Research Databases

Note: To use the databases from home, click on the link or "Home Access" wherever noted. Patrons working inside the library need not do this.

Legend:
database icon = Subscription-based database, paid for by the library
arrow icon = Free website
  • A to Z the USA has information about all 50 United States and 6 territories. Find maps, flags, photos, and facts about states, counties and cities. Everything you need for your next report is here.
  • Academic OneFile - Extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects with millions of articles available in both PDF and HTML full-text.
  • America's Genealogy Bank - Quickly find your ancestors in over four centuries of rare documents and records. Search thousands of historical newspapers, books, pamphlets and genealogies. Plus, selected material from the American State Papers and U.S. Serial Set, the complete Social Security Death Index and more than 29 million obituaries.
  • Ancestry.com (Available inside the library only) - Access the U.S. Federal Census (1790-1930), the U.K. Census Collection (1861-1901), the U.S. Immigration Collection, Vital Records, Social Security Death Index, military records, and more.
  • ArchiveGrid - Online access to nearly a million descriptions of archival collections owned by thousands of libraries, museums, historical societies and archives worldwide.
  • ArticleFirst - 16,000+ articles on business, humanities, medicine, pop culture, science, social science, and technology from FirstSearch.
  • Biography in Context - Search for people based on name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender, as well as keyword and full text.
  • Brookfield Citizen (1954-1969) - Fully searchable by keyword and date, making it easy to quickly explore historical content.
  • Brookfield Magnet (1946-1954) - Fully searchable by keyword and date, making it easy to quickly explore historical content.
  • Brookfield Suburban Life (2007 - Current) - Search current and archived full-text articles on issues, events, people, government, sports and more from 2007 to current day.
  • Brookfield Suburban Magnet (1913 - 1945) - Fully searchable by keyword and date, making it easy to quickly explore historical content.
  • Books and Authors - Explore the endless possibilities and combinations of books, authors, genres and topics.
  • Business and Company Resource Center - A fully integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals. 
  • Career Transitions - An online career guidance center that walks users through the job-search process from beginning to end.  Career Transitions employs a step-by-step approach to help people: 1) explore new career possibilities; 2) assess their interests and experience; 3) identify ways to improve their prospects, including networking and education; 4) prepare for a job search; and 5) search and apply for jobs.
  • Catalog of Art Museum Images Online (CAMIO) (Available inside the library only) - A premier resource for high-quality art images from around the world contributed and described by leading museums, all rights-cleared for educational use. 
  • Chicago Area News Collection - Search for articles from 176 Chicagoland communities, including the Sun Times, Daily Herald, Crain's Chicago Business, and Chicago Defender.
  • Chicago Sun-Times (1986 - Current) - Search current and archived full-text articles on issues, events, people, government, sports and more from 1986 to current day.
  • Chicago Tribune (1849 - Current)  Home Access
  • Chicago Tribune Historical Archives - Covering Chicago, the nation, and the world from the past 150 years including: the Civil War, Chicago Mayors, U.S. Presidencies, WWI, WWII, and much more.
  • ChiltonLibrary.com -  ChiltonLibrary provides exclusive photographs, diagnostics designed by instructors, step-by-step repair procedures, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) maintenance schedules, wiring diagrams, recalls and Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) for automobiles and light trucks in one easy-to-use web site.
  • ClasePeriodica - Index of Latin American journals in the science and the humanities.  
  • Computer Database - Find computer-related product introductions, news and reviews in areas such as hardware, software, electronics, engineering, communications and the application of technology.
  • Consumer Reports with Cars Best Deals
  • Credo Reference - An online reference service made up of full-text books from the world's best publishers. Whether you're working on a research paper, trying to win trivia or just curious, Credo Reference covers every major subject.
  • CultureGrams Online lets you explore fun facts about countries and cultures worldwide.  Home Access
  • Ebooks - Catalog of online electronic books available through libraries worldwide.
