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Clearinghouse - Carrefour d'information professionnelle
Core Collection of E-Reference Tools
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This page is a collection of links to electronic resources that make up a core collection of e-reference tools, as recommended by the EXCEL courses. This
list includes databases, offered province-wide to all public libraries in Ontario, which are free or available by subscription from a
number of commercial vendors. We also recommend that you consult the Ready Reference Sources of our Clearinghouse for a more
complete list of specialized reference websites. You can also consult our page about free E-resources for Ontario Public Libraries.
Multi-volume encyclopedia
- Britannica Online. Limited free use. Subscription service available through
COOL
- The Columbia Encyclopedia (Bartleby.com) Containing nearly 51,000
entries (marshalling six and one-half million words on a vast range of topics), and with more than 80,000 hypertext cross-references.
- Encyclopedia.com (Gale) Provides credible answers from published reference works, including 49
encyclopedias and 73 dictionaries and thesauruses. A free online resource, offering millions of articles, pictures, facts and biographies in a large
variety of subject areas including the arts, science, sports, medicine, accounting and management.
- Refdesk.com Encyclopedias "Since 1995, refdesk indexes quality, credible and timely resources that are
free and family-friendly." Different sections like: Fast facts.
- Wikipedia Because Wikipedia is an ongoing work to which in principle anybody can
contribute, it differs from a paper-based reference source in some very important ways. In particular, older articles tend to be more comprehensive
and balanced, while newer articles may still contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism. Users need to be aware
of this in order to obtain valid information and avoid misinformation which has been recently added and not yet removed.
Canadian encyclopedia
- The Canadian Encyclopedia
The full text of The Canadian Encyclopedia and its related resources has been made available online by the Historica Foundation as a public
service since 1999. Since its publication in book form in 1985, The Canadian Encyclopedia has provided the most comprehensive, objective and
accurate source of information on Canada for students, readers and scholars across Canada and throughout the world. As a first source for information on
all Canadian topics The Canadian Encyclopedia has continued to grow through several iterations in print and on CD-ROM, culminating in this
online version
Dictionary
Canadian almanac
General almanac
Ontario government directories
General world atlas
- Atlas of Canada
- The CIA Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency, U.S.)
- Countries of the World (Infoplease.com) Each country profile provides information on:
Geography, Maps, Flag, History, Current ruler, Area, Population, Capital, Largest cities, Languages, Ethnicity/race, Religion, Literacy rate, Economy,
Government
- National Geographic Map Machine and
Atlas with printable maps
Local telephone directories
Thesaurus
- Le
grand dictionnaire terminologique

- Roget's Thesauri at Bartleby.com
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Termium Plus
The data bank has almost four million terms in English, French and
Spanish. Users can find translations for general and technical words and
expressions in practically all fields of human endeavour: administration,
informatics, environment, medicine, agriculture, industry, sports and the arts.
TERMIUM Plus® records are created by language professionals
who keep a close eye on trends in language: that makes it a reliable and useful
tool for everyone.
- Thesaurus.com
A book of quotations
E-reference databases
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