Featured Databases: History and Biography
Databases
View an Alphabetical List
Unless otherwise stated, access the databases by entering the 14-digit library barcode located on the back of your library card. Contact the Reference Desk at 708-343-3391 ext. 2 with any questions.
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Arts
- Fine Arts and Music Collection
- CAMIO -Catalog of Art Museum Images OnlineCAMIO—Catalog of Art Museum Images Online—contains about 95,000 works of fine and decorative art from leading museums around the world. The scope of the collection ranges from 3000 BCE to the present, representing premiere examples of Asian, African, Latin American and Western art. Difficult-to-find contemporary art is one of its strengths. The content includes high-resolution images of photographs, paintings, sculpture, decorative and utilitarian objects, prints, drawings and watercolors, jewelry and costumes, textiles, books, installations, and architecture—plus audio-video and mixed media. Benefits of the interface include downloading high-resolution images, the ability to e-mail images and metadata for further study, and fast, powerful, Web-based searching. All content is rights-cleared for educational use.
- Auto Maintenance and Repair
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Books, Reading & Literature
- Novelist K-8
- NoveList Plus
- Literary Reference CenterLiterary Reference Center (LRC) is a comprehensive literary reference database, which provides users with a broad spectrum of reference information from antiquity to the present day. LRC is a comprehensive database that combines information from over 1,000 books and monographs, major literary encyclopedias and reference works, hundreds of literary journals, and unique sources not available anywhere else. LRC contains detailed information on the most studied authors and their works and is an essential resource for public, academic and high school libraries.
- Books & AuthorsBooks & Authors offers new ways to explore the endless possibilities and combinations of books, authors, genres and topics. The ideal convergence of science and serendipity, this online resource leverages the Internet's unique capacity to create, build, communicate and sustain communities of readers.
- Literature Resource CenterLiterature Resource Center is the world's most current, comprehensive, and reliable online literature database. Uniquely relevant to today's curriculum, Literature Resource Center's rich critical, biographical and contextual materials support interdisciplinary approaches, information literacy, and the development of critical thinking skills. Researchers at all levels will find the information they need on authors and their works in all genres and disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world.
- Lit FinderLitFinder is international in scope, covers all time periods, and contains a wealth of primary literature content, including more than 135,000 full-text poems, 850,000 poem citations and excerpts, 6,400 full-text short stories, 3,800 full-text essays, 2,400 full-text speeches, and 1,250 full-text plays.
- Literature Resources from Gale
- WorldCat.orgWorldCat connects you to the collections and services of more than 10,000 libraries worldwide
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Business / Economics /Finance
- Business Source CompleteBusiness Source Complete is the world's definitive scholarly business database, providing the leading collection of bibliographic and full text content. As part of the comprehensive coverage offered by this database, indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back as far as 1886 are included. In addition, searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,300 journals.
- Business & Company Resource CenterBusiness & Company Resource Center brings together a wide variety of global business information, enabling users to efficiently research business case studies, competitive intelligence, and career and investment opportunities.
- Small Business CollectionPerfect for business schools and entrepreneurs, this compilation provides insights, tips, strategies and success stories. Users will find over 280 subject-appropriate full-text periodicals.
- Small Business Resource CenterSmall Business Resource Center covers all major areas of starting and operating a business including financing, management, marketing, human resources, franchising, accounting and taxes. Startup and established businesses alike can find the answers they're looking for from an easy-to-use interface that includes a "How To" menu that tackles the most-frequently asked new business questions -- including "How to start a small business."
- Morning Star Mutual Funds OnlinePlease see the reference desk for a username and password.
- Do-It-Yourself
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Education and Career Development
- ERIC
- Professional Development CollectionDesigned for professional educators, this database provides a highly specialized collection of nearly 520 high quality education journals, including more than 350 peer-reviewed titles. This database also contains more than 200 educational reports. Professional Development Collection is the most comprehensive collection of full text education journals in the world.
- Library, Information Science & Technology AbstractsThis world-class bibliographic database provides coverage on subjects such as librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Delivered via the EBSCOhost platform, LISTA indexes nearly 600 periodicals plus books, research reports, and proceedings. With coverage dating back to the mid-1960s, it is the oldest continuously produced database covering the field of information science.
- Educator's Reference Complete
- Teacher Reference Center This database provides coverage on key education topics such as Assessment, Continuing Education, Current Pedagogical Research, Curriculum Development, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Literacy Standards, Science & Mathematics, and more for K-12 Teachers & Librarians.
