Recommended Websites | Future Bestsellers | New Movies | Magazine Collection
Reference Desk: Recommended Websites



Art & Antiques

Kovels Online
Offers prices and collecting tips from America's antique experts, Ralph and Terry Kovel.

Web Gallery of Art
This remarkable art history site offers over 10,000 images dating AD1100 to 1800. Helpful comments and guided tours of famous buildings add to this site's appeal.

Artcyclopedia
Offers an alphabetical listing of artists, subjects, mediums and art movements through history.

Auto
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Car Care Kiosk
Offers free how to videos on car care

Fuel Economy Guide
The Fuel Economy Guide helps car buyers choose the most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets their needs.

NADA Used Vehicle Values and Appraisal Guide
Price information for new, used and classic cars, boats, RVs, motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles, and more

Edmunds Automobile Buyer’s Guides
Information about buying new and used vehicles

Kelley Blue Book
New and used car pricing information

National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration
Automobile safety, testing results, regulations and standards, and research and development

Road and Track
News about cars and racing, includes “First Looks”, “Driving Impressions”, and videos

Car and Driver
Includes new car reviews and news

Auto Repair Reference Center
A subscription-only, but free with your library card website that contains detailed and diagrammed automotive repair and maintenance information covering most major manufacturers. Have your library card ready to login.

Baby Boomers

Book Award Winners
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•PEN/Faulkner Awards for Fiction
•Pulitzer Prizes
•National Book Critics Circle Awards
•Nobel Prize in Literature
•National Book Awards
•Man Booker Prize
•Edgar Awards (Mysteries)
•Nebula Awards (Science Fiction and Fantasy)
•Hugo Awards (Science Fiction)
•Bram Stoker Awards (Horror)
•Rita Awards (Romance

Business

  • Yahoo! Finance
    Good overall investment site on the web, with stocks, bonds, mutual funds, news, earnings, splits and more! Check out the research and education section for top performers, real time and after-hours quotes.
  • Big Charts
    An excellent site for historical quotes as well as information about the best and worst performing stocks within an industry.
  • Corporate Information
    Corporate profiles of 20,000 companies and links to over 350,000 companies in 100+ countries. Corporations are indexed by state, country and industry.
  • Pittsburgh Technology Council Online Membership Directory
    Contact information and company descriptions for the more than 1,400 member companies of the PTC, representing a diverse cross section of technology and services. The directory may be searched by name, industry, service/specialization, address, zip code and keywords.

  • Business Startups
    Starting a business in Pennsylvania? Try the PA Dept. of Community & Economic Development Business Startups webpage. This page has information about relocation, financial incentives, exporting as well as links to many additional resources.

