Gotham Gazette - Research Desk

February 13, 2012 · www.gothamgazette.com

Gotham Gazette
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NYC Research Desk

An Annotated Guide

GENERAL REFERENCE

Bartleby.com
Offers searches of a variety of reference works including the Columbia Encyclopedia, guides to English usage, dictionaries and thesauruses and quotation guides. This site focuses on literature but can research other topics as well. http://www.bartleby.com/

Britannica.com
The web site will not only seek out all entries from the esteemed encyclopedia that mention the topic, but also selects relevant web sites, magazine articles and books. http://www.britannica.com/

Convert It
Translates measurements from one unit to another (feet to meters, say). Unlike many similar sites, this one also offers currency conversions and time zone information. http://www.convertit.com/Go/ConvertIt/

The Metropolitan New York Library Council
The web site of this nonprofit membership organization representing nearly 1,200 individual libraries in the metropolitan area has information on academic libraries, special collections, and public school libraries. Some libraries are merely listed with general information, but there are links to many others such as the libraries of the French Institute/Alliance Française library, Pratt Institute, the American Kennel Club, and Bank Street College of Education. Some of the links are cumbersome, but the site provide a good sense of the breadth of research resources in and around New York.
57 East 11th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10003-4605
Phone: (212) 228-2320 Fax: (212) 228-2598
http://metro.org/

New York State Library
The library considers itself especially strong in law, medicine, social science, education and U.S. and New York State history, as well as some sciences and technology. It has a collection of federal, state and international documents. The library will respond to e-mail and phone requests for answers to factual questions and will provide information on publications available through interlibrary loan and other sources of information. To submit an e-mail request, log on to http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/refserv.htm. For phone queries, call the reference desk at 518 474-5355

New York State Library
Cultural Education Center
Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12230

refdesk.com
Secretary of State Colin Powell's favorite e-mail site, this contains links to a plethora of newspapers and reference works, including the Bible, the CIA World Factbook, and the Physician's Desk Reference. It lists top sites in a number of categories, spotlights a site of the day and facts of the day, and links to a number of services such as language translations, providing ZIP codes and locating radio stations. Just for fun, refdesk is also the portal for trivia sites and David Letterman's Top 10 list.
http://www.refdesk.com

Bay Area libraries QandAcafe
Designed to provide fast answers to short questions, the QandAcafe is open for business online Monday through Friday from 3 to 9 p.m. Pacific time.

World Wide Web Virtual Library
Information on a host of subjects, from agriculture to political science, engineering, recreation, law, communication and business.

ARTS

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Currently contains more than 3,500 objects from the museum's entire collection, as well as the whole Department of European Painting. Each work is pictured and information about its provenance and significance is provided. Visitors to the site may search by department - from the ancient Near East to modern art -- or artist or take a special virtual "tour."
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
New York, New York 10028-0198
Phone: 212-535-7710
http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/index.asp

Museum of Modern Art
DADABASE is the museum's on-line service featuring books, periodicals, exhibition catalogs, auction catalogs, pamphlet files, artists' books, special collections materials, and Web sites relating to modern and contemporary art. Visitors may search by topic and then be linked to various materials on on the subject of their choosing.
11 West 53 Street
New York 10019
Phone: (212) 708-9433 Fax: (212) 333-1122
e-mail: library@moma.org

BUSINESS

Brooklyn Business Library
In addition to its business collection, the library will answer telephone queries during normal business hours. Call (718) 623-7000 or for those outside New York City but in New York State (800) 266-6696.

280 Cadman Plaza
West Brooklyn, NY 11201
718 623-7000
www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/business/business.htm

New York Science, Industry, and Business Library
One of the New York Public Library's four research libraries, its staff will respond to reference requests submitted over the internet, usually within three business days. To make a query, log on to http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/eforms/eref/equest1.htm and follow the instructions. For more immediate help, call 212-592-7000.

