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Consumer

• Good Starting Points
• Consumer Complaints
• Investigate a Business
• 
  
• Good Starting Points

  • Before Giving to a Charity
    The Federal Trade Commission offers suggestions on how to determine whether or not a charity is legitimate and how your contribution will be used. Includes links to organizations that rate charities.

  • Common Sense Media
    Family entertainment and media reviews for TV, music CDs, video games, books and websites.

  • ConsumerSearch
    Selected product reviews in various categories from professional and consumer review sources. A report is provided for each product based on analysis and evaluation of these reviews.

  • Credit Bureaus
    Information on credit reports and links to the three major credit reporting agencies. From the Federal Citizen Information Center of the General Services Administration.

  • Insurance Company Ratings
    A.M. Best Company is a publisher of authoritative information about the insurance industry. Their website provides ratings and profiles of thousands of insurance companies. (Note: Free registration is required.) The site also includes useful resources such as a glossary and Consumer Insurance Center, a guide to purchasing insurance.

  • Recalls.gov
    A "one stop shop for US Government recalls" on motor vehicles, boats, food, medicine, cosmetics and a wide range of consumer and environmental products.

• Consumer Complaints

  • Fairfax County Consumer Central
    File a complaint against a business or landlord, research the complaint histories of companies before engaging in business with them, and search the laws protecting consumers or affecting tenants and landlords. From the Department of Cable and Consumer Services.

  • US Federal Trade Commission - Complaint Assistant
    The FTC's Complaint Assistant will guide you though the process of registering a complaint online with the FTC. According to a statement on the Web page, "While the FTC does not resolve individual consumer problems, your complaint helps us investigate fraud, and can lead to law enforcement action."

  • Office of the Attorney General Consumer Protection Section
    This office helps to identify the state or federal agency to which you should direct your complaint, and provides complaint forms for Virginia-related issues.

• Investigate a Business

• See also Consumers' CHECKBOOK database (available only in library branches).

  • Check Out a Business or Charity: Council of Better Business Bureaus
    Search for a BBB report on a given company.

  • Complaint History Lookup: Fairfax County Department of Cable and Consumer Services
    Search by company name to see if any complaints have been filed against a business.

  • License Lookup and Disciplinary Actions: Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
    Virginia regulates a variety of occupations and professions. You can search by name or zip code to find out if a company or individual is licensed and to view information on disciplinary actions.

  • Virginia State Corporation Commission
    The SCC regulates certain companies and industries in Virginia. You may perform an entity search on the SCC's databases to find out information about companies doing business in Virginia. Information may include business type, status, date of formation, registered agent, principal office and officers/directors.

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Dictionaries and Thesauruses

• All Acronyms
  Definitions of acronyms and abbreviations.

• Dictionary.com
  Searches and returns results from multiple dictionaries simultaneously. Includes a thesaurus

• Free Dictionary
  Simultaneously searches and returns results from multiple dictionaries. Results include thesaurus terms. Also provides medical, legal and financial dictionary searching.

• Language Dictionaries
  The following sites contain dictionaries and grammar resources for hundreds of languages.

  • Alpha Dictionary

  • Your Dictionary

• Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Thesaurus

• Special Subjects Dictionaries

  • Alpha Dictionary
    Dictionaries and glossaries covering more than 140 subjects.

  • Your Dictionary
    Links to specialty dictionaries on more than 130 subjects.

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Economic Data

• Bureau of Economic Analysis
  Economic information including GDP and related data, balance of payments, state and local area data, state personal income, gross state product and more.

• Bureau of Labor Statistics

  • Economic News Releases
    Provides information on national employment and unemployment rates, employment costs, wages by area and occupation, productivity information, consumer spending, business and manufacturing, and other economic statistics.

  • Economy at a Glance
    Provides unemployment rates, producer price index, productivity and other statistics.

• Census Bureau

  • Business and Industry Statistics
    Links to statistics such as manufacturers' shipments, inventories and orders; E-stats; construction; manufacturing; companies; small business; and retail and wholesale trade.

  • Foreign Trade Statistics
    Includes current and historical data on imports and exports by state and country, including trade balance with the United States by country; products; top trading partners; and more.

  • Manufacturing and Construction Statistics
    Includes data on manufacturer's shipments, inventories and orders, and new residential construction.

