Bartleby.com has available its electronic version of the Columbia Encyclopedia with numerous updates, including improved search and navigation features. The sixth edition contains close to 51,000 entries, including 17,000 biographies, with over 80,000 hypertext cross-references, as well as links to other resources such as maps, speeches, and additional full-text collections held by Bartleby.com....

As is probably well-known to most readers, a few weeks ago Encyclopaedia Britannica decided to place the entire contents of its 32-volume set online for free. The decision was widely reported both online and in the print press, and the site promptly crashed under the huge strain. Though a bit slow and sometimes buggy, Britannica.com is now officially up and running, offering full access to the...

This week, Bartleby.com (last reviewed in the December 10, 1999 Scout Report) announced the online publication of all eighteen volumes of the classic Cambridge History of English and American Literature. This excellent free resource "comprises the largest public reference work of literary criticism and history on the Internet." Originally published in 1907-1921, the volumes include 303 chapters...

Conceived by the University of Ghent, Belgium, the Encyclopedia of Law and Economics Website is a broad-based collection of resources pertaining to economic and legal issues throughout the world. Showcasing a comprehensive index of searchable bibliographic resources, this site also includes abstracts of recent law and economics reviews. The hefty Law and Economics Web Resources section features...

Eric Weisstein's World of Science supplies great, online encyclopedias in astronomy, physics, chemistry, and mathematics, as well as a biography of renowned scientists. Users can find excellent, concise explanations of countless concepts. The website is well linked and, therefore, easy to traverse. Everyone, from grade school students to competent professionals, can utilize this amazing resource...

Provided by Bartleby.com, the Columbia Gazetteer of North America is a collection of over 50,000 entries of places and features and is described as "far and away the most comprehensive encyclopedia of the geographical places and features of the region." Users can search the database by keyword and by region or browse the entire collection alphabetically. The entries contain brief descriptions,...

This 1881 reference book was designed to help nineteenth-century households stay healthy and productive. Need to know how to winter your bees? Build a barometer? Bleed a patient with leeches? Your answers are here. The site, a part-time project of freelance webmaster Matthew Spong, evokes a time when many households were largely self-sufficient, and the value of a book explaining how to amputate a...