Computers
  • CNet
    Hardware and software reviews, internet service provider information, technology news, e-business and web authoring information and lots more!
  • ZDNet
    Much like CNet, but also includes technology career information and a personal tech section with info about electronics and home entertainment.
  • PC World.com
    How-tos and interactive tools to help you solve your computer problems. Also has selected articles from the magazine!
  • Computer Links of Interest
    A collection of sites for all sorts of computer-related subjects, from tutorials to job- hunting, by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
Consumer Information
  • Better Business Bureau
    Reports on fraudulent business and fundraising practices. Contains database of reports on businesses, nonprofits and charities. Complaints may be registered online.
  • Consumers Union
    Website of the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports
  • Organic Consumers Association
    Website for the nonprofit organization focused on promoting the views and interests of organic and socially responsible consumers
  • FuelEconomy.gov
    This is the official U.S. government source for fuel economy information including The Fuel Economy Guide which helps car buyers choose the most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets their needs.
Cooking
  • Allrecipes
    Recipes for everything from soup to nuts. Features "Dinner in an Instant" and "Meal of the Day."
  • Epicurious
    A fantastic site for recipes, menus, and articles on food, including recipes from Gourmet and Bon Appetit.
  • www.cookstr.com
    A site that features recipes from a wide variety of cookbooks.
  • Taste of Home
    Home recipes from Taste of Home and three other Readers Digest-affiliated food magazines with familiar, everyday ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions.
Entertainment
  • Internet Movie Database
    Provides information about more than 250,000 movies and television titles. Searchable by actor, director, production crew, or filming location.
  • American Film Institute
    Top 100 lists for greatest film, funniest, thrillers, bests of the year and more.
  • Rotten Tomatoes
    Movies rated on scale of 0-100%, or "rotten" to "fresh". Multiple reviews for each movie.
  • All Music Guide
    Comprehensive information on all types of music. Offers reviews, performance credits, track titles and much more. Browse by genre or search by artist, album and song title.
  • Classical Net
    Provides information on the composers and features over 1500 CDs. Also has suggestions for buying classical music and links to a wide array of classical music sites.
  • Billboard Online
    Online companion to the print magazine. Includes are music reviews, news, and some of the charts from the past week.
Genealogy
  • American Family Immigration Center (Ellis Island)
    More than 22 million passengers and members of ships' crews entered the United States through Ellis Island and the Port of New York between 1892 and 1924. Information about each person was written down in ships' passenger lists, known as "manifests." You can search these millions of records for information on individual Ellis Island passengers through this web site.
  • Cyndi's List
    The largest directory of genealogical sites on the Internet, Cyndi's List categorizes more than 265,000 links to genealogy-related web sites. A great place to go to find sites on all types of topics genealogical.
  • FamilySearch.Org [by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]
    Searchable database of the largest genealogy organization in the world. For over 100 years, FamilySearch, a service of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide. Familysearch.org is a free online genealogical service they provide.
  • North Hills Genealogists
    The North Hills Genealogists is a group of people interested in genealogy and in researching their family histories. Located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, PA, their members have common interests in the geographic areas north of the city. Many of their members also live in this area. They publish a regular newsletter, coordinate projects, and meet monthly at Northland Public Library. (Check their website calendar to confirm meeting dates.)
  • US GenWeb Project
    This non-commercial project provides free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. Organization is by county and state, and this website provides you with links to all the state genealogy websites which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties.
  • WorldGenWeb Project
    The WorldGenWeb Project is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization dedicated to providing genealogical and historical records and resources for world-wide access. The WorldGenWeb Project is divided into 11 World Regions. Each region is divided up by countries and each country is divided into individual provinces, states, or counties (terms vary depending on administrative divisions).
  • Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society
    The Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society is a non-profit organization of amateur and professional family historians and genealogists dedicated to the study and preservation of family history. Since 1974, members of WPGS have helped trace family roots in Western Pennsylvania while preserving important local and regional records.
  • Mocavo
    The world's first and largest genealogy search engine. The site indexes over six billion names from free genealogical websites on the internet. With a single search you can search across all of these free genealogy websites. They're also beginning to introduce tools to make the research of family history an open and collaborative experience.
  • Linkpendium
    This directory provides links to over 10 million genealogy websites arranged by location and surname.
  • Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Department
    This website includes information for doing genealogical and local history research using the Pennsylvania Department’s resources as well as online collections of maps, photographs, databases and more.
Health & Medicine OTHER HEALTH & MEDICINE INFORMATION
  • Health Information for the Consumer
    By the University of Pittsburgh Health Science Library. Links to health topics, information about drugs, medical tests and surgical procedures, and local health resources.
  • MEDLINEplus
    U.S. National Library of Medicine consumer site. Provides access to extensive information about specific diseases and conditions.
  • National Institute of Mental Health
    Offers information about the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.
  • Allegheny County Health Department
    Includes immunization information, county health clinic locations, local health regulations, restaurant/food facility inspection information and more
  • Best of the Web: Mental Health Disorders
    An extensive directory of the best mental health disorder-related sites on the Internet.
  • National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine This website presents and overview of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) as well as types of CAM, summary information on safety and regulation and additional resources.
  • KidsHealth
    Presented by the Nemours Foundation. Offers up-to-date information about childhood health, growth and illness.
  • The Alliance for Safe and Drug Free Children
    The Alliance is dedicated to stopping drug use among our youth by: linking various groups of people in partnerships, creating self-reliance rather than dependency, Providing support to youth drug victims and their families; and raising public awareness about the consequences of drug use. Their website provides many resources for schools, parents and children including a collection of online videos created by The Alliance and the Pennsylvania Attorney General.
  • FirstGov for Seniors Health Page
    Gateway to senior health information from the U.S. government. Includes links to information on general health resources, specific diseases, medical coverage, and professional resources.
  • Health Care Resources in Allegheny County for Uninsured or Underinsured
  • Health News Review
    Site which gives objective ratings on health and medical journalism

  • Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council
    An independent state agency provides reports on hospital performance, hospital-acquired infections, cardiac surgery and more.

Home & Garden
  • Home and Garden Television
    Provides comprehensive information for the home enthusiast. Step-by-step instructions for thousands of projects and tips from some of America's best homebuilders, remodelers, interior designers, gardeners, craft experts and lifestyle hosts.
  • DIY: Do It Yourself Network
    All sorts of projects including home improvements, arts and crafts, decorating and design.
  • Organic Gardening
    Provides in-depth, zone-based advice and solutions for organic gardens. Check out the archives for a wide variety of past articles from the magazine.
  • National Gardening Association
    This site includes a weed library and a pest library as well as how-to videos and content galore.
  • Better Homes and Gardens Of course this has plants and flowers of all sorts but also features garden plans, general landscaping and outdoor living. Check out the plant of the week and the garden doctor's Q and A.
  • About Gardening
    Here you'll find all the normal gardening topics along with what to do in the garden month-by-month. You can also link to the Readers' Choice Award Winners - the blogs, magazines, catalogs and books that were voted best those visiting the site.
  • Helpful Gardener
    Although not as colorful or showy as some of the other sites the articles here are a bit longer and, as with many of the gardening sites, you can join their garden forum.
  • HGTV Gardening
    Click on Gardening, Landscaping, Outdoor Rooms, Decks, Patios, Porches & Pools - a wealth of information from the Home and Garden Television Folks

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