Electronic Resources

This resource enables consumers to make better purchasing decisions on the products they are shopping for by providing ratings and reviews, recommendations and buying advice for thousands of products and services.

Full text of more than 2000 general reference publications and an image collection of over 502,000 photos, maps and flags dating as far back as 1922. 

Ebsco’s new dedicated search interface for MasterFile features simple search, easy-to-browse categories, topic overviews and translation available in more than 30 languages for HTML articles.

Literary Reference Center
Novels, short stories, poems, plot summaries and synopses, and literary criticism. Research guides, lesson plans, and citation tools support student learning.

Learn a new language for free! Each lesson combines real life situations and audio from native speakers with simple, clear instructions. There are more than 60 languages and 17 ESL courses available.

Newspaper Source Plus
Newspaper Source Plus offers full text for nearly 500 U.S. newspapers including USA Today and The Washington Post as well as full text for more than 700 international newspapers, TV and radio news transcripts and real-time news.

AtoZdatabases
Premier Reference and marketing database including 30 million business profiles and 220 million residents. Ideal for mailing lists, sales leads, employment opportunities, market research, finding friends and relatives, and much more!

Business Source Complete
The world's definitive scholarly business database, providing the leading collection of bibliographic and full text content, including business journals as far back as 1886.

Illinois Public Records: Chicago Area

Illinois Public Records: Chicago Area - access outside the Library
Scroll through Chicagoland's real estate transactions, mortgages and foreclosures. Keep an eye on housing values in your community. Also included: Tax Sales, State & Federal Tax Liens, Divorces, Misdemeanors, Felonies, DUI Arrests, Suspended & Revoked Licenses, Probates and Incorporations.

Morningstar Investment

Morningstar Investment Research Center combines all mutual fund (24,000 ) and stock (10,000 ) information necessary for in-depth research and smart portfolio construction.  Also included: ETFs, Fund Analyst Reports, Stock Analyst Reports, screenable fund datapoints and screenable stock datapoints.

Thomas Register
Comprehensive resource for finding products manufactured in North America and the companies that produce them.

The most widely used independent investment information service. Includes: Investment Survey, Small & Mid Cap, Mutual Fund Survey, Daily Options Survey, Special Situations Service, Convertibles Survey and ETF Survey.

Explora Primary Schools (grades K-5)
Homework resource for elementary students with articles and images on a variety of subjects.  Learn about your favorite subject, look up words find pictures and articles that are searchable by reading level indicator (Lexile).

Explora Secondary Schools (grades 6-12)
Middle and high school students can find historical essays, biographies, maps, images and more to help with school projects.  Read magazines, newspapers, learn vocabulary and even translate articles into more than 30 languages.
 
Middle Search Plus
Resources to support middle school students, including biographies, magazines, primary source documents, photos, maps, and flags. Includes Sports Illustrated Kids, Scholastic News, National Geographic and dozens more. Articles include reading level indicators (Lexile).

NoveList K-8 Plus
Reading recommendations for kids' fiction and nonfiction that you can search by Lexile, subject, and grade level.

Points of View Reference Center
Resources for students to understand issues, develop criticial thinking skills, and develop persuasive arguments. Includes essays, overviews, articles, and transcripts on, citizens' rights, earth and environmental issues, global issues, health and medicine, and media and communications.

Primary Search
Resources to support elementary school students, including encyclopedias specifically for kids, articles from children's magazines including Highlights and Junior Scholastic, and a large image collection.

The following databases are available to anyone, no library card required.

Career One Stop
Provided by the US Department of Labor, this database provides the resources to find a career, the right training and to help in your job search.

Data USA
Created at MIT, this databases calls itself the “most comprehensive visualization of US public data.” You can compare information on different locations, careers, universities and other data points.

Digital Public Library of America
Search images, texts, videos and sounds from across the US, including primary sources. This database is great for students of all ages, family researchers and more.

Driving Tests
Take practice DMV tests, review the Rules of the Road handbook and more. (There is a paid “premium” version, but some of the testing and the handbook are available for free.)

Einstein Papers
Princeton University Press provides access to the ongoing publication of Einstein’s written legacy; more than 30,000 unique documents.

FamilySearch
This genealogical database is a collection of billions of searchable records and is the largest free collection in the world.  

Illinois Digital Archives
Provided by the Illinois State Library, this archive includes, genealogical resources, publications, oral histories and more.

Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections
Created by the University of Illinois, this database of 182 Illinois newspapers is free to search, browse and download.

LIFE Magazine 1936 – 1972
Read LIFE Magazine in your browser. You can view full color scans of entire issues or search inside each issue for keywords.

National Portrait Gallery
The Smithsonian has created an image database of National Portrait Gallery collection objects that can be downloaded, transformed or otherwise used for any purpose, free of charge.

Occupational Outlook Handbook
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a searchable database of the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Search by pay, required education, number of new jobs and more to find your perfect fit.

Open Textbook Library
Maintained by the University of Minnesota, textbooks in this database are free to use and distribute. This is a great resource for educators.

PDR Prescribers’ Digital Reference (formerly Physician’s Desk Reference)
Get current drug information, compare medications and more.

PubMed
Maintained by the National Library of Medicine, PubMed provides the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature. Abstracts are provided with a link to the full journal article if available.

US Census 1950
Released on April 1, 2022, the 1950 Census is currently searchable by the head of household. The National Archives is working to increase search fields.