• Consumer Price Index

  • Consumer Price Index
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides detailed current and historical consumer price index information back to 1913. The site includes an inflation calculator that compares the current buying power of a selected amount of money to as far back as 1913.

  • Historical Consumer Price Index and Inflation Rates
    The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis provides the consumer price index annual average and inflation rates from 1913 to the present.

• Economic Indicators
  A monthly publication containing compilations of US government data on prices, wages, production, business activity, credit, etc. It is available from 1995 to the present and is prepared by the Council of Economic Advisers for the Joint Economic Committee.

• Federal Reserve Bank

  • Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research
    The FRASER website contains links to scanned images (PDF format) of historical economic statistical publications, releases and documents. Among the publications included are Banking & Monetary Statistics, the Annual Statistical Digest, Business Conditions Digest and Business Statistics.

    Note: Adobe Reader is required to view the PDF files on this site.
    To obtain a free Reader, follow this link:
    

  • Federal Reserve Economic Data
    The FRED database provides access to regional and national financial and economic data using a database of more than 20,000 US economic time series.

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Finance and Investing

• Bank Directories and Performance Ratings
• Foreign Exchange Rates
• Interest and Mortgage Rates
• Investing
• 
  
• Bank Directories and Performance Ratings

  • Bank Ratings from Bankrate.com
    Provides a rating system that reports the financial condition of banks, thrifts and credit unions. Free financial statements and memorandums are available by type of institution and then refined by other criteria.

  • Directory of State Banking Departments
    Links to the Virginia State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Financial Institutions, which administers Virginia state laws regarding banking, savings institutions, mortgage brokers and lenders. Provided by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.

  • FDIC's BankFind
    Identify FDIC-insured banks, locate their branch locations, financial data and history, or compare individual financial institutions insured by the FDIC.

  • National Information Center
    Information about domestic and foreign banking organizations operating in the United States. You can learn about a bank's financial information, corporate structure and branch locations. The website is a product of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

• Foreign Exchange Rates

  • Currency Converterr
    XE.com provides current exchange rates for more than 180 countries.

  • Federal Reserve Statistical Release — Foreign Exchange Rates
    Updated weekly, publication H.10 provides daily foreign exchange rates for the previous week. Historical rates from 1971 to the present are also available.

• Interest and Mortgage Rates

  • Bankrate.com
    Monitors a wide range of interest rates — mortgage, savings, credit card, home loan and more.

  • Interest Rates

    • Federal Reserve Statistical Release — Selected Interest Rates
      Updated weekly, publication H.15 provides current commercial paper, CD, bank prime loan, US government securities and other interest rates. Daily and historical data are also available.

    • Key Interest Rates
      The current federal funds rate, discount rate and their historical values from the Wall Street Journal's Market Data Center.

    • Prime Rate
      The Wall Street Journal polls selected banks to determine the US prime rate. The prime rate is used by banks to set consumer lending rates, for example on credit cards and auto loans.

  • Mortgage Payment Calculators
    Payment and amortization schedule calculators for fixed and adjustable-rate mortgages. Provided by BankRate.com. Note: The adjustable rate calculator requires a Java-enabled browser.

• Investing
• See also  Morningstar Investment Research Center,   Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage  and  ValueLine Research Center  databases.
  
  
  • Annual Reports and SEC Filings

    • AnnualReports
      This free service allows users to view company annual reports in either HTML or PDF format. Users can search for annual reports by company name, ticker symbol, sector or industry.

      Note: Adobe Reader is required to view the PDF files on this site.
      To obtain a free Reader, follow this link:
      

    • SEC EDGAR Database
      Search documents filed by public companies with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Information is available back to 1994.

  • Savings Bonds
    TreasuryDirect.gov provides basic information on savings bonds as well as the ability to purchase bonds online. Redemption tables and a savings bond calculator enable the user to determine the value of their bonds.

  • Treasury Bills, Notes, Bonds and TIPS
    TreasuryDirect.gov provides basic information on Treasury marketable securities, auction results and the ability to purchase treasuries online.

  • Yahoo! Finance
    Provides real-time quotes; historical price information; performance data; and screeners for stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and more.

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Foundations and Grants

• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
  A database of all federal grant, loan and other assistance programs available to public and private organizations and individuals.

• Foundation Center
  The Center publishes directories listing foundations that offer grants to individuals or nonprofit organizations. The website offers resources for beginning grantseekers that includes a list of FAQs.

