Databases
*The New York State Library currently provides free access to online resources through the New York Online Virtual Electronic Library (NOVEL NY). This statewide program is funded by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services through a Library Services and Technology Act grant. Additional databases are provided by the Onondaga County Public Library (OCPL) system.
Academic OneFile*
Over 12,000 journals and reference sources, many of which are peer-reviewed and full text. It has extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and more.
Agriculture
Broad coverage of agriculture and its related fields, from practical aspects of farming to cutting edge scientific research in horticulture. Comprised of nearly 200 titles.
Ancestry Library
Provides access to a wide range of resources for genealogical and historical research. It includes all available records from the United States Census (1790-1940); military records; court, land and probate records; vital and church records; directories; passenger lists and more.
BookBrowse
An online magazine for booklovers - including reviews, previews, "behind the book" backstories, author interviews, reading guides, and much more.
Brainfuse
Brainfuse HelpNow
Online test preparation, homework help, study aids, skill building, and live tutoring resource for children and adults.
*Live Tutors are Available from 2:00 PM to 11:00 PM daily.*
Live Tutoring offers live tutor access for homework help, skills building and test preparation. Because HelpNow is personalized, both the student and the tutor can access quiz questions to do an intensive test prep which may include loading lessons on the whiteboard. All live sessions are saved and can be replayed as well as shared with friends and teachers by email. Using the CloudPack feature, students can store and upload MS Word, Excel, JPG, and other accepted file types directly onto the whiteboard.
Live Tutoring tutorial
The Writing Lab and the 24/7 Center features give patrons the freedom to receive assistance at any time of the day without connecting with a live tutor. Users can submit papers through the Writing Lab for detailed feedback. 24/7 Center is for non-writing assignments such as math or science.
Writing Lab tutorial
MEET allows students to schedule their own online sessions using the Brainfuse MEET whiteboard which is specifically designed for a group setting. Brainwave is a recordable whiteboard where students can draw, write on the whiteboard and chat then save and email it to others for feedback.
Meet tutorial
Brainwave tutorial
Adult Learning Center is the adult learners’ version of HelpNow™ where patrons can access High School Equivalency prep, US Citizenship test prep, resume assistance, Microsoft Office support, and Career Resources. The Writing Lab, Send Question, and Skills Building are also included in the Adult Learning Center suite.
Adult Learning Center tutorial
Britannica Academic
An accurate, current, and comprehensive resource for college-level learners, researchers, and faculty. Discover encyclopedia articles, full-text journal and magazine articles, primary sources, multimedia, and other unique resources and tools that make research easier and more productive.
Britannica Escolar
Available to Central, City, Suburban
Encyclopedia that is universally trusted for accurate and age-appropriate content in Spanish. Two levels, Primaria for elementary and Secundaria for middle school, offer unique content that is of interest to every student. Search easily across levels by topic or subject area.
Britannica School
Thousands of up-to-date, curated and curriculum-relevant articles, images, videos, audio clips, primary sources, maps, research tools, recommended Web sites and 3 separate databases for elementary, middle or high school students. There is Read-aloud, a font size adjuster, and built-in translation tools support students with special needs and ELLs.
Business Insights: Essentials*
Provides in depth coverage of businesses, including company profiles, industry profiles, products and brands, financial reports, company rankings, histories and full text periodical articles. Efficiently research business case studies, competitive intelligence and career and investment opportunities.
Computer Science
Available to Central, City, Suburban
Computer-related product introductions, news and reviews in areas such as hardware, software, electronics, engineering, communications and the application of technology.
Culinary Arts
Available to Central, City, Suburban
Includes 150 of the major cooking and nutrition magazines. Coverage includes thousands of searchable recipes, restaurant reviews, and industry information.
Diversity Studies
Available to Central, City, Suburban
Explores cultural differences, contributions and influences in our global community. Includes 150 full-text journals. Coverage begins in 1980.
