific works of art and zoom in to view them in high resolution.
Baseball-Reference.comBaseball-Reference.com is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advanced baseball sabermetrics in addition to traditional baseball "counting stats".
Pro-Football-Reference.comPro-Football-Reference.com is a website providing a variety of statistics for American football. It is one of the only sites that provides information on both active and retired players. The site provides statistics for teams dating back to the pre-Super Bowl days. It has statistics for quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, kickers, returners, and punters, as well as some defensive statistics, and Pro Bowl rosters. It also has each teams' game-by-game results.
Internet Broadway DatabaseIBDB (Internet Broadway Database) archive is the official database for Broadway theatre information. IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today.
Internet Movie DatabaseThe Internet Movie Database (abbreviated IMDb) is an online database of information related to films, television programs, and video games, including cast, production crew, fictional characters, biographies, plot summaries, trivia and reviews.
Media History Digital LibraryMedia History Digital Library is a non-profit initiative dedicated to digitizing collections of classic media periodicals that belong in the public domain for full public access.
Web Gallery of ArtThe Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of Western (European) fine arts of the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, and Impressionism periods (1000-1900), currently containing over 36.800 reproductions. Artist biographies, commentaries, guided tours, period music, catalogue, free postcard and mobile services are provided.
Literature & Reader's Advisory
Book FinderFind cheapest used books, rare books, textbooks, new and out-of-print books.
Compare book prices, including shipping, from over 100,000 booksellers worldwide
Fantastic FictionContains information on over 350,000 books including cover picture, description, and publication details. Also provides bibliographies for over 30,000 authors. Use the browse menu to find an author by surname, or use the search box to search for an author or book.
Google BooksGoogle Books is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database. Books are provided either by publishers and authors, through the Google Books Partner Program, or by Google's library partners, through the Library Project.
Literature-MapLooking to discover new authors? Literature Map shows how authors you like relate to authors you might want to read next.
SparkNotesSparkNotes help students make sense of confusing schoolwork in order to understand books, write papers, and study for tests.
What Should I Read Next?This simple, user-friendly website provides quick book recommendations. The site allows someone to enter the title of a book they like so that the site can use its large database of readers' favorite books to make book suggestions related to the topics of the original book title entered. From the results page, one can also browse books by subject.
WhichbookWhichbook provides a unique, easy-to-use tool that helps readers choose a book to read based upon a wide variety of factors like mood, emotion, plot shape, type of main character, country the book is set in, and more. Books in this database are fiction or poetry, written or translated into English and published in the last 10 years. All titles on Whichbook have been read by one of a changing team of 70 people drawn from libraries and literature organizations.