• Grants Web
  The SRA International offers links for finding funds from government and private sources.

• Grants.gov
  All federal agencies are now required to post grant opportunities online. Grants.gov enables you to find and apply for federal grants.

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Government

• Elected Officials
• Federal Government
• State and Local Government
• 
  

• Elected Officials

  • Contact Elected Officials
    Locate phone, email or mailing address information for state and federal elected officials.

  • Who's My Legislator? Service
    Identify your state legislators and your federal representatives in one simple step by typing in your address. Contact information is included. Provided by the Virginia General Assembly.

• Federal Government

  Note: Adobe Reader is required to view the PDF files on these sites.
  To obtain a free Reader, follow this link:
  

  • Good Starting Points

    • GPO's Federal Digital System
      FDsys provides links to official federal government publications from all three branches of government. Includes items such as the Federal Register and the Congressional Record.

    • USA.gov
      Provides easy-to-use access to online federal government information. Also provides links to information on state and local governments. A version of this site is also available in Spanish.

  • Budget of the United States Government
    The US budget is issued by the Office of Management and Budget and is presented here, for fiscal years 1996 to date, along with related documents such as the Economic Report of the President.

  • Charters of Freedom
    The National Archives provides the full text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights and the subsequent amendments to the Constitution as text transcriptions, PDF files or as high-resolution images.

  • Government Forms
    USA.gov provides one-stop-shopping for federal forms and applications. Search by agency or choose from a list of the most requested forms.

  • US Citizenship and Immigration Services
    The USCIS website provides forms, laws and regulations, information on citizenship through naturalization, information and study materials for the U.S naturalization test and more.

  • United States Government Manual
    Provides information about the agencies of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the US government as well as quasi-official agencies.

• State and Local Government

  See also Virginia government.

  • State and Local Government on the Net
    Lists links to the official websites of city, town and county governments by state.

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International

• Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments
  A list of world leaders organized by country name. A CIA publication.

• CIA World Factbook
  Country profiles, statistics, rankings, flags, maps, a list of international organizations with acronyms and other data.

• Countries and Regions
  The US Department of State's information on the world's countries and regions.

• EmbassyWorld
  Locate the addresses and websites of embassies and consulates worldwide.

• Holidays Worldwide
  Holidays and observances around the world.

• World Time Server
  Find out the current local time in countries and cities around the world.

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Legal

• Codes, Statutes and Regulations
• Constitutional Law
• Courts
• Dictionaries
• Finding a Lawyer
• 
  

• Codes, Statutes and Regulations

  See also Virginia codes, statutes and regulations.

  • Local

    • Full-Text Municipal and County Codes on the Internet
      Covers US towns, cities and counties in all 50 states.

  • State

    • Full-Text State Statutes and Legislation on the Internet
      Covers all 50 US states, the District of Columbia and US territories.

  • Federal

    • Code of Federal Regulations
      View the general and permanent rules for federal government departments and agencies as posted in the Federal Register.

    • Compilation of Presidential Documents
      Proclamations, executive orders and other materials released by the White House.

    • Federal Register
      "The official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents."

    • Federal Rules of Evidence
      For civil and criminal trials in federal courts, these are the laws governing the admission of evidence.

    • Regulations.gov
      "Your voice in federal decision-making." Read newly proposed regulations, post comments on proposed regulations, search for proposed and final rules, sign up for e-mail alerts about a particular regulation and more.

    • THOMAS
      Comprehensive federal legislative information, including the full text of bills from the 101st Congress (1989) through the current Congress, bill summaries dating back to the 93rd Congress (1973) and the full text of the Congressional Record from 1989 to the present.

    • United States Code
      "The codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is divided by broad subjects into 50 titles and published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the US House of Representatives."

• Constitutional Law

  • Constitution of the United States of America

  • Oyez Project — US Supreme Court Media
    Find abstracts and written opinions of Supreme Court cases plus multimedia resources such as sound recordings of court proceedings and a virtual tour of portions of the Supreme Court building.

  • Supreme Court of the United States
    The official site of the US Supreme Court. Find decisions and opinions of supreme court cases and learn about the justices of the supreme court.

• Courts

  See also constitutional law for Supreme Court information, and our links to Virginia courts.

  • County Courthouses
    Includes addresses and telephone numbers for county courthouses across the United States.

