Research Resources – Athens County Public Libraries

Through OPLIN and the Ohio Web Library, the Athens County Public Libraries offer access to the following research resources. All of these resources are available from within the library. Many are open to patrons accessing from home, but may require users to login with their library card number (Hint: choose Athens County Public Libraries as your library).

On this page

1 Books, Arts & Literature
2 Business & Government
3 Employment Resources and Adult Learning
4 Genealogy
5 Health
6 History & Biography
7 Magazines & Newspapers
8 Reference & Research
9 Science
10 Students & Homework

Books, Arts & Literature

About:Books: What is it? Everything you want to know about books and authors. Why use it? It is THE place to find read-alikes, author biographies, plot summaries, specific settings, specific genres, book publishing, and purchasing, series information, book reviews, and more!
American and English full text literature collections: What is it? Electronic books of American and English literature – poetry, drama, fiction, and the Bible – originally published in print â€“ produced by ProQuest / Chadwyck-Healey. For more information, see the Basic Search and Advanced Search tutorial videos.Why use it? Explore American poetry from 1600 to the present. Compare different editions of Shakespeareâ€™s work. Read early American fiction. Explore English drama.
EBSCOhost eBooks: What is it? Full digital text of selected books.Why use it? Read ebooks online.
Literary Reference Center | EBSCOhost: What is it? Full text of literary journals and respected literary reference works. Contains plot summaries, literary criticism, author biographies and interviews, and the full text of thousands of poems and short stories.Why use it? Research an author, novel, or poem for school or personal interest. Learn more about a literary movement for book discussions.
Ohio Digital Library: What is it? Provides ebooks, digital audiobooks, music and video through participating libraries.Why use it? Borrow fiction and non-fiction ebooks, audiobooks and music.
Religion and Philosophy Collection | EBSCO: What is it? An essential tool for researchers and students of theology and philosophical studies.Why use it? Provides extensive coverage of such topics as world religions, major denominations, biblical studies, religious history, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of language, moral philosophy and the history of philosophy.
U.S. Government Printing Office: What is it? The Federal Governmentâ€™s online resource for the official information products of the U.S. Government.Why use it? Download free U.S. Government ebooks.

Business & Government

Business Source Premier: What is it? Full text business articles, research, and news updated daily from EBSCOhost.Why use it? Read articles from popular and scholarly business periodicals. Research industries. Evaluate companies and their markets.
Ohio.gov: Government Information & Services: What is it? The official government website of the State of Ohio.Why use it? Find government services and information for residents, businesses, visitors, and state employees. Reach the website of any Ohio government agency.
Regional Business News | EBSCOhost: What is it? Full text for articles from over 75 business journals, newspapers, and newswires, covering all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States, from EBSCOhost.Why use it? Research regional business conditions around the country.

Employment Resources and Adult Learning

Job & Career Accelerator: What is it? The LearningExpress Job and Career Acceleratorâ„¢ provides personalized, step-by-step job search assistance for all levels of job seekers. Job seekers can explore suitable occupations from over 1,000 detailed occupation profiles and find available jobs in their area from a database of over 5 million up-to-date job postings.Why use it? With Job and Career Accelerator, users can easily create professional targeted resumes, master interviewing techniques, improve work related skills and prepare for occupation-related exams. In addition, it helps job seekers plan, tailor, and track multiple job searches at the same time while providing expert advice and tips each step of the way.
Professional Development Collection | EBSCO: What is it? The most comprehensive collection of full text education journals in the world.Why use it? 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.
Vocational and Career Collection | EBSCO: What is it? Full text coverage for nearly 340 trade and industry-related periodicals.Why use it? Designed for vocational and technical libraries servicing high schools, community colleges, trade institutions and the general public.
Workforce Skills for 21st Century Success: What is it? Workforce Skills for 21st Century Success provides resources to boost basic workplace and job search skills, and prepare job seekers for advanced occupational training. This interactive, self-paced learning approach allows job seekers to learn at their convenience. The intuitive platform provides the backbone students and all job seekers need to succeed in the modern workplace. A 15-min. video User Guide can also be viewed in sections.Why use it? Improve key workplace skills such as business writing and presentation proficiencies, use step-by-step job search and resume building tools to land better jobs, improve or learn computer and internet skills, prepare for specific careers with professional licensing and aptitude tests, master the art of interviewing for career change or workforce entry, improve or refresh basic skills in reading, writing and math, prepare for the GED exam.