188 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(212) 592-7000
email: sibleref@nypl.org
http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/index.html

EDUCATION

Ask Eric
A major source of on-line material on all aspects of education, Eric features an on-line service to respond to queries about educational research or the practice of education. For those who can't wait two business days for an answer, the site offers a various journals, databases and lesson plans.
http://ericir.syr.edu/Qa/

GOVERNMENT

Thomas
An on-line service of the Library of Congress, Thomas provides a variety of information about Congress, including votes, the status of legislation and committees. It also links to other sites providing information on government.
http://thomas.loc.gov

HISTORY

Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library of Columbia University
The web page of the architecture and urban planning library teaches visitors how to get information on both existing and demolished New York City buildings and landmarks. Log on to http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/avery/nycbuild.html

300 Avery
1172 Amsterdam Ave.
New York, NY 10027
Phone: (212) 854-3501
Email: avery@libraries.cul.columbia.edu

Boston Athenaeum
Answers reference questions on New England history in particular and American history in general. To make a query, log on to http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/query.html. Most queries are answered within three days.
Reference Department
10* Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: (617) 227-0270 Fax: (617) 227-5266

National Register of Historic Places
Here researchers can begin to investigate the history of buildings that have earned designation as historic structures. Users can also search by the name of architects and learn how to initiate the nomination process for listing a location on the Register.

Historic Hudson Valley Library
Contains a variety of research materials on the culture and history of the Hudson Valley. The library will respond to phone, fax, email and mail requests for assistance.
150 White Plains Road
Tarrytown. NY 10591
914 631-8609 (phone) 914 631-3591 (fax)
e-mail queries: hhvlibrarian@hotmail.com

HUMANITIES

H-Net Online resources in the Humanities
An on-line network of scholars and teachers in the humanities, H-Net serves as the host for more than 100 edited "listserv" discussion groups open to any person with an e-mail address and interest in following discussions and reading reviews. Subscribers to these lists can also post queries on their topic and will receive responses from the experts worldwide who are "listserv" members.
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/

MAPS

Maps and History
Offers a variety of maps showing how transportation in the New York metropolitan area has evolved during the last 80 years.
http://www.nycroads.com/history/

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection
An on-line collection featuring maps of the United States and the world and highlighting particularly timely maps, such as those showing a world trouble spot or the incidence of a particular disease

PHOTOGRAPHS

New York Public Library Digital Collections
The library is digitalizing many of its hard copy resources, such as archival photos, for online access. Several collections, such as Surveyors of the American West and 19th century image of African- Americans , are already available. Forthcoming Projects include "Black New York" and maps of the Middle Atlantic Seaboard made between 1660 and 1850.

SCIENCE AND MEDICINE

The National Library of Medicine

This federal government library will answer phone queries on how to use its electronic data basis and research medical topics. Telephone inquiries are accepted Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1-888-FINDNLM (1-888-346-3656) or 301-594-5983. The library also provides an on-line service with answer to frequently asked medical questions. Log on to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/faqref.html to find out how to find medical statistics, how to locate medical slides or videos and for information on medical education and careers.

8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nlmhome.html

The University of Virginia Library
A list of Internet resources available to people outside the University of Virginia community, including information on math, science, agriculture, and computers.

Charlottesville, Virginia / 22903
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/science/reference/webref.htm

SOCIAL SCIENCE

U.S. Census Bureau
Users may request census data by category as well as location and can view various maps. Some data from the 2000 Census, such as the population of New York State by race is already available.
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet

SPANISH

http://www.cervantes.org/
Sponsored by the Spanish government to promote the Spanish language and Hispanic culture, the Cervantes library was established in 1991. The library maintains several databases on Spain and Latin America and can also respond to telephone, e-mail and fax inquiries.
Instituto Cervantes (USA), Inc.
122 East 42nd Street Suite 807
New York, NY 10168
Phone: (212) 661-6011 Fax: (212) 545-8837
http://www.cervantes.org/
E-MAIL: cervanny@class.org

YOUNG PEOPLE

KidsClick

Kids clicking on this page, a project of the Ramapo-Catskill Library System in Middletown, N.Y. will find reference information and links to sites such as ones maintained by the Pez Museum, devoted to the candy of the same name, and the Children's Museum of Manhattan. For homework assignments and satisfying curiosity, there are also link to a plethora of child appropriate reference works such as Fact Monster and works for older students such as the Smithsonian Encyclopedia, the famed museum's on-line reference source. to encyclopedias, dictionaries, and calendars. as well as information on popular entertainment, family activities, science experiments, and art museums.

Ramapo Catskill Library System
619 Route 17M
Niddletown, NY 10940
Phone: (845) 343-1131 Fax: (845)343-1205
http://www.kidsclick.org/