Reliable Web Resources

General Reference

Reliable, free sites assembled by Boston College librarians.

Access to Reliable Information

It can be difficult to find information on the web that is both authoritative and freely available. Boston College librarians have assembled these sites as a service to anyone who does not have ready access to subscription databases.

Please note that BC Alumni and other guests are welcome to access most of our subscription databases through guest computers at BC Libraries. Find out which databases are restricted, and how residents of Massachusetts can access many other databases.

International Libraries

Biblioteca Nacional de Espana
The National Library of Spain page is able to be translated to English, although parts of the website (current news) remain in Spanish. It includes the Hispanic Digital Library, with English translations, and the Digital Periodical Library, which allows both browsing and searching. Although the catalog is in Spanish, the collection page may be viewed in English, allowing for easy browsing.
Bibliotheque Nationale de France
The National Library of France website can be easily switched to English. While searching the catalog is only possible in French, the site includes an "ask a librarian" service. The site also links to both French and International Digital Libraries.
The British Library
The British Library includes digitized manuscripts, archives, British newspapers, as well as various other digitized collections.The collection is easily searchable, as well as browsable.
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The National Library of Germany website can be switched to English, allowing for easy searching and exploration of the site. The site has limited digitized material in German.
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress includes many digitized collections, from music, to photos, to the papers of important people. It is easy to browse and easy to search and includes links to the law library and other important resources.
Lib Web
Lib Web easily links to the websites of thousands of public, academic, state, and national libraries both in the United States and Internationally. A search box allows for quick and easy results, while categories for location and type allow for easy browsing.
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada provides a variety of information and digitized material, including photos, browsable by subject. By going to the "discover the collection" tab, users are able choose type of information or topic. This allows for easy browsing, as well as quick access to specific information.
The Boston Theological Institute
The Boston Theological Institute is a collection of local theological school. The website links to the library website and catalog of each of these schools, allowing for quick and easy access to the material available at a variety of institutions.
Boston Library Consoritum
The Boston Library Consortium is a collection of seventeen mostly academic libraries in the Boston area. The member page links to the library home page of each of the member institutions, allowing members of other institutions to easily search the various collections.

Units of Measure Conversion

Conversion of Units
Freie Universität Berlin conversion of units page helps to convert from American to European units of measurement for chemistry. Also includes temperature and currency conversion.
Fundamental Physical Constants
Freie Universität Berlin provides a list of fundamental physical constants, for quick reference. These include Avogadro's number, speed of light, electron radius, and many more.

Associations

IPL List of Associations
IPL2 provides links to trusted resources, from newspapers to dictionaries to podcasts. You are able to search the entire site or limit to kids, teens, or newspapers and magazines. To browse, simply go to an area of interest and narrow your results using the sidebar options.
Directory to the American Society of Association Executives
Provides directory material for associations around the world. Searchable by association name and location. Searching by organization type only possible for AMC (Association Management Company), Professional Association, Trade Association, Federation of Associations, and Philanthropic, Foundation or Charitable Orgs.
GuideStar
GuideStar provides information, including mission, legitimacy, and finances, on all IRS-registered nonprofits. An advanced search allows you to search for nonprofits by location and category, as opposed to simply name of the charity.
Scholarly Societies Project
Contains lists and links to scholarly societies in all areas of study and all over the world. Easy to browse by subject, country, and language, an advanced search engine also allows for more specific results. Last updated in 2009.

Maps

Boston RDA Data and Maps
This resource includes maps, data sets, and research publications for Boston neighborhoods. Information on zoning included as well.
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
This useful thesaurus, produced by the Getty Institute, allows users to search for the past and current names of a location. This can be useful in identifying a location if only an older name for the location is known. Although this site does not include maps, it includes the coordinates of the location, allowing the user to easily locate it on a map.
Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection
The homepage of this site includes a list of online maps reflecting current interests, for example maps of where people have contracted Ebola, the situation in Iraq, and the situation in Libya. Maps of continents, countries, states, and cities are also available, along with links to various other map sites.
National Geographic Interactive Mapmaker
This interactive map allows you to create markers and draw lines, in order to measure distance between multiple locations or to track a trip. Users can zoom in to cities and towns across the U.S. to view a city map with streets and points of interest. The zoom in feature works on different levels throughout the rest of the world.
National Atlas of the United States
This website features small scale regional maps throughout the United States. Many printable maps are available as well, including climate maps for around the country congressional maps, and maps of presidential election results by state, dating back to 1789. Topographical maps are also available through the site.

Quotations

Bartleby Free Books Online
Free, unlimited, full-text access of books. This site also has a quotations section, which includes books of quotes.
Bible Gateway
This site allows keyword searching for biblical quotes. There are various options for language, as well as Bible version.
Movie Quotes
This site allows keyword searching for movie quotes. Select "quotes" on the drop down menu under Title Text Search, and enter a word or phrase.
Quoteland
Quoteland includes a search engine for keyword searching. The results from these searches are then divided into various categories. Movie quotes do not always include the title of the movie and most results only include the speaker, not the work or speech. This site also includes easy browsing options, with categories including sports, literature, and motivational.
Women's Voices: Quotations by Women
Browsable by speaker, this site includes quotes from women only. Each speaker has a page that includes a brief biography and a list of quotes.

Dictionaries, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

Abbreviations
This site of abbreviations and acronyms allows for easy browsing under various subjects, from amateur radio to time zones. Browsing may also be done alphabetically. A key word search will search by term to abbreviation or abbreviation to term.
Acronym Finder
While Acronym Finder is not easily browsable by category, searching abbreviations yields various results, which are then divided into various categories from Information Technology to Slang & Pop Culture. This allows the search to be easily narrowed to only what is of immediate interest.
Oxford Dictionaries
Options for searching include British and world English, synonyms, language dictionaries, and legal terms. The keyboard can also be switched to Latin, in order to include umlauts, accents, etc.
Onelook Dictionaries
This site uses various ways of searching for words and definitions. The homepage includes samples of different types of bolean searches, as well as a link to the reverse dictionary, which allows the searcher to describe the concept they are looking for. This results in a list of words associated with this concept.
Information Please
This site is includes a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, and atlas. Easy to browse by subjects from homework help to science & health, a search engine allows for easy quick searching. Calculators, conversion tools,and spell checking are also available through this site.

Guide Authors

This guide was developed by Nora Casey, Simmons SLIS intern in Spring 2015, with input from and feedback by Boston College subject librarians.

O'Neill Library

Bapst Library

Burns Library

Educational Resource Center

Law Library

Social Work Library

Theology & Ministry Library

O'Connor Library

Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies

Reliable Web Resources

General Reference

Access to Reliable Information

International Libraries

Units of Measure Conversion

Associations

Maps

Quotations

Dictionaries, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

Guide Authors