Databases A-Z
Go Beyond Google!
Our databases give you more than Google: in depth articles and multimedia content from journals, magazines, blogs, and podcasts.
What is a database?
It's a select collection of information on a common topic - like your phone book - but online, easy to search, anf full of detailed information you can't get anywhere else.
Database content ranges from learning how to fix your muffler with Chilton's, the latest on deforestation with Global Issues in Context, to online record's of your family's history with Ancestry.
Power Search
Search multiple sources for magazine and journal articles:
Databases A-Z
- Historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives around the world
- Read-a-Like wizard
- Author biographies
- Genre review and suggested books
- Who, what, where, when book search
- Encyclopedia for children and young adults
- Includes world atlas, dictionary, biographies and timelines
- Interactive lessons, exercises, and activities
- Brief summaries and statistical information for U.S., Mexico, and Canada
- Demographic and income profile
- Tapestry segmentation - classification technique for discovering whether the individuals of a population fall into different groups by making quantitative comparisons of multiple characteristics
- Consumer household data
- Market profile
- Detailed mapping technology allows users to select a specific address or a broad area to study
- Funding provided by Grand Rapids Public Library Foundation
- Online car repair manuals
- Detailed diagrams and instructions for interior and exterior repairs
- List of bulletins and recalls
- Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature
- The authoritative resource for nursing and allied health professionals, students, educators and researchers
- Includes information from many journals and from a wide variety of other sources including health care books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of practice, educational software, audiovisuals and book chapters
- Includes articles from magazines, newspapers, reference books, and children's publications
- Formats include print, photographs, and video
Encyclopedia Britannica Online
- Includes both the complete Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and the Britannica Book of the Year
- Encyclopedia articles, illustrations, maps, definitions, videos, timelines, world atlas, and notable quotations
- Searches up to 14 databases
- Covers a wide range of topics, including arts and humanities, business and economics, conferences and proceedings, consumer affairs and people, education, engineering and technology, general and life sciences, medicine and health sciences, news and current events, public affairs and law, and social sciences
- Databases included: ArticleFirst, Ebooks, ECO, Eric, GPO, HeritagePrintedBook, HistSciTech, Med, Medline, OAIster, SCIPIO, WilsonSelectPlus, WorldAlmanac, WorldCat, and WorldCatDissertations
- Search for full-text articles in the Grand Rapids Press from 8/1/00 - present
- Browse current issues across the worldBrowse current issues across the worldiBrowse current issues across the world
- Use the Country Finder to find information about a country, included an overview, statistical information, and current news and events
- Read articles in newspapers from all over the world
- Includes articles, photos, videos, blogs, podcasts, statistics, and websites
- Online resource for census data, family records, and local histories
- Includes US federal census, banking, and military records, genealogies, local histories, primary source materials, and genealogical and local history periodicals
- Funding provided by Grand Rapids Public Library Foundation Western Michigan Genealogical Society Fund
History Resource Center: United States
- A comprehensive overview of U.S History covering the most studied events, issues and current information
- Search by person, subject, or U.S. History, or browse events chronologically
- Includes primary source material, reference sources, articles from scholarly journals, maps, and multimedia content
History Resource Center: World
- A comprehensive overview of World History covering the most studied events, issues and current information
- Search by person, subject, or World History, or browse events chronologically
- Includes primary source material, reference sources, articles from scholarly journals, maps, and multimedia content
- Includes information from articles, book reviews, letters to the editor, editorials, columns, cover stories, interviews, young adult and children's reviews, viewpoint essays, videos, reports, company overviews, movie reviews, industry overviews, transcripts, conference news, blogs, surveys, and more
- Main databases included are General Reference Center Gold, General Business File ASAP, Health Reference Center Academic, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, LegalTrac, General OneFile, Expanded Academic ASAP, Computer Database, New York Times, InfoTrac Custom Newspapers, Student Edition, Junior Edition, Gale Virtual Reference Library, Academic Onefile, Informe, Educator's Referenc Complete, Business and Company ASAP
- Test preparation materials and interactive practice exams based on official tests
- Immediate scoring, complete answer explanations, and individual analysis of your results
- Includes ASVAB, Firefighter, Police Officer, Postal Worker, Real Estate Broker, U.S. Citezenship, GED preparation, and improvement tests for students from elementary school through college
- Official, state specific, federal, business, personal, real estate and general forms covering hundreds of legal subjects and issues
- Online, interactive language-learning system
