Math & Conversion tools

• Full Universal Currency Converter - Contains every known world currency and allows you to perform foreign exchange rate calculations using up-to-date currency rates.

• Measure 4 Measure - "A collection of interactive websites that estimate, calculate, and translate". Include conversion sites like Graphing Vector Calculator, Body Fat Estimator, Tuition Savings Calculator, Morse Code Translator, etc.

• Online Conversion - Convert units of length, temperature, speed, volume, weight, cooking, area, currency, and much more.

Countries & Governments

• BBC Country Profiles - "Full profiles provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions." Also included are audio or video clips from BBC Archives.

• Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade - Canadian perspectives on trading partners by region. Also links to a Country Profiles page for information about every country in the world.

• Canadian International Development Agency - Canadian perspectives on developing countries and foreign aid.

• CIA World Factbook - U.S. publication of facts and statistics on countries and locations worldwide. Topics of focus include: geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.

• Governments on the World Wide Web - Links to official national government web sites.

Dictionaries & Thesauri

• Acrynom Finder - Find out what any acronym, abbreviation, or initialism stands for.

• Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus - Online versions of M-W dictionary and thesaurus.

• One Look Dictionary - The dictionary helps you find definitions and translations, while the reverse dictionary lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept.

• Roget's II: The New Thesaurus - Contains 35,000 synonyms and over 250,000 cross-references in an easy-to-use format.

• Your Dictionary.com - A one-stop site that includes: multilingual dictionaries (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc), free translation service, thesaurus, glossaries, and grammar guides.

Encyclopedias

• Artcyclopedia - An index of online museums and image archives where you can search for information on artists, artworks, and art museums.

• Columbia and Encarta - Free versions of the encyclopedias.

• Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online - Explores the history of Canada's inhabitants and their culture.

• Encyclopedia of British Columbia - A comprehensive reference work of BC, contains more than 4,000 articles as well as historic and colour photographs, handy statistics, maps, tables, charts and diagrams.
  

• Historica - A comprehensive and authoritative source of Canadian information.

News Resources

• All Africa News - Largest online distributor of African news and information worldwide.

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) - Focuses on UK and international news. A very popular feature is the “Learn English” page, which includes news stories written for ESL learners (includes definitions), grammar and vocabulary help, a webcast called “Talk about English”, business English advice, and lesson plans for ESL teachers.

• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) - Provides news information in the following categories: world, Canada, health, arts and entertainment, technology and science, money, consumer life, and sport.

• Cable News Network (CNN) - Featuring U.S. and world news. The site can also be viewed in Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Turkish.

• Kyodo News On The Web -A Japanese news organization with a focus on Asian news, in Japanese and Chinese languages.

• Xinhua Online - A China news corporation with a special focus on Chinese news and information. News coverage is available in 7 languages.

Online Atlases

• Atlapedia Online - Full colour physical and political maps for regions of the world.

• Atlas of Canada - Use this site to find places, digital maps, topographic maps, quizzes, facts, geographical information and learning resources about Canada.

• Canadian Geographic Map Maker - Make your own maps of Canada: measure distances, identify features, add informational layers, and in printable formats.

• Google Maps & Rand McNally Get a Map - Great sites for getting driving directions.

• Mapquest - If you are not looking for an American map, select 'Maps' and then select a country. This tool is useful in finding locations within cities.

• National Atlas (U.S.) - A site for customizing your own map with informational layers, and printing out pre-formatted maps on different topics.

Virtual Museums

• MuseumSpot - Searches can be done by country, city, museum name, and specialty.

• Virtual Library Museums Page - A directory of on-line musuems worldwide.

• The Virtual Smithsonian - Virtual exhibits of the Smithsonian Institution are searchable by gallery and by museum.