Genealogy

Ancestry Library Edition – IN LIBRARY ONLY: What is it? U. S. Census records; military records; court, land and probate records; vital and church records; directories; petitions for naturalization; passenger lists and more. You must be in the library to access this database.Why use it? Conduct genealogical and historical research in the library.
Ohio Obituary Index: What is it? An index to 2,850,000 obituaries, death and marriage notices and other sources from Ohio from the 1810s to the present day. Actual obits may be ordered from over 60 partner libraries; only Hayes Library has online ordering.Why use it? This resource is an index to a source – usually a newspaper obituary. Besides obituaries, a variety of other sources have been indexed into this database. Examples of these other sources are probate case files, funeral home records, society membership records, biographical files, brief references in history books, etc.
Select Ohio Public Records Index: What is it? Searchable index of Ohio Department of Health Death Certificates 1913-1944, Ohio Department of Health Stillborn Death Certificates 1913-1935 and 1942-1946, Columbus Board of Health Death Certificates 1904-1908, Ohio Girls Industrial School 1869-1943, and Ohio Boys Industrial School 1858-1944.Why use it? Search for public records by name, county, and years.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps: What is it? Large scale street plans â€“ including building outlines, property boundaries, and building use – produced by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company from 1867 to 1970Why use it? Locate buildings and neighborhoods. See a neighborhood “as it was”. Study the growth of towns and cities. Identify the impact of new developments.

Health

AHFS Consumer Medication Information: What is it? Over 1,300 generic drug patient education sheets available in both English and Spanish, with more than 4,700 brand names.Why use it? Published by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, this source includes more than a thousand drug information monographs written in lay language for consumers. The content is updated monthly.
Alt. Health Watch: What is it? Full text articles for more than 180 international, and often peer-reviewed journals and reports. In addition, there are hundreds of pamphlets, booklets, special reports, original research and book excerpts.Why use it? This database focuses on the many perspectives of complementary, alternative, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness.
Consumer Health Complete: What is it? Full text journals, magazines, and reference books from EBSCOhost dealing with health, wellness, fitness, and nutrition â€“ coverage includes a focus on the complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health and wellness. See this 3-min. YouTube video by the Reference and Information Services Division (RISD) of the Ohio Library Council for a basic introduction.Why use it? Browse medical, health-related and drug reference books. Read articles on health and fitness. Find sources for alternative health information.
Health Source: Consumer Edition: What is it? Provides access to nearly 80 full text, consumer health magazines.Why use it? Provides information on many health topics including the medical sciences, food sciences and nutrition, childcare, sports medicine and general health.
Health Source: Nursing / Academic Edition: What is it? Nearly 550 scholarly full text journals focusing on many medical disciplines.Why use it? Find in-depth medical information.
MedlinePlus: What is it? MedlinePlus is the National Institutes of Health’s Web site for patients and their families and friends with information about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues.Why use it? Use MedlinePlus to learn about the latest treatments, look up information on a drug or supplement, find out the meanings of words, or view medical videos or illustrations. You can also get links to the latest medical research on your topic or find out about clinical trials on a disease or condition.
NetWellness: What is it? Non-profit consumer health web site providing high quality information created and evaluated by medical and health professional faculty from several Ohio universities.Why use it? Search health issues by topic. Link to other quality health resources available on the Internet.

History & Biography

Select Ohio Public Records Index

What is it? Searchable index of Ohio Department of Health Death Certificates 1913-1944, Ohio Department of Health Stillborn Death Certificates 1913-1935 and 1942-1946, Columbus Board of Health Death Certificates 1904-1908, Ohio Girls Industrial School 1869-1943, and Ohio Boys Industrial School 1858-1944.Why use it? Search for public records by name, county, and years.

Ohio History Central || Online Encyclopedia

What is it? An evolving, dynamic online encyclopedia from the Ohio Historical Society.Why use it? Find information, images, timelines, maps, and documents about Ohioâ€™s history, geography, geology, animals, and American Indian populations.