- Instruction in Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Greek, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, ESL for Polish speakers, ESL for Spanish speakers, and ESL for Brazilian Portuguese speakers
- Individual log-ins, condensed lessons, vocabulary review, and phrasebook review
- Online, full-text, and reference articles from a number of Michigan newspapers
- Titles include Alpena News, Corporate Detroit, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, The Detroiter, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Business Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Greater Lansing Business Monthly, Holland Sentinel, Michigan Chronicle, Oakland Press, and Outstate Business
NetLibrary eBooks and eAudiobooks
- Access to eBooks and eAudiobooks
- Large range of fiction and nonfiction titles
- Patrons create their own accounts
- Search for full-text articles from the New York Times and New York Times Magazine from January 1985-present
- Readers' advisory guide for fiction
- Includes read-alikes, award winner lists, book discussion guides, feature articles, recommended reads, and more for adults, teens, and children
- Catalog of digitized materials including books, articles and multimedia, representing multidisciplinary resources from more than 1000 contributors worldwide
- Provides detailed information on U.S. and Canadian Businesses
- Search by company name, size, geogrphic location, type of business, and more
- Residential database can be searched by name, phone number, or address
- Healthcare Database can be searched by physician or dentist name, gender, group name, medical speciality, geographic location, and more
- Young adult database with full-text articles from magazines, newspapers, and government documents
- In addition to research, this database has activities, country facts, photo essays, pictures, maps of the world, and more
- Full-text articles on the following topics: architecture and design, culture, literature, multimedia, music, performing arts, philosophy and religion, and visual arts
- Includes articles from journals, newspapers, and reference sources, graphics, and web resources
Small Business Resource Center
- Covers a wide range of business topics such as accounting, advertising, marketing, customer service, and more
- Covers several business types such as bookstores, child care services, health clubs, and more
- Includes sample business plans
- Includes a How-To section on topics such as How to Grow your Business, How to Write a Business Plan, and more
- Search for manufacturers, distributors, and service providers in North America
- Search for products or services, catalogs, or CAD drawings
- A professional collection to essential literary materials for libraries
- Includes the Catalogs for Fiction, Public Library, Children, Middle and Junior High School, and Senior High School
- Biographical, subject, and catalog access to full-text indexes and abstracts
In-House Only
The following databases are only available from within our buildings.
- Census and voter lists
- Birth, marriage, and death certificates
- Military records
- Immigration and passenger lists
- Catalog of Art Museum Images Online
- Represents collections of prominent museums
- Photographs, prints, sculptures, paintings, decorative arts and utilitarian objects, drawings and watercolors, costume and jewelry, textiles, architecture, and more.
Foundation Directory Online Professional
- Search for grantmakers by name, location, field of interest, geographic focus, and more
- Search for companies giving grants by name, location, industry code, and more
- Search for a grant by name, state, recipiant name, subject, and more
- Search across the entire text of recent IRS Forms 990 for grantmaking organizations
Foundation Grants to Individuals Online
- Foundation and public charity programs that fund students, artists, researchers, and other individual grantseekers
- Search by foundation name, state, city, field of interest, type of support, geographic focus, company name, and school name
- Searches a wide range of databases including cemetary records, court and probate records, census lists, and more
- From the New England Genealogical Society and primarily searches the New England area
- Funding provided by Grand Rapids Public Library Foundation Western Michigan Genealogical Society Fund
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Climatic Data Center
- Includes and number of weather and climate related information such as an annual climatological summary, climate atlas maps, climate normals, monthly climate summaries, storm data, and more
- Access current and cumulative U.S. export and import data for over 18,000 export commodities and 24,000 import commodities
- Information provided by the Foreign Trade Division of the U.S. Census Bureau
- Reports on common diseases and wellness issues such as exercise, high blood pressure, stress, and more
- Choose from a long list of diseases and conditions such as stroke, ear infections, and more
- Each report is an in-depth discussion of the latest information on treatments, risk factors, causes, diagnostic tests, and preventative measures
- Online service for legal cases
- Includes direct appellate history, negative indirect history, administrative decisions, secondary sources, pending legislation, historical and statutory notes, and recent session laws
The Grand Rapids Public Library provides free access to powerful research databases via the Internet. Access to these databases is provided by the Grand Rapids Public Library, and the Michigan eLibrary project, in conjunction with the Library of Michigan and the Michigan Library Consortium. Search here to find out if a magazine's full-text articles are included in a database.
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