Almanacs, Dictionaries, Encyclopedias

Almanacs & Fact Books

Information Please Almanac: The same category breakdowns as the print version. You can also search the Columbia Encyclopedia, ©1993 and a dictionary here.
Old Farmer's Almanac: Check out the predicted weather for the season and the other usual content.
Temperature and Precipitation: Get a chart of temperature or precipitation levels from 1895 to present for the US, a specific state, or a specific US climate region. From the National Climate Data Center (NCDC). You can also download historic weather readings for rainfall, temperature, and more.
Sonoma County temperature statistics 1931-2012 - Formatted chart using data downloaded from NCDC.
CIA World Fact Book & Country Guides: Up to date facts about the countries' statistics, current political situation and good color maps. Great homework source.

Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary: Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Word Central for kids.
Collins Dictionary: English, French, German, and Spanish dictionaries. Also includes a thesaurus, translator, and more.
The Free Dictionary: Dictionary, thesaurus, acronyms, specialty dictionaries for medical, legal, and financial terms. Over a dozen languages are covered. Also includes word games like Hangman, Spelling Bee, and Match Up.
YourDictionary.com: Great site with many many foreign language dictionaries, English dictionaries, thesaurae, and other fun web sites for word oriented people. Created by Robert Beard at Bucknell University.
Dictionary.com: Includes a translator, thesaurus, quotes, and other reference tools. Also a crossword solver and word games.

Reverse Dictionary: Enter a definition and it will find words that match.
Roget's Thesaurus: Last supplemented July 1991. Search full text as well as the headwords. From the University of Chicago.

World Book Online: Sonoma County Library card required for access from home.
Wikipedia: A popular online-only encyclopedia updated by volunteer editors.
Encyclopedia.com: 17,000+ articles from The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Third Edition with links to other sources. (The Fifth edition of the same encyclopedia is available using the Information Please interface here.)
How Stuff Works: Entertaining and varied explanations of everything from how chocolate affects your body to the inner workings of a jet engine. Good explanations of computer and tech-related topics as well. Great for those science projects.

Yahoo Quotations: is the comprehensive collection of links to quotations sites maintained by Yahoo.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations: is an Internet version of the 1901 edition of this standard reference source. Good for references from "classic" literature; not so good for anything said in our lifetimes. From the Bartleby Project.
The Quotations Page: is a collection of quotations sporadically maintained by Michael Moncur, a freelance writer. Good place to look for quotes to add to your after-dinner lecture or conference paper.

Acronym Finder: Search for abbreviations and acroynms with a focus on computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military.
Techopedia: Online technology and computer dictionary.
Webopedia.com: Online dictionary and search engine (looks for articles on topics) for computer and Internet topics.
Whatis.com: A technology dictionary that will provide you with an explanation for many technology/acronym questions.

Internet Public Library: Reference: Links to almanacs, calendars, dictionaries, and other selected web sites for general reference or quick look-up questions.
University at Albany Reference Collection: Links to dictionaries and other selected web sites for general reference or quick look-up questions.
Other collections of general reference sources