Driving Education Program - Practice Texts
Available to Central, City, Suburban
Your Driver Education program contains the following state-specific information:
- 10 car practice tests
- 6 motorcycle practice tests
- 3 CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) practice tests
- 3 online driver’s manuals (car, motorcycle, CDL)
- An FAQ section with detailed answers to 100+ DMV-related questions
Educators Reference Complete
Available to Central, City, Suburban
Resource for educators and education students. Provides access to periodicals covering pre-school to college and most educational specialties. Also contains federal and international reports and publications, including full-text for many titles cited in ERIC.
Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather
Available to Central, City, Suburban
Over 330 entries, the Encyclopedia covers essential topics that include the processes that produce weather, the world's climates, classification of climates, important scientific concepts used by climatologists and meteorologists, as well as the history atmospheric sciences, biographies of noteworthy contributors to the field, and significant weather events from extreme tropical cyclones to tornadoes to hurricanes.
Entrepreneurship
Available to Central, City, Suburban
Find over 280 subject-appropriate full-text periodicals. Perfect for business schools and entrepreneurs.
Provides insights, tips, strategies and success stories.
Environmental Studies & Policy
Available to Central, City, Suburban
Provides Instant access to the multiple viewpoints of this volatile field of study, including perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policy makers, as well as corporate interests. More than 175 journals covered.
Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL)
Cross-search, read, download, and email chapters from a growing collection of reference books. There is no loaning or checking out - the books are always available to be read on your computer or portable device. GVRL has ReadSpeaker text-to-speech technology built in for 19 languages and on-demand translation for 11 languages.
General OneFile*
Over 12,000 periodicals, newspapers, reference books and multimedia sources, over half of which are full text. The backfile extends nearly 30 years. Subjects include humanities, education, environmental issues, technology, health care, politics and more.
Business
- Small Business Collection: Collection of periodicals supporting business school students and entrepreneurs.
History
- Military and Intelligence Collection: Collection of periodicals supporting state and military affairs
- U.S. History Collection: A collection of journals covering of both current thought on events in U.S. history as well as scholarly work established in the field.
- World History Collection: Balanced coverage of events in World History. Useful both to the novice historian and to the advanced academic researcher.
Science and Technology
- Computer Database: Computer-related product introductions, news and reviews in areas such as hardware, software, electronics, engineering, communications and the application of technology.
- General Science Collection: Provides coverage of all scientific endeavor, including particle physics, quantum theory, advanced mathematics, and biotechnology from more than 275 academic journals and general science-focused magazines.
Health Reference Center: Academic*
Over 2800 journals and magazines, many of which are full text. It contains nursing and allied health journals, medical journals, newsletters and consumer health magazines.
- Nursing and Allied Health Collection: Covers all aspects of the Nursing profession - from direct patient care to health care administration – with content from more than 380 journals.
- Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine: Articles from more than 60 journal titles in the fields of physical therapy and sports medicine. Topics include proven treatment techniques, experimental research theses and many more.
InfoTrac Newsstand*
Access full text articles from more than 1000 major U.S. regional, national and local newspapers as well as leading international titles. Search articles by title, headline, date, author or newspaper section. New York Newspapers includes the Syracuse Post Standard (1996-current).
Kids InfoBits*
Contains over 100 age-appropriate magazines for grades K-5. Also includes Merriam-Webster's Elementary Dictionary, maps, flags, seals, charts and graphs.
Linkedin Learning (Formerly Lynda.com)
Lynda.com is an extensive collection of award-winning online courses and video tutorials to help you learn business, technical and creative skills. Achieve your personal and professional goals. Courses are taught by recognized industry experts. Learn what you want, when you want, from our entire library. Build custom playlists to organize courses you want to watch. Watch courses on your computer, tablet, or mobile device. Switch back and forth without ever losing your place.
New York Times Digital Microfilm
Coverage: 2008 – present (with a three- month lag time). The full-page images of this digitized newspaper provide genealogists, researchers and scholars with cover-to-cover access to complete and recent newspaper content. Every page is full-text searchable and results can be saved in My Research Account.
NewsBank America's News & Access World News
A comprehensive news collection ideal for exploring issues and events at the local, regional, national and international level. Diverse source types include print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts and videos. Explore a specific event or compare a wide variety of viewpoints on topics such as politics, business, health, sports, cultural activities and people. More than 60 Special Reports provide news articles, images, videos, maps and other useful content grouped for convenience under specific topics and themes. Customized email alerts can be set up to follow a particular topic or news event of interest.