- Vocations, Careers and Technical Education CollectionThis collection offers content from over 300 largely full-text journals, this collection provides content from general career guides to highly specialized industry journals.
- Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
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Genealogy
- Heritage Quest
- Ancestry
- Local Death IndexThis is a searchable resource that indexes the obituaries in the Melrose Park Herald, which the library keeps in the historical collection.
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General Information
- ArticleFirst
- All EBSCOHost Databases
- All GALE Databases
- Article First
- MasterFILE PremierDesigned specifically for public libraries, this multidisciplinary database provides full text for nearly 1,750 general reference publications with full text information dating as far back as 1975. Covering virtually every subject area of general interest, MasterFILE Premier also contains full text for nearly 500 reference books and 164,424 primary source documents, as well as an Image Collection of over 453,000 photos, maps & flags. This database is updated daily via EBSCOhost.
- General OneFileGeneral OneFile serves as the Public library's ultimate periodical resource, with more than 11,500 titles, and a great deal of full-text, 60% of which are recommended by Bowker's "Magazines for Libraries" publication. We've included the right reference, newspapers and audio content to complement the robust collection of magazines and journals.
- InformeExpand your library's services to meet the needs of the growing Hispanic population in your community with Informe! Created exclusively for Spanish-speaking users, this full-text electronic reference tool is the first system to provide indexing, images and full text of popular Hispanic magazines -- not just translations.
- Communications and Mass Media Collection
- Government/Politics
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Health
- Health and Wellness Resource Center and Alternative Health ModuleHealth & Wellness Resource Center for instant access to carefully compiled medical reference and periodical materials that your users can trust.
- Nursing and Allied Health Collection
- Consumer Health Complete
- Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine CollectionThis predominantly full-text collection includes over 60 titles in the fields of physical therapy and sports medicine. Topics include proven treatment techniques, experimental research theses, and many more.
- Psychology Collection
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History and Biography
- Archive GridThousands of libraries, museums, and archives have contributed nearly a million collection descriptions to ArchiveGrid. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the many items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies.
- Biography Resource Center with Lives and PerspectivesThe Biography Resource Center contains more than 440,000 biographies on more than 340,000 people from around the world and throughout history. It combines more than 135 frequently consulted Gale biographical sources with more than 325 full-text periodicals and journals, more than 27,000 portraits and thousands of Recent News briefs on high-interest individuals.
- Biography Reference Center
- History Reference CenterHistory Reference Center offers full text from more than 2,500 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books, cover to cover full text for nearly 170 leading history periodicals, more than 112,000 historical documents, 113,000 biographies of historical figures, more than 112,000 historical photos and maps, and more than 80 hours of historical video.
- History Resource Center: U.S.History Resource Center: U.S. places the tools of the historian in the hands of the student and general researcher. Award winning encyclopedias from Charles Scribner's Sons, Gale and Macmillan Reference USA coalesce with primary materials drawn from some of the world's most notable libraries via Primary Source Microfilm. This array of content types provides both depth and breadth and covers U.S. history from pre-colonial times to the present.
- History Resource Center: WorldHistory Resource Center: World is a comprehensive online collection of full-text periodicals, reference works and primary source documents covering world history topics from pre-antiquity up to the present. The database also features a significant amount of newly available reference content supported by additional primary source materials and periodic content loads. This virtual library provides the resources needed credible multicultural, global and research-based content – to study world history within a flexible and convenient electronic search tool.
- Military and Intelligence DatabaseSearch over 500 titles and more than 7 million articles with links to related sources outside of the current article which includes reference books, magazine and newswire articles.
- U.S. History CollectionThis collection provides coverage of the current thinking and events in U.S. History, as well as scholarly work being established in the field. This compilation of over 40 journals provides robust and balanced coverage of the field.
- War and Terrorism CollectionResearchers and students of history, social science, and current events will gain insight into conflicts: their causes, their impact, and how they are perceived on a global scale. Almost 100 full-text periodicals are included.
- World History CollectionThis collection of nearly 40 predominantly full-text journals provides balanced coverage of events in World History. It is useful both to the novice historian and to the advanced academic researcher.
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Legal
- Insurance and Liability CollectionThis collection, comprised of over 20 journals, takes a broad view of this multimillion dollar industry, covering such topics as labor relations, mortgage banking, legal issues, and more.
