Online Reference Library
The Online Reference Library is a selection of links to external websites including news sites and international organisations as well as general reference and sources of official information.
The Online Reference Library also includes a number of websites that will help you develop skills in evaluating websites so that you can find quality information. Many of these resources are freely available and do not require you to login to OpenAthens.
Clicking a link below will scroll the page to the relevant section:
Online Reference
Oxford Reference Online
You need to log in to your OpenAthens account| before going to Oxford Reference Online. This username and password is the same as your Network PC/WebCT username and password.
The Premium Collection is a huge and comprehensive database that contains over 100 dictionaries and reference titles covering the complete subject spectrum: from General Reference, Language and Quotations to Science and Medicine, and from Humanities and Social Sciences to Business and Professional.
Credo Reference
You need to log in to your OpenAthens account| before going to Credo Reference. This username and password is the same as your Network PC/WebCT username and password.
Credo Reference is a completely customizable ready-reference solution for learners and librarians. Its full-text, aggregated content covers every major subject from the world's best publishers of reference.
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Getting Started
A set of tutorials covering Internet navigation, evaluation of material, search engines, subject directories and using frames, maintained by University of Albany Libraries.
A good starting point, this Document outlines basic criteria for evaluating all forms of information, and how they apply to the Internet.
Tutorials from the Teaching Library Internet Workshops, University of California, Berkeley.
A searchable database othat allows you to find good quality website in a wide range of subject areas. Each website is chosen by subject specialists and is presented with detailed information about each of the resources. Intute also includes the following two features:
A set of free "teach yourself" tutorials delivered over the Web for students, lecturers and researchers who want to learn what the Internet can offer in their subject.
An interactive tutorial on evaluating the quality of Internet resources.
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General Reference and Directories
A Librarian's Choice of the Best of the Web, divided into subject headings. Maintained by Margaret Vail Anderson, a librarian in Cortland, New York.
An online version of the Yellow Pages, Yell.com is a classified directory of UK businesses searchable by bussiness, location or company name.
"Kellysearch, the nationwide search engine for manufacturing industry". Search by Product/Service, Company name, Trade name, town, street of postcode.
Lists Web Pages of scholarly societies by subject category. A search engine is also available. Project maintained by the University of Waterloo Electronic Library.
Site includes Postcodes Online with a Postcode Finder using address details and an Address Finder using postcode details. Other services allow you to calculate postal costs and a track & trace facility for recorded items.
Directory of UK Information sources including links to local, national and world government sites UK universities, UK healthcare providers, UK private sector companies and UK Internet service providers.
Converts all major currencies at current rates of exchange.
World clock that includes time zone conversion tools and a meeting planner.
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Education
Welcome to UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). UCAS is the UK central organisation through which applications are processed for entry to full-time undergraduate courses, HNDs and university diplomas. The mission of UCAS is to promote the partnership between prospective students, universities, colleges and schools.
Links to over 140 universities, university colleges, and institutes and colleges of higher education library and information services.
Clickable maps of UK HE and FE sites based at the University of Wolverhampton.
Formerly the CVCP this site represents the interests of all UK universities.
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Repositories
A repository can be either subject-based or institution-based and are collections of the intellectual output in that subject area or of that institution. Repositories contain full-text documents, or records of research with links to full-text, or a mixture of the two. Most repositories are open access repositories, which means that documents held within them are freely available without having to login.
Here is a selection of open access repositories; for a comprehensive list, visit ROAR (Registry of Open Access Repositories) at http://roar.eprints.org/|:
UBIR is the University of Bolton Institutional Repository. For further information, see the FAQs section| or contact the UBIR team by e-mailing them at ubir@bolton.ac.uk|
ArXiv is a huge repository with over half a million items in the fields of physics, mathematics and computer science to name a few.
Based at the University of Bielefeld, BASE is a multi-disciplinary search engine that harvests records from a range of academic sources including institutional repositories.
Based at the University of Southampton, Cogprints is an archive for psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics, and many areas of computer science including artificial intelligence.
Sponsored by the California Digital Library, the eScholarship Repository is a collection of working papers in a variety of subject areas including business studies and industrial relations.
A regularly-updated cross-repository searching initiative originally based at the University of Michigan but now part of OCLC|. A searchable database, OAIster holds records of over 22,000,000 items held in institutional and subject repositories all over the world.
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Dictionaries and Reference Works
You need to log in to your OpenAthens account| before going to Oxford Reference Online. This username and password is the same as your Network PC/WebCT username and password.
The Premium Collection is a huge and comprehensive database that contains over 100 dictionaries and reference titles covering the complete subject spectrum: from General Reference, Language and Quotations to Science and Medicine, and from Humanities and Social Sciences to Business and Professional.
You need to log in to your OpenAthens account| before going to Credo Reference. This username and password is the same as your Network PC/WebCT username and password.
Credo Reference is a completely customizable ready-reference solution for learners and librarians. Its full-text, aggregated content covers every major subject from the world's best publishers of reference.
Great collection of writing resources from the Oxford English Dictionary, including tips on good grammar, how to write letters and CVs, and free searches of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, and the Concise Dictionary of First Names. There are also games and quizzes to help you improve your English, and the option of a US-English version of the site.
Internet version of Websters Dictionary.
Roget's Thesaurus by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionaries.
