Cataloging Department
     University Libraries @ The University of Akron

Dictionaries, Thesauri and Other Online Resources

Abbreviations, Acronyms

♦ Akronyme und Abkürzungen / Acronyms and Abbreviations
Description: This is a searchable index.
Web site: http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/cgi-bin/acronym

Art, Architecture

♦ Art & Architecture Thesaurus Online (AAT) -- Getty Museum
Description: The AAT is a structured vocabulary containing around 125,000 terms and other information about concepts. Terms in AAT may be used to describe art, architecture, decorative arts, material culture, and archival materials. The coverage of the AAT ranges from Antiquity to the present, and the scope is global. The focus of each AAT record is a concept. In the database, each concept (or record) is identified by a unique numeric ID. Linked to each concept are terms, related concepts, a parent (that is, a position in the hierarchy), sources for the data, and notes. Terms for any concept can include the plural form of the term, singular form, natural order, inverted order, spelling variants, various forms of speech, and synonyms that have various etymological roots. Among these terms, one is flagged as the preferred term, or descriptor.
Web site: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/
♦ ARTLEX
Description: Definitions for more than 3,600 terms used in discussing visual culture, along with thousands of supporting images, pronunciation notes, great quotations and cross-references.
Web site: http://www.artlex.com/
♦ Thesaurus for Graphic Materials I: Subject Terms (TGM I)
Description: A thesaurus of over 6,300 terms for indexing visual materials, as well as numerous cross references. New terms are added regularly. TGM I is a companion document to Thesaurus for Graphic Materials II: Genre and Physical Characteristic Terms (TGM II). This interface employs Java script, which may not be fully supported by older browsers.
Web site: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm1/
♦ Thesaurus for Graphic Materials II: Genre & Physical Characteristic Terms (TGM II)
Description: A thesaurus of more than 600 terms developed by the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division with input from other archival image repositories, the Thesaurus for Graphic Materials II: Genre and Physical Characteristic Terms (TGM II) is the second edition of Descriptive Terms for Graphic Materials: Genre and Physical Characteristic Headings (1986). The cataloging code for the first edition, gmgpc, has been retained. New terms are added regularly. The name reflects its role as a companion to Thesaurus for Graphic Materials I: Subject Terms (TGM I). The thesaurus search interface employs Java script, which may not be fully supported by older browsers.
Web site: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/tgm2/
♦ Union List of Artists Names Online (ULAN) -- Getty Museum
Description: The ULAN is a structured vocabulary that contains around 250,000 names and other information about artists. The coverage of the ULAN is from Antiquity to the present and the geographic scope is global. The scope of the ULAN includes any identified individual or corporate body (i.e., a group of people working together) involved in the design or creation of art and architecture. The focus of each ULAN record is the artist. Linked to each record are names, relationships (including student-teacher relationships), locations (for birth, death, and activity), important dates (such as for birth and death), notes, and sources for the data. Names for any artist can include the vernacular, English, other languages, natural order, inverted order, nicknames, and pseudonyms. Among these names, one is flagged as the preferred name, or descriptor. The ULAN includes names and associated information about artists. Artists may be either individuals (persons) or groups of individuals working together (corporate bodies). Artists in the ULAN generally represent creators involved in the conception or production of visual arts and architecture. Some performance artists are included (but typically not actors, dancers, or other performing artists).
Web site: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/ulan/

Dictionaries and Thesauri (English and Foreign Language,Pplus Translation Sites)

♦ AltaVista Babel Fish Translation
Description: Translate blocks of text up to 150 words.
Web site: http://babelfish.altavista.com/translate.dyn
♦ Glossarist
Description: a searchable directory of glossaries and topical dictionaries.
Web site: http://www.glossarist.com/default.asp
♦ Lost in BABEL
Description: Online free resources for translators and linguists with: More than 800 dictionaries in many languages. More than 2500 links to dictionaries, grammars, software, corpora, translation mailing lists, journals, translators directories, associations and organizations, maps, converters, and much more!
Web site: http://www.webpersonal.net/dmarques/resources/index.htm
♦ LibrarySpot.com Dictionaries List
Description: Quick links to popular online dictionaries (American Heritage, Merriam-Webster, etc.), special dictionaries (legal, medical, science, etc.), and foreign language dictionaries.
Web site: http://www.libraryspot.com/dictionaries/
♦ Merriam-Webster Online
Description: Searchable English language dictionaries and thesaurus.
Web site: http://www.m-w.com/thesaurus.htm
♦ Reference.com
Description: Search dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, almanacs, and other reference resources.
Web site: http://www.reference.com/
♦ Roget's Thesaurus
Description: Alphabetical index of terms in Roget's Thesaurus.
Web site: http://thesaurus.reference.com/Roget-Alpha-Index.html
♦ Roget's II, 3rd edition
Description: Containing 35,000 synonyms and over 250,000 cross-references.
Web site: http://www.bartleby.com/62/
♦ WordSmyth Dictionary/Thesaurus
Description: Basic and advanced dictionary search. Advanced features require registration (no cost).
Web site: http://www.wordsmyth.net/
♦ wordIQ.com
Description: wordIQ.com is a comprehensive and searchable reference tool on the web. We offer search results from a diverse array of dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus, and other valuable references. Search English dictionaries, online encyclopedia, computer terms, dreams, language translations, law terminology, bible dictionary, U.S. census database, CIA World Factbook, acronyms, Moby's online thesaurus, and a medical dictionary.
Web site: http://www.wordiq.com/dictionary.html?source=enhance
♦ YourDictionary.com (A Web of Online Dictionaries)
Description: Index of Online dictionaries which includes a listing of dictionaries in 142 languages.
Web site: http://www.yourdictionary.com/