  • State Courts

  • United States Courts
    Information about the federal court system. The court locator map will direct you to the address of the federal courts in a particular circuit or district.

• Dictionaries

  • Law.com Legal Dictionary

  • Wex
    "Wex is a free legal dictionary and encyclopedia sponsored and hosted by the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School."

• Finding a Lawyer

  • Local Area

    • Fairfax Bar Association — Lawyer Referral and Information Service
      Will help determine whether or not your issue is a legal matter or would be best resolved with the assistance of other agencies, and will provide a referral to an appropriate and qualified attorney in Fairfax County who can address your specific legal needs. The referred attorney will provide a 30 minute consultation for a predetermined fee.

    • Legal Services of Northern Virginia — Our Services
      A nonprofit law firm providing free, civil legal services to low-income residents, older adults and people with disabilities who reside in Northern Virginia and would otherwise be unable to obtain private legal services. Information is also available in Spanish.

    • VaLegalAid.org
      "A free website that offers legal self-help information in the civil law areas that lower- and middle-income Virginians most often confront. It also provides referrals to legal aid programs, lawyer referral services, court services and other relevant information." The site is a project of Virginia legal aid offices, the Virginia Poverty Law Center, the Legal Services Corporation of Virginia and the Legal Services Corporation.

    • Virginia State Bar

      • Attorney Records Search
        Provides information about attorneys licensed in Virginia who have been publicly disciplined since 1991. Information includes the type of action taken, status and the VSB order. Site also includes a second search option to determine if an attorney in private practice is without malpractice insurance.

      • Lawyer Referral Service
        Specialists with this service can help in determining whether or not your problem is a legal matter, and if so, refer you to an attorney in Virginia who can address your specific needs. The referred attorney will provide a 30 minute consultation for a predetermined fee.

  • Nationwide

    • FindLegalHelp.org
      The American Bar Association offers this consumer guide to finding legal help in the United States and Canada. Includes state-by-state listings of lawyer referral services, free and reduced-fee legal services and more.

    • Martindale-Hubbell Lawyer Locator
      Find lawyers in the United States and worldwide who are in private practice or employed by governments or corporations.

    • West Legal Directory
      FindLaw provides this nationwide directory of lawyers in private practice or employed by governments or corporations.

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Maps and Place Names

• Maps
• Place Names
• 
  

• Maps

  • Google Maps
    Maps and driving directions, worldwide.

  • Mapquest
    Maps and driving directions, worldwide.

  • Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection
    This University of Texas website makes accessible thousands of modern and historical maps from their collections. Genealogists will appreciate the many city maps of 1920s vintage (search the links located under Historical and United States).

• Place Names

  • Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
    Enables quick lookups of geographic locations around the world. Provides a listing of historical names for the location, as well as latitude and longitude measurements.

  • International Geographic Names Database
    For international geographic place and feature names, find location and geographic coordinates, or link to the feature on MapQuest or Google maps. From the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's GEOnet Names Server.

  • United States Geographic Names Database
    For US geographic place and feature names, find location, longitude and latitude. From the US Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System.

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Medical

• Comprehensive Health Websites
• Drugs
• Health Care Providers and Facilities
• 
  

• Comprehensive Health Websites

  More health resources.

  • Family Doctor
    The American Academy of Family Physicians provides medical and health information for the whole family. Some information is available in Spanish.

  • Healthfinder
    A gateway to consumer health information developed by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Information is also available in Spanish.

  • Mayo Clinic — Health Information
    Provides a comprehensive site for finding information about diseases and conditions, drugs, treatment decisions and healthy living topics.

  • 
    The National Library of Medicine's resource for "reliable, up-to-date health information, anytime, anywhere, for free." You will find health topics, including conditions, treatments and prevention; health news; a medical encyclopedia; drug, supplement and herb information; a medical dictionary; directories of doctors and hospitals, the ability to receive free e-mail updates, and more. Access to abstracts of the professional medical literature is available through PubMed. Portions of the MedlinePlus Health Information site are also available in Spanish.

  • The Merck Manual of Medical Information — Home Edition
    This resource provides information about diseases, diagnosis, prevention and treatment in everyday language which can be understood by the consumer. The site includes a pronunciation guide for medical terminology.

  • National Institutes of Health
    Provides access to medical information, health resources, a clinical trials database and scientific advances in the field of medicine.

• Drugs

  More health and medicine resources.

