REFERENCE HELP is designed to assist with your search for information.
We can provide brief, factual answers to questions, recommend search strategies, offer helpful resources, and provide information about Babcock Library collections and services. We are also available for your readers’ advisory needs and can create a personalized list of book and DVD recommendations. If you have in-depth research questions or need one on one instruction please call to set up an appointment with us at 860-487-4420 during business hours.
Check out these valuable links for useful information
Business, Finance & Employment
- Federal forms including small business forms http://www.forms.gov/bgfPortal/citizen.portal
- IRS Forms for tax time http://www.irs.gov
- Job listings and employers Connecticut http://ctjobs.com/
- Job listings in Connecticut https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Jobs/–in-Connecticut
- Job salaries https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries
- Small Business Administration www.sba.gov
- Stock quotes (current and historical) http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/
Consumer Information
- 800 tel. numbers for live business and service customer service reps www.gethuman.com
- Consumer guides and protections http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Consumer_Safety.shtml
- Consumer Price Index http://www.bls.gov/cpi/home.htm
- Consumer top-rated products in 13 categories www.consumersearch.com
- How products are made www.madehow.com
- How to do just about anything www.ehow.com
- Kelley Blue Book (Vehicle pricing/appraisal) http://www.kbb.com/
- Edmunds (Vehicle pricing/appraisal/reviews) http://www.edmunds.com/
- Product recalls www.recalls.gov
Education
- College information (also links to book sales) www.petersons.com
- Country information
- Background Notes (U.S. State Dept. information about countries) http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/ .
- CIA World Fact Book https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
- Dictionary of units of measurement and conversions http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units /
- Graphing calculator http://www.coolmath.com/graphit/index.html
- Guide to grammar and writing http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
- Help citing research in several styles http://citationmachine.net
- Purdue OWL – https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
- Math help and tutorials http://www.sosmath.com/
- Mathematic calculations http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculators2.html
- Newspapers by state and country http://www.ipl.org/div/news/
- Presidents of the US www.ipl.org/div/potus
- Strunk & White’s Elements of Style http://www.bartleby.com/141
Entertainment
- Celebrities (living & deceased) from all fields www.wa-wd.com
- Great books online http://www.bartleby.com/
- Movie Database www.imdb.com
- Musical styles from popular to obscure with reviews, out of print, etc. www.allmusic.com
- Readers’ advisory and library catalog http://www.librarything.com/
Genealogy
See the following three sites for comprehensive genealogy research:
- http://www.familysearch.org (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)
- Adoption information for genealogists http://adoptionregistry.com
- Genealogy sites on the internet http://www.cyndislist.com/
- Port of New York Passenger records search http://www.ellisisland.org/
- Social Security Death Index (1962+) http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/
General Reference
- 600,000+ images from the New York Public Library http://digitalgallery.nypl.org
- Art online http://www.artcyclopedia.com /
- Currency converter http://www.xe.com/ucc/
- Library of Congress www.loc.gov
- Library of Congress American Memory Project – virtual library & museum http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
- Connecticut State Library Digital Resource http://cslib.cdmhost.com/
- MapQuest http://www.mapquest.com/
- Maps — political, physical, weather, natural resources www.nationalatlas.gov
- National Weather Service www.nws.noaa.gov
- Telephone directorieswww.yellowpages.comwww.switchboard.comwww.anywho.com (reverse look-up)
- Translations (not always perfectly) http://babelfish.altavista.com
- Yellow Pages, White Pages, maps and directions http://www.anywho.com/
- Zip Code look-up http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp
Health & Nutrition
- Affordable Care Act https://www.healthcare.gov/
- Get America Covered https://www.getamericacovered.org/
- Get Covered Connector https://widget.getcoveredamerica.org/?original=/connector/
- Senior Care and Assisted Living Guide https://www.caring.com/senior-living/assisted-living/connecticut
- Evaluating health information on the Internet http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/evaluatinghealthinformation.html
- Food diary, calorie counter, health and fitness forums http://www.thedailyplate.com/
- Mayo Clinic www.mayoclinic.com
- National Institute of Mental Health www.nimh.nih.gov
- National Council for Aging Care www.aging.com
- Nutrition information www.nutrition.gov
- Recipes
Law & Government
- Internet Legal Research Group (legal forms, research, lawyers, etc.) http://www.ilrg.com
- Kid’s portal to the US Government http://www.kids.gov/
- Legal help https://ctlawhelp.org/
- Connecticut Law and Legal resources list https://www.jud.ct.gov/lawlib/state.htm
- Connecticut Statutes https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/titles.htm
- US Government’s official web portal http://www.usa.gov/
Search Engines
- To compare Search Engines: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SearchEngines.html
Technology
- BareBones 101: A basic tutorial on searching the web
- http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/bones.shtml
- Computer mouse tutorial http://www.pbclibrary.org/mousing/mousercise.htm
- Computer tutorials based on pictures http://inpics.net
- Email verification http://verify-email.org/
- Email from any computer (Mail2web) http://mail2web.com/
- Build a website https://websitebuilders.com/
- Open source office products: http://www.openoffice.org/
- Reviews of tech products and services http://reviews.cnet.com/?tag=hd_ts
- Tips, tricks and tech help http://help.cnet.com/?tag=hd_ts
- Training for Microsoft Office products online http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/default.aspx
- Tutorials for Microsoft programs http://mistupid.com/tutorials/
- Typing course http://www.typing-lessons.org/
- Excel Training https://www.excel-easy.com/