Ohio Memory Online Scrapbook

What is it? Project to bring together digital versions of historical collections from more than 330 archives, historical societies, libraries, and museums.Why use it? Search or browse more than 26,000 primary sources dating from prehistory to the present. Take the Ohio Memory Challenge. Read essays about Ohio topics. Create your own scrapbook.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

What is it? Large scale street plans â€“ including building outlines, property boundaries, and building use – produced by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company from 1867 to 1970Why use it? Locate buildings and neighborhoods. See a neighborhood “as it was”. Study the growth of towns and cities. Identify the impact of new developments.

Magazines & Newspapers

EBSCOhost Databases: What is it? Complete range of citation and full-text reference content available from the EBSCO publishing company. Individual database services are also listed separately. This 3-min. Flash video provides instructions for basic searching.Why use it? Select a single database for searching. Search multiple EBSCOhost resources at once. See whatâ€™s available from EBSCO.
MasterFILE Premier | (EBSCOhost): What is it? Full text for a wide variety of periodicals covering general reference, business, health, education, general science, multicultural issues and much more. Also contains full text for reference books, biographies, and primary source documents, and an image collection photos, map, and flags updated daily from EBSCOhost.Why use it? Read articles from popular magazines. Find out about another country or culture. Search for solutions to that question you can’t quite answer.
Newspaper Source | EBSCOhost: What is it? Cover-to-cover full text for 20 national (U.S.) and international newspapers and selected full text for more than 230 regional (U.S.) newspapers, plus TV and radio news transcripts â€“ updated daily.Why use it? Read articles from newspaper around the country. Access industry-specific newspapers. Search TV and radio news transcripts.
Points of View Reference Center: What is it? Points of View Reference Center contains many topics, each with an overview (objective background/description), point (argument) and counterpoint (opposing argument). Providing a balance of materials from all viewpoints, it also includes over 1,300 main essays, leading political magazines from all sides of the political spectrum, newspapers, radio and TV news transcripts, primary source documents and reference books. It also offers guides for writing position papers, developing arguments and debating. See this 3-min. YouTube video by the Reference and Information Services Division (RISD) of the Ohio Library Council for a basic introduction.Why use it? Containing resources that present multiple sides of an issue, this database provides the basis from which students can realize and develop persuasive arguments and essays, better understand controversial issues and develop analytical thinking skills.

Reference & Research

Academic Search Premier: What is it? Full text for scholarly and academic magazines and periodicals – covering nearly every area of academic study including: computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts and literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more â€“ from EBSCOhost.Why use it? Conduct research for your next term paper. Discover in-depth articles on hundreds of subjects.
GreenFILE | EBSCO: What is it? Provides indexing and abstracts for more than 384,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,700 records.Why use it? Well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
MAS Ultra – School Edition: What is it? Full text for nearly 500 popular high school magazines, plus more than 360 full text reference books.Why use it? Also provides over 85,000 biographies, over 107,000 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of over 510,000 photos, maps and flags, color PDFs and expanded full text backfiles (back to 1975) for key magazines.
Ohio History Central || Online Encyclopedia: What is it? An evolving, dynamic online encyclopedia from the Ohio Historical Society.Why use it? Find information, images, timelines, maps, and documents about Ohioâ€™s history, geography, geology, animals, and American Indian populations.
Student Research Center: What is it? Student research tool for grades 6 through 12 from EBSCOhost. See this 5-min. Flash video by the Reference and Information Services Division (RISD) of the Ohio Library Council or this EBSCO YouTube video for a basic introduction. Another RISD video provides more detail on working with search results.Why use it? Search the encyclopedia. Find magazine and newspaper articles. Learn about other countries â€“ through reports, maps, and photos.
World Book Academic: What is it? Academic World Book is a comprehensive reference tool that includes encyclopedia, multimedia, ebook, and primary source databases integrated in a single search. See this 6-min. YouTube video by the Reference and Information Services Division (RISD) of the Ohio Library Council for a basic introduction, or this 4-min YouTube video about WB Academic ebooks.Why use it? Tailored to the needs of college- and university-level students, Academic World Book includes research tools, including citation builder, dictionary