Education

♦ ERIC Thesaurus
Description: Education terminology
Web site : http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Thesaurus&_nfls=false

Geography, GIS

♦ Thesaurus of Geographic Names Online (TGN) -- Getty Museum
Description: The TGN is a structured vocabulary containing more than one million names and other information about places. The TGN includes all continents and nations of the modern political world, as well as historical places. It includes physical features and administrative entities, such as cities and nations. The emphasis in TGN is on places that are important for art and architecture. The focus of each TGN record is a place, represented by a unique numeric ID in the database. Linked to the record for the place are names, a the place’s parent or position in the hierarchy, other relationships, geographic coordinates, notes, sources for the data, and place types, which are terms describing the role of the place (e.g., inhabited place and state capital). Names for any place can include the vernacular, English, other languages, historical names, natural order, and inverted order. Among these names, one is flagged as the preferred name or descriptor.
Web site: http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/tgn/

Library of Congress, Dublin Core

♦ Controlled vocabularies, thesauri and classification systems available in the WWW. DC Subject
Description: Links to thesauri in various subjects, including Library of Congress headings, Bioethics, Population, etc.
Web site: http://www.lub.lu.se/metadata/subject-help.html
♦ Library of Congress Authorities
Description: Using Library of Congress Authorities, you can browse and display authority headings for Subject, Name, Title and Name/Title combinations. You can also download authority records in MARC format for use in a local library system. This service is offered free of charge.
Web site: http://authorities.loc.gov/

Miscellaneous

♦ iTools
Description: Online searching in 7 categories: iTools (Quick access to the best Internet tools), Search Tools (Find anything on the Web), Language Tools (Look up words or translate them), Research Tools (Find facts and theories about any subject), Financial Tools (Convert currency), Map Tools (See a map or get driving directions), Internet Tools (Use networking and web tools)
Web site: http://www.iTools.com:80/research-it/research-it.html

Science (Astronomy, Medicine, Computing)

♦ Astronomy Thesaurus Index
Description: A thesaurus of terminology in the field of astronomy from the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University.
Web site: http://msowww.anu.edu.au/library/thesaurus/english/
♦ Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange HIV / AIDS Treatment Thesaurus
Description: CATIE's HIV/AIDS Treatment Thesaurus is a tool to help you find information. The Thesaurus will show you what subject words and phrases ("terms") we use on our Web site and in our Library Catalogue. Every page on our Web site, and every item in our Library, is given terms from this list so that you can find documents better.
Web site: http://www.catie.ca/thesaurus.nsf/KWOC
♦ Free Online Dictionary of Computing
Description: FOLDOC is a searchable dictionary of acronyms, jargon, programming languages, tools, architecture, operating systems, networking, theory, conventions, standards, mathematics, telecoms, electronics, institutions, companies, projects, products, history, in fact anything to do with computing.
Web site: http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/index.html
♦ National Library of Medicine, Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®)
Description: MeSH is the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus. It consists of sets of terms naming descriptors in a hierarchical structure that permits searching at various levels of specificity. MeSH descriptors are arranged in both an alphabetic and a hierarchical structure. At the most general level of the hierarchical structure are very broad headings such as "Anatomy" or "Mental Disorders." More specific headings are found at more narrow levels of the eleven-level hierarchy, such as "Ankle" and "Conduct Disorder." There are 22,568 descriptors in MeSH. In addition to these headings, there are more than 139,000 headings called Supplementary Concept Records (formerly Supplementary Chemical Records) within a separate thesaurus. There are also thousands of cross-references that assist in finding the most appropriate MeSH Heading, for example, Vitamin C see Ascorbic Acid. These additional entries include 23,887 printed see references and 106,651 other entry points.
Web site: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html
♦ NASA Thesaurus
Description: The NASA Thesaurus contains the authorized subject terms by which the documents in the NASA Aeronautics and Space Database are indexed and retrieved. The scope of this controlled vocabulary includes not only aerospace engineering, but all supporting areas of engineering and physics, the natural space sciences (astronomy, astrophysics, and planetary science), Earth science, and to some extent, the biological sciences. The Thesaurus contains over 18,000 terms, 4,000 definitions, and 4,400 USE references. Terms are organized within a hierarchical structure, and also include ‘related terms’ lists.
Web site: http://www.sti.nasa.gov/thesfrm1.htm