Reference Works on the Internet

The John Rylands University Library of Manchester is a justifiably admired resource, notably offering this collection of online reference tools. Dictionaries and Thesauri is the first heading under which these searchable websites are listed, followed by Directories (including UK and International telephone directories), Encyclopaedias, Literature, Maps and Country Information (including worldwide social, geographical and statistical data), Politics, Science and Travel. Basically, any one of these headings acts as a portal or gateway to lots of further information. It's a sophisticated, well-organised and helpfully pared-down selection of websites, and a vital tool.


Science Although it currently offers only four onward links, this section is targeted in such a way as to be very valuable. The first three are the massive Harcourt and Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology, the 1918 classic work Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, complete with illustrations, and the very clever WebElements, which gives detailed descriptions of all the elements in the Periodic Table. Meanwhile, the fourth item in the list is simply Science Reference Tools, a route to further extensive lists of online science resources.


Travel, to give another example, restricts itself to a single website entitled UK Public Transport Information (www.pti.org.uk). This site assembles all travel information within the UK, between the UK and Ireland, and between the UK and Europe, in a single place. As the introduction says, 'If it's not here, it's not on the web'.