  • ECO - Collection of scholarly journals. 
  • Educator's Reference Complete - A selection of more than 450 full-text academic journals, hundreds of full-text reports, and many premier reference sources. Included content focuses on educational principles, child development and psychology, and best practices in education.
  • ERIC - Journal articles and reports in education from FirstSearch.
  • FirstSearch
  • Gale Virtual Reference Database - A collection of reference e-books (full-text) in a variety of subject areas.
  • General OneFile - A one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics: business, computers, current events, economics, education, environmental issues, health care, hobbies, humanities, law, literature and art, politics, science, social science, sports, technology, and many general interest topics. Millions of full-text articles, many with images.
  • GPO - Monthly catalog of U.S. Government publications.
  • Grolier Online Passport - Aimed at helping students with research and research skills, as well as with providing teachers, and librarians the important teaching and research tools that they need for their classrooms and media centers.
  • Health and Wellness Resource Center -  Provides instant access to carefully compiled and trusted medical reference materials. 
  • HeritageQuest - Access census records, a genealogy book collection, the Periodical Source Index, Revolutionary War Pension Applications, and more.
  • History Resource Center: U.S. - Integrated access to over 4,000 historical (primary) documents, articles from more than 30 reference titles, and over 110 full-text journal covering themes, events, individuals and periods in U.S. history from pre-Colonial times to the present. 
  • History Resource Center: World - Comprehensive collection of award-winning reference, full-text articles from leading scholarly publications, an array of primary sources, and images, maps and charts which provide expansive geographic and chronlogic research materials for the study of world history.
  • Illinois Catalog - Catalog of materials in Illinois libraries.
  • Informe - A collection of hispanic magazines with full text. Covers business, health, technology, culture, current topics and other subjects.
  • Infotrac - A subscription database of periodical articles, search them all or by the following subjects:  Agriculture; Communications & Mass Media; Criminal Justice; Culinary Arts; Custom Newspapers; Diversity Studies; Environmental Issues & Policy; Fine Arts & Music; Gardening, Lanscape & Horticulture; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Issues; Home Improvement; Information Science & Library Issues; Insurance & Liability; Military and Intelligence; Nursing & Allied Health; Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine; Pop Culture; Psychology; Religion & Philosophy; Science; Small Business; Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure; US History; Vocations, Careers & Technical Education; War & Terrorism; World History
  • Kids InfoBits - A database developed especially for beginning researchers in Kindergarten through Grade 5. Featuring a developmentally appropriate, visually graphic interface, the most popular search method is moving from a broad subject to a narrower topic using the subject-based topic tree. The curriculum-related, age appropriate, full-text content is from the best elementary reference sources and magazines. This database covers geography, current events, the arts, science, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
  • Lands and Peoples - An encyclopedia of countries, cultures, and current events for middle and high school student that includes a full compliment of 350 maps and 270 flags, 500 four-color photos,approximately 2,500 external web links, 3,000 internal article-to-article links, and Teachers' Guides.
  • Legal Forms is the most extensive free forms site available to library patrons. Thousands of legal forms available with more forms being added daily. Official, State Specific, Federal, Business, Personal, Real Estate and General forms covering hundreds of legal subjects and issues.
  • LegalTrac - Students, law school faculty and legal researchers will all find the legal publications they need in LegalTrac®, which provides indexing for more than 1,400 titles including major law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association journals and international legal journals.
  • LitFinder - Covering world literature and authors throughout history, LitFinder contains a wealth of literary works including over 150,000 full-text poems and 800,000+ poetry citations, as well as short stories, speeches, and plays.
  • Literature Resource Center - Find up-to-date biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism and reviews on more than 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world.
  • Mango Languages - Mango is an online language learning system that teaches real conversation skills for practical communication. Through fun and engaging interactive lessons, Mango makes learning a new language fast, easy and incredibly effective. The system is completely web-based and remotely accessible, so you can learn anywhere you have an internet connection.
