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Franklin D. Schurz Library

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Find Electronic Reference Sources

Reference sources like encyclopedias and dictionaries provide valuable background information and definitions for a topic or concepts within a topic. They can also help you to narrow a topic to a manageable level. In addition to these online reference sources, The Schurz Library Reference room is full of reference sources on fascinating topics. The easiest way to find a reference source is to ask a reference librarian.


ARBA Online: More than 9,000 reviews of reference works.

Art Museum Image Gallery: Digital resource of art images and art related multimedia.

Associations Unlimited: International directory of associations: international, national, regional, state and local.

Book Review Index Online: Contains citations to more than 2 million book reviews from 1965 to present.

Biography Resource Center: Contains more than 422,000 biographies on more than 335,000 people from around the world and throughout history.

Britannica Online: Online version of Encyclopedia Britannica.

Cabell's Directory: Cabell's Directories of publishing opportunities provide submission guidelines, circulation data, review and contact information ...More

Checkpoint Taxes - login req.: Checkpoint brings together the most trusted information on the most powerful research system available ...More

Choice Reviews Online: Provides reviews on current books and electronic resources of interest to those in higher education.

College Source (in Library only): A virtual library representing 34,714 college catalogs in full cover-to-cover, original page format with 2-year, 4-year, graduate, professional and international schools.

Contemporary Authors: Provides biographical and bibliographical data on modern fiction and nonfiction writers.

CQ Researcher: Provides original, comprehensive, non-biased reporting and analysis on ...More

Credo Reference Sources: Xreferplus gives you a complete reference collection from ...More

Digital Sanborn Maps: Provides more than 660,000 large-scale maps of more than 12,000 American towns and cities.

Gale Virtual Reference Library: Offers eBooks - delivering reference content in a database format. Users access book titles online. Gale Virtual Reference Library offers remote, 24-7 access.

Lexis-Nexis Academic: Provides full-text documents from over 5,900 news, business, legal, medical, and reference publications.

Literary Index: Provides both an overview and a review of the more significant collections of Internet literary resources of interest to scholars, students, and lovers of literature.

LitFinder: Contains a wealth of primary literature content, including more than 126,500 full-text poems, 850,000 poem citations and excerpts ...More

Literature Criticism Online: Literature Criticism Online represents a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras and genres.

Literature Resource Center: To find up-to-date biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism and reviews on nearly 130,000 writers in all disciplines.

Mergent Online: Provides both U.S. and international company data and annual reports.

Naxos Music Library: Contains over 130,000 tracks of recorded music.

NetAdvantage : Financial reports for U.S. public and private companies. Includes in-depth industry surveys.

Oxford English Dictionary: The Oxford English Dictionary Online provides unparalleled access to the wealth of material contained in ...More

Reference Universe: Provide access to print and electronic reference works such as dictionaries, handbooks, and encyclopedias.

Reuters Business Insight: Provides accurate, up-to-date incisive market and company analysis and market insight.

Statistical Universe: A database of statistics of all kinds gathered by governmental agencies and private organizations, plus links to the web sites of those organizations.

Ulrich's Web: An international directory of all types of periodicals.

Webster English Dictionary: Provides a free online dictionary, thesaurus, audio pronunciations, Word of the Day, word games, and other English language resources.

Who's Who Marquis: Provides accurate, concise biographies of notable Americans.