  • Drug Digest
    Provides consumer health information about drugs, vitamins and supplements. Includes a drug interactions database and a pill images database to help users verify medications.

  • Drug Information Portal
    This database, from the National Library of Medicine, provides information on more than 31,000 drugs, including prescription and nonprescription drugs, dietary supplements and investigational drugs. Searchable by generic or brand name.

  • Drugs, Supplements and Herbal Information
    From the MedlinePlus website, this site provides information on prescription and over-the-counter medicines as well as herbs and supplements.

  • NeedyMeds
    NeedyMeds is a nonprofit organization that helps individuals find low-cost patient assistance programs for prescription medicines, discount prescription drug card programs and more. You can search for programs by a drug's brand or generic name or by pharmaceutical company name. Information is also available in Spanish.

  • VIPPS — Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites
    This site lists online pharmacies that meet the certification requirements of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Links to qualified pharmacies are provided.

• Health Care Providers and Facilities

  See also Consumers' Checkbook database (available in library branches only).

  • Good Starting Points
    The following government websites enable you to verify whether physicians, dentists and other health care providers are licensed to practice, see whether there are any disciplinary actions against a practitioner, and file a complaint.

    • DC — Health Professional Licensing Administration

    • MD — Board of Physicians

    • VA — Department of Health Professions

  • Is Your Doctor Board Certified?
    Verify a physician's board certification status or search for board-certified physicians by geographical area and specialty or sub-specialty. The site is developed and maintained by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Note: Free registration is required.

  • Nursing Home Compare
    This database provides information, including inspection results, of every Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the United States. The database is maintained by the Health Care Financing Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

  • Provider and Services Directories
    MedlinePlus provides links to directories that help you locate doctors, dentists and other health care professionals; hospitals and other health care facilities; and health care services.

  • Virginia Board of Medicine Doctor's Profiles
    The site provides information about doctors of medicine, podiatry and osteopathy who are licensed in Virginia, including education, certification, academic appointments, hospital affiliations and Medicare/Medicaid participation.

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Newspaper Directories

Each of these sites offers geographical searching and links to newspaper websites.

• Today's Front Pages
  Each day, the Newseum highlights the front pages of hundreds of newspapers worldwide.

• US Newspaper List
  US newspapers, including college newspapers and links to local radio and television stations.

• Worldpress.org — World Newspapers
  Non-US newspapers.

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Statistics

• Data.gov
  "Data.gov increases the ability of the public to easily find, download and use datasets that are generated and held by the Federal Government."

• NationMaster
  Using data compiled from various sources, you can generate graphs comparing countries and view statistics on a variety of subjects.

• StateMaster
  This website allows you to graphically compare US states on more than 3,700 statistics.

• Statistical Sites on the World Wide Web
  US federal and international statistics sources. Compiled by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Style Guides and Resources for Writers

• Purdue Online Writers Lab
  Purdue University offers this set of guidelines on various aspects of writing, including General Writing Resources; Research & Citation Resources; Documenting Electronic Sources; Punctuation; Grammar; the Mechanics of Writing; Business Writing and Job Search Writing.

• Resources and Documentation Online
  A guide to finding and documenting online and print resources. Provides instructions for citing sources and formatting papers in APA, MLA, Chicago and CSE styles; sample papers formatted in each style; and a list of style manuals used in a variety of disciplines.

• Writer Resources
  A citation style guide, a grammar handbook, writing tips and a selection of ESL resources from the Writers' Workshop at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

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Telephone and Address Directories

• Area Code Locator for North America
  Enter an area code to identify the city associated with it. You may also search for area codes by city name or state.

• International Dialing Codes
  Find how to call from one country to another. Information for each country or territory includes its country code and an alphabetical list of cities with corresponding city or area code.

• People and Business Finders

  • AnyWho
    Find phone numbers and addresses for people and businesses. Also includes a reverse lookup by telephone number, maps and directions, and international phone directories. US residential information is provided by local telephone company records for published telephone listings.

  • Infobel International Telephone Directories
    Search telephone directories for more than 184 countries. Also includes International Dialing Codes, and is available in Spanish.

  • SuperPages.com
    Search for US businesses by name or yellow page category. Use their people page to search for people nationwide by name, or by name and location or zip code. Reverse lookups for telephone numbers and addresses are included.

• Zip Code Lookup
  Input an address, and the proper zip code is returned. Provided by the United States Postal Service.

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