Latest edition. Provides information on total area, boundaries, climate, disputes, population, political system and economy by country. Published by the CIA.
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Publishers
Catalogue of Open University learning resources including workbooks, videos and software.
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Bookshops and out of print suppliers
AbeBooks.com (ABE) is the world's largest web-based network of independent booksellers, owned and operated by its founders from Victoria, BC. Established in 1995, ABE has provided its member booksellers with the online capability of selling their books worldwide to customers in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. First time users need to set up a free id and password.
The University of Bolton Library is a participant in the Amazon Europe S.à r.l. Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk/Javari.co.uk/Amazon.de/Amazon.fr/Javari.fr/Amazon.it
Searchable site for the large academic publisher.
A search engine that allows you to search a range of online booksellers to find the best possible deals.
"Rather than selling books ourselves, we've teamed up with over 15,000 of the finest booksellers online to bring you the largest book catalog available anywhere, either online or offline". The service also includes a textbook search.
Online bookseller providing a wide range of subject areas including medical, textbooks and fiction.
Includes fully searchable database of video titles. Type in the name of the film, actor, director, subject or title ID number to display full details, including a brief synopsis, certificate and price.
Books you thought you would never find. Includes a section for libraries to purchase out-of-print, rare, and out-of-stock books.
This is "one of the UK's leading regular suppliers of information on buying and selling old, rare and out-of-print books in Britain"
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Travel
Road:
Route planning in the UK, Ireland and Europe.
Route planning across the UK and Europe and an option to personalise your own traffic news.
Pan-European mapping and route planning services of ViaMichelin.com
Train:
You can use TheTrainLine to find out times, book tickets and reserve seats for any train operator in mainland UK. Live Departure Boards http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ldb/| Departures from:
Air:
Buses/Coaches:
Public Transport in Greater Manchester.
Details on services, tickets and student offers.
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Maps
Chose "UK" from the drop-down list for UK maps. Includes clickable outline map or browse by the name of a British city, town or village, street name (London only) or postcode to get a detailed map. You can then zoom in on any part of that map, just by clicking on the area you wish to see in more detail.
"This site provides address searching and street map facilities for the UK. We currently have street maps for Greater London and road atlas maps for the whole of mainland Britain". Search by London Street, Post Code, UK Place, OS Grid (enter as x,y), Landranger Grid, Lat/Long or Telephone Code.
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Weather
Provides a 5 day weather prediction for the British Isles, with detailed 5 day forecasts for 105 Towns and Cities, and 24 hour forecasts for 9 UK regions. Additional information provided includes data from Satellites and Radar, and other general statistical information with weather "features".
Includes 5 day predictions for UK regions and cities.
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News
General News Search:
An independent one-stop-shop for national (Daily Express, Financial Times, The Guardian, Independent, The Mirror, The Sun, Daily Telegraph, The Times) and regional (Bolton Evening News, Manchester Evening News) daily newspapers. Also includes Sunday newspapers, jobs digest, and links to pressure groups, MPs sites and news agencies.
Provides links to UK National newspapers.
Local News:
A selection of local newspaper websites:
National News:
A selection of UK national newspapers and news services for current news. Note that a number of resources may require registration, and some such at the Financial Times may require payment for some articles.
European News:
A selection of European newspapers and news services:
Worldwide News:
Links to the homepages of hundreds of international newspapers and magazines.
International news services
A selection of world news websites:
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TV and Radio
Provides information about the BBC's public services and links to News, Weather, the World Service and includes the BBC iPlayer, where BBC programmes can be viewed online for one month after the original broadcast.
Links to all UK TV and radio sites. Maintained by BUBL|.
The online TV and film listings guide.
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UK Government Sites
Provides links to all UK national and local Government Departments.
Includes Government Press Releases, indexed by Department from May 1997 onwards.
The official website of the Prime Minister's Office.
New rebranded site for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, including:
Includes all new Public General Acts published since 1996 and all new Local Acts published since 1997. Subsequent attachments are not included. Some summaries of Public General Acts are also available. A search facility is available if the title is not known. Maintained by HMSO/Office of Public Sector Information.
Includes all new and draft Statutory Instruments published since 1997. Maintained by HMSO/Office of Public Sector Information.
Contains the full text or summary of selected UK Official Publications from The Stationery Office. Other official documents are listed by category.
Indexes from county council down to shire or parish level, including links to local MPs.
BUBL's index of UK political parties.
Directory of UK Information sources including links to local, national and world government sites.
Provides information on Local Government and how it works.
Contains information about the United Kingdom Parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Includes a variety of Internet publications such as Public Bills, Hansard for the Commons and Lords, and the House of Commons Weekly Information Bulletin.
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World Organisations
Official site includes press releases and campaigns.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Includes news and statistical information.
Huge site including news, contacts, a history of Greenpeace, its annual report, links, pictures and much more.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Contains statistics including health data and publications.
Official site for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. "The main objective of UNESCO is to contribute to peace and security in the world by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations."
Includes sections on The General Assembly, The Security Council, The Economic and Social Council, The Trusteeship Council, The International Court of Justice and The Secretariat.
Provides information on the World Bank Group--IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development); IDA (International Development Agency); IFC (International Finance Corporation); MIGA (Multilateral Guarantee Agency) and ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes) including development programmes.
Includes information resources and WHO Reports.
Includes news and official WTO documents in full text.
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