Best Quick Reference Sites

Refdesk.com
http://www.refdesk.com

Fact Monster
http://www.factmonster.com

Information Please Almanac
http://www.infoplease.com

Almanacs

Information Please Almanac
http://www.infoplease.com
Online dictionary, encyclopedia, atlas, almanacs, and more

States and Capitals
http://www.50states.com/
Basic facts about every state in the U.S.A.

Today in History
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/archive.html
Find out what happened on a particular day.

Maps

Outline Maps
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/index.html
Various types of outline maps of the US focusing on history, physical characteristics, capitals, and climate; also continent and hemisphere maps.

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/Map_collection.html
Enormous collection of online maps, including historical maps.

Government

FirstGov.gov
http://firstgov.gov
"Your first click to the U.S. government," the federal government's official site.

Gov Spot
http://www.govspot.com/
Info on U.S. and state governments. Links to government reports, shortcuts to federal agencies and e-mail addresses for legislators; FBI Most Wanted List; resources on hot issues (such as school vouchers, death penalty) and more.

My NYC.gov Portal
http://home.nyc.gov
In addition to links to city agencies and information about your elected officials, this site offers an "I Want to…" list, answers to New York City government's most commonly requested services (how to get a birth or death certificate, register a pet, see restaurant health inspection, etc).

New York State
http://www.state.ny.us/
The official gateway to the state government

U.S. Blue Pages
http://www.officialusa.com/state/state.information/bluepages/index.html
Online version of the Blue Pages in the phone book; includes telephone numbers and web links to U.S. government offices.

Statistics

American FactFinder
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet
Population, housing, economic and geographic data from the Census Department.

Census Statistics
http://www.census.gov/
Statistics from the 2000 census.

NationMaster.com
http://www.nationmaster.com
Choose the countries you want to compare, then generate maps and graphs to illustrate their rankings in dozens of categories. Great for reports.

Population Reference Bureau
http://www.prb.org/
Statistics on the U.S. population, including marriage and family, education, face and ethnicity, income and poverty, immigration, employment and more, presented in text and graphics.

Statistical Abstracts of the United States
http://www.census.gov/statab/www/
Everything you want to know about the U.S

Statistical Resources on the Web (University of Michigan Documents Center)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/statsnew.html
Statistical resources on a large variety of topics, including economics, health, government, business and industry, and more.