Encyclopedias-Get The World's Information for Free

Encyclopedias--Get the World's Information for Free I can remember in the old days having to do a report for school and using encyclopedias from one of two sources. Either I used an old set of Encyclopedia Brittannica's my parents had bought after the birth of my older brother or I went down to the public library to leaf through the 1-3 year old copies of The World Book Encyclopedia. Either way the information was sadly outdated. These days our kids are flooded with information that is newly recorded as the names on our Atlas change yearly and people's life stories are updated weekly. It seems it's mostly the librarian purchasing a full book set of encyclopedias while the rest of us have found a less expensive way.

Many homeschooling parents will purchase an encyclopedia on CD-ROM. This source of information is wonderful with added media features so now you and your children can listen to the call of the loon or Beethoven's 5th symphony. It's easier for the encyclopedia publisher to update and easier for your children to get pretty current information. The cost of this "set" of encyclopedias is usually under $50 as compared to the staggering cost of an entire book set. But let's say you just spent the last part of your homeschool budget on that phonics game thing and you just ran out of cash. How do you keep up-to-date with this valuable reference? There are a couple of ways. You can visit your local library. Just like the old days. This time, though, try visiting it online. Want to know what your library's online web address is? Visit the WWW Library Directory at http://www.webpan.com/msaurs/libdir. This site lists library web pages in the U.S. and worldwide, just in case you wanted to check on an overdue book over in Ireland. Once you find your library's online address you can check what kind of available databases they have. You may be able to use an encyclopedia through them. If you find your library system doesn't have a web page (yet) then you'll have to drive on down and use the books. This may be a little more inconvenient but definitely free.

You can also access encyclopedias directly online. One of the easiest ones to use is Encarta at http://encarta.msn.com/index/. The will give your the article and related items including links, multimedia presentations and websites. Another good one is Encyclopedia Brittannica at www.britannica.com where you will find the encyclopedia entry as well as websites, magazine articles and books on your topic. There are several other popular encyclopedias online but many of them operate as a subscription service. One I found was $9.95 per month or $50 per year. (The cost of buying a new CD ROM.) Before signing up for something like this check your local library and see it they have this service or one similar to it for their library patrons.

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