The Encyclopedia of Life

The Encyclopedia of Life volume 2.0 (EOLv2) is an open- access, collaborative encyclopedia whose vision is "global access to knowledge about life on Earth." . . .  information is gathered from existing databases, and from scientists and nonscientists, to create a collection representing every living organism on Earth. Users may join an online community forum once they create a free EOL account; they may submit or add to an article, add to a collection, ask questions, and offer feedback on the EOLv2 blog http://blog.eol.org/. Information on species is comprehensive, impressive, and authoritative, with detailed material including videos, images, a bibliography, ecology, life history/behavior, conservation, and relevance to humans and ecosystems. Searching for scientific and common names produces exact matches. The site offers users the capability of browsing the database and filtering by type of resource. The website interface is user-friendly, with a search box at the top of every page. In addition to English, the website may be translated into Spanish and Arabic. EOLv2 is a wonderful, free, and convenient resource for researching everything about organisms. Additionally, it is an excellent teaching tool. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Academic, public, school, and research libraries; scholars, educators, undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and general readers." Choice, March 2012, -- reviewed by T. S. H. Chan, SUNY Oswego