- LegalTrac
- Criminal Justice Collection
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Research \ Homework Help
- Kids SearchArticles geared for elementary students
- Student Research Center High School & Middle School
- SearchasaurusSearch for information in an encyclopedia, a dictionary, and magazines
- Middle Search PlusMiddle Search Plus provides full text for more than 140 popular, middle school magazines. All full text articles included in the database are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles). Full text is also available for thousands of biographies and historical essays. Middle Search Plus also contains 84,774 biographies, 105,786 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of over 453,000 photos, maps and flags.
- MAS Ultra - School EditionDesigned specifically for high school libraries, this database contains full text for more than 500 popular, high school magazines. MAS Ultra – School Edition also provides more than 360 full text reference books, 85,670 biographies, 105,786 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of over 453,000 photos, maps & flags, color PDFs and expanded full text backfiles (back to 1975) for key magazines.
- Points of View Reference Center
- Academic OneFileAcademic OneFile is the premier source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources. With extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects, Academic OneFile is both authoritative and comprehensive.
- Opposing Viewpoints Resource CenterOpposing Viewpoints Resource Center draws on the acclaimed social issues series published by Greenhaven Press, as well as core reference content from other Gale and Macmillan Reference USA sources, including selections from Bioethics for Students.
- Student Resource Center GoldStudent Resource Center Gold is aimed at high school students. Each document type fulfills specific information needs. Students will find primary documents from the American Journey series and millions of articles from magazines and newspapers; a wealth of award-winning reference content that includes overview and critical essays; biographies; multimedia features and much more.
- Kids InfobitsKids InfoBits targets the research needs of students in Kindergarten through Grade 5. It features a developmentally appropriate and visual graphic interface, a subject-based topic tree search and full-text, age-appropriate, curriculum-related magazine and reference content.
- Grolier Online Passport
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Magazines and Newspapers
- America's NewspapersSearch the Chicago Tribune (1985-Current) and the Chicago Sun-Times (1986-Current). Includes America’s News Magazines featuring articles from Newsweek, Time, U.S. News & World Report, Fortune, and Foreign Affairs.
- Chicago Sun-Times (1986-Current)
- Chicago Tribune (1985-Current)
- Herald Newspaper Digital Archive (1941-1945)The Melrose Park Public Library received a 2009 LSTA Digital Imaging grant for its project Proviso Township in War and Peace: The Digitization of the Herald, 1941-1945.Over 9,000 pages of the local newspaper from the WWII era were digitized.
- Newspaper Source PlusNewspaper Source Plus includes 1,520 full-text newspapers, providing more than 28 million full-text articles. In addition, the database features more than 601,300 television and radio news transcripts, videos & podcasts.
- InfoTrac NewspapersFull Text Newspapers
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Science and Technology
- Computer DatabaseComputer Source provides researchers with the latest information and current trends in high technology. This database offers full text for nearly 300 publications and indexing and abstracts for nearly 450 publications.
- Agriculture Collection
- General Science CollectionComposed of nearly 300 predominantly full-text academic journals and general science-focused magazines, this collection provides coverage of all scientific endeavor, including particle physics, quantum theory, advanced mathematics, and biotechnology.
- Science Reference CenterScience Reference Center is a comprehensive research database that provides easy access to a multitude of full text science-oriented content. This database contains full text for nearly 640 science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, etc. Topics covered include: biology, chemistry, earth & space science, environmental science, health & medicine, history of science, life science, physics, science & society, science as inquiry, scientists, technology and wildlife.
- GreenFILEa freely accessible research database focusing on the relationship between human beings and the environment, with well-researched but accessible information on topics ranging from global warming to recycling to alternate fuel sources and beyond. Comprised of scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports, GreenFILE offers a unique perspective on the positive and negative ways humans affect the ecology.
- Science Resource Center
- Environmental Studies and Policy Collection
- Information Science and Technology CollectionThis collection is comprised of content from nearly 100 leading industry journals covering topics such as information infrastructure, data processing techniques, metadata architectures, and more.
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Social Sciences
- Diversity Studies CollectionThis collection explores cultural differences, contributions and influences in our global community. This set includes 150 full-text journals. Coverage begins in 1980.
- Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues CollectionThis collection of over 30 largely full-text journals aims to provide balanced coverage of this significant aspect of our culture, covering such topics as gender studies, family and marital issues, health aspects, and many more. Coverage begins in 1980.
- Pop Culture CollectionThis collection provides useful information for any researcher in a social science, history, art, or liberal arts course. The collection is made up of 100 subject-appropriate periodicals, which are predominantly full-text.
- Religion & Philosophy CollectionUsers of this collection can research different religions and philosophies and how they impact our daily lives. The collection is comprised of 250 periodicals, many of which are full-text.