  • MEDLINE - Covers all areas of medicine, including Dentistry and Nursing.
  • Mergent InvestorEdge -  A powerful business research tool with access to documents and financial information for individual companies, including annual, industry and equity reports as well as general contact information.  Home Access
  • NewsBank - Search the Chicago Tribune archives. Includes complete current and historical obituaries and death notices, plus full-text front page articles and other clippings.
  • NoveList - Find book reviews, discussion guides, plot summaries, and more information about 120,000 fiction titles here!
  • NoveList K-8 - Search authors and titles, find reading recommendations, and connect to curriculum requirements for ages 0 through the teens.
  • OAIster - Catalog of digital resources.
  • Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center - Features viewpoint articles, topic overviews, full-text magazine, academic journal, and newspaper articles, primary source documents, statistics, images and podcasts, and links to Websites.
  • PapersFirst - Index of papers presented at conferences worldwide. 
  • PriceIt! Antiques & Collectibles - An antique/collectibles pricing tool, containing data from a variety of sources, including online auctions (eBay), online antique dealers (GoAntiques & TIAS) and land-based auction houses. The database currently has over 23 million prices realized for art, antiques and collectibles in more than 100 categories and subcategories with over 10 million images.
  • Proceedings - Index of worldwide conference proceedings.
  • ReferenceUSA - Search information listings for 13 million U.S. businesses and 120 million households.
  • Science Resource Center - Thousands of topic overviews, experiments, biographies, pictures and illustrations are just a few clicks away and the latest scientific developments are covered in articles from over 200 magazines and academic journals and links to quality web sites.
  • Small Business Resource Center - Search this database to learn how to start, finance or manage your small business. Resources include sample business plans, how to guides, articles and websites.
  • Student Resource Center Gold -  Covering all core curriculum areas, including history, literature, science, social studies, and more, SRC - Gold provides a premium selection of reference material, more than 1,100 full-text periodicals and newspapers, primary sources, creative works, and multimedia, including hours of video and audio clips and podcasts.
  • Subrban Life Archives (1976 - 2009) -  Fully searchable by keyword and date, making it easy to quickly explore historical content.
  • Testing & Education Reference Center - Taking a college entrance or licensing exam? Looking for a college or graduate school? Need help finding scholarships? Use this database to search thousands of college and graduate school entries. Identify scholarships that meet their financial needs. Take on-line practice tests and use test prep eBooks to obtain your education goals.
  • TumbleBooks is a fun resource filled with animated, talking picture books that help kids learn to read.
  • Tutor.com - Live Homework Help from trained education professionals.
  • Universal Class - Access to over 540 online courses with real instructors guiding the learning. You’ll receive graded lesson tests with certificates of achievement and Continuing Education Units available for selected courses.
  • Wilson Select Plus - Full text articles in science, humanities, education and business.
  • World Almanac - Four complete almanacs: Funk & Wagnall's New Encyclopedia, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, The World Almanac of the U.S.A., The World Almanac of U.S. Politics, and The World Almanac for Kids.
  • World Book Discover - For differentiated instruction, includes reference articles, text-to-speech capabilities, learning and life skills activities, research tools, multimedia, and interactive video.
  • World Book Info Finder - Contains content and features designed for school-aged patrons’ homework and research needs. Based on the World Book Encyclopedia, the site features rich collections of multimedia on a variety of topics: science fair projects; a Biography Center; links to world newspapers; and more.
  • World Book for Kids -  Developed especially for young public library patrons. The site offers easy-to-read articles and a wealth of engaging multimedia, games, science projects, interactive tools, and activities.
  • World Book Spanish Language Encyclopedia - Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos offers World Book’s excellent editorial content, rich media, and interactive features in Spanish.
  • WorldCat -  Catalog of books, movies, and other materials in libraries worldwide.
  • WorldCat Dissertations - Database of theses and dissertations available through WorldCat.

 

Last updated: 1/26/2012