Newspapers include all the Syracuse Newspapers (12/2/86-Current), Utica Observer Dispatch, Albany Times Union, and many major U.S. metropolitan titles. This collection is text only and has no images.
These Search Tips will help you get started and retrieve the best results.
Newspaper Archive
A searchable archive of digital images from US and international newspapers. Coverage includes more than 750 cities and over 2000 newspaper titles. Included in the collection is a searchable archive of Syracuse newspapers from 1857 forward. This collection includes full text and images of newspaper pages.
NoveList Plus
Database covering more than 120,000 adult, teen and children’s fiction and non-fiction titles. Find reviews, hundreds of theme-oriented book lists for readers at all grade levels, award-winning and recommended titles, read-alikes, book reviews and much more.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context*
Provides overviews, pro/con essays, articles from reference books, newspapers, and magazines, and links to websites, podcasts and videos on over 5,000 topics. Supports NYS Common Core.
Reference Solutions
Available to Central, City, Suburban
A business and consumer research tool to use for quick lookups or creating customized lists. Includes listings for more than 14 million U.S. business, 4 million new businesses, 1.5 million Canadian businesses, more than 800,000 U.S. physicians and dentists and 210 million U.S. residences. Profiles include contact and other directory information. Advanced search allows users to do reverse phone number lookups, search by yellow page heading, business SIC code, zip code, SMSA and more.
Tutorials
Microsoft Word - ReferenceUSA Overview- Busienss Databases.docx (data-axle.com)
To Download the Mobile App:
- On your mobile device, navigate to the App Store® (iOS) or Google Play™ (Android) application icon.
- Search for Data Axle Reference Solutions application and download it on your mobile device.
- Click the Data Axle Reference Solutions icon on your mobile device.
- Enter your library’s 5-digit ZIP Code, and then click Find Library.
- Select your library in the list.
iOS: Scroll to your library, and then click Done.
Android: Select a library from the list.
- Enter your library card number, and then select Remember Me (optional).
- Click Proceed.
You are now logged into the application on your mobile device
Research in Context
Resource for students in grades 6 to 8. Offers magazines, newspapers, primary sources, over 12,000 videos and more on a variety of topics. Supports national and state curriculum standards in language arts, social studies and science.
Salem Press Online
Biographies:
- Great Athletes Biographies: A comprehensive look at over 1,400 sports heroes and legends.
- Great Lives from History: Worldwide coverage of important men and women in all areas of achievement from the Ancient World to the present.
- Great Lives from History: Science and Scientists: Includes coverage of over 350 of the greatest scientists in history from a wide range of fields.
- Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century: In-depth biographical and critical essays covering more than 600 musical artists who made an enduring impact on music between 1901 and 2000.
History:
- Great Events from History: Includes hundreds of essays covering historical events from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century.
- Milestone Document in African American History: Covers 135 iconic primary documents from the 1600s to the present. Includes legislative documents, speeches, congressional reports and more with in-depth analysis and commentary.
- Milestone Documents in World History: Covers 125 iconic primary source documents from ancient times to the present and from virtually every geographical region.
Health
- Salem Health: Features Magill’s Medical Guide 7th edition, an authoritative reference source that helps bridge the gap between medical encyclopedias for professionals and popular self-help guides and Salem Health: Cancer, 835 essays on all aspects of cancer for the patient, family members and caregivers.
Syracuse Post Standard by Newsbank
Available to Central, City, Suburban
Includes 12/2/1986 - Current Post Standard issues.
Customized email alerts can be set up to follow a particular topic or news event of interest
Weiss Ratings Consumer Guides
Individual ebook how-to guides for planning and selecting the right insurance and financial products.
Wall St Journal Digital Microfilm
Coverage: 2008 – present (with a three- month lag time). The full-page images of this digitized newspaper provide genealogists, researchers and scholars with cover-to-cover access to complete and recent newspaper content. Every page is full-text searchable and results can be saved in My Research Account.