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Jason Piteo
Among Purdue's many World Wide Web pages, there is one in particular that holds a wealth of information. The Virtual Reference Desk is maintained by Prof. Carl Snow and provides a comprehensive list of resourceful web sites. You may access the Virtual Reference Desk via your browser at the URL above.
Selected Government Documents
There are several sections of the reference desk that may appeal to web
users of all interests. In the Selected Government Documents section,
you may find a link to the U.S. House of Representatives
or send the President some e-mail through the White House homepage.
Electronic versions of legal documents as well as
governmental information are also here.
Dictionaries
Located in the Dictionaries section, as you would expect,
are dictionaries, thesauri, books of quotations, acronyms,
and language converters.
For example, use the English to French dictionary
to write to a penpal overseas, or
maybe just to find out what that foreign phrase you heard really meant.
A handy site for anyone is Webster's online dictionary.
Don't leave your PC or workstation to search for a dictionary,
just ask Webster through their web interface.
Phonebooks And E-mail Directory
For those who may want to find some information about
someone here at Purdue, or worldwide for that matter,
there is the Phonebooks and E-mail Directory section.
Included there is a link to the World Wide Yellow Pages
complete with constant updates to the database.
Missing from this section are the white pages!
A handy address I found for that is
"http://www.four11.com"
which is a nationwide telephone directory.
These phone directory sites are perfect
for finding long lost relatives, friends,
or simply to find that phone number that you misplaced.
Maps And Travel
The best map site and program on the web is located in the Maps section
or go right to it if you want at
"http://www.mapquest.com/maps.html" .
At MapQuest,
you can find any map and interact by zooming in and out, identifying
landmarks and locations, and finding travel sites.
This site is perfect for planning a vacation
or discovering where in town a given address is located.
In addition, you may check the Internet Travel Network at
"http://www.itn.com"
to find prices for and purchase airplane tickets. Many
similar sites are available in the Maps and Travel section.
Some of the other interesting resources include a zip code and area code locater and identifier, an online periodic table, a time and date site, and news archives. The Virtual Reference Desk offers links to many various sites that may have been undiscovered by web users. Generally, the web is a much more powerful tool than anyone could possibly imagine. The Virtual Reference Desk is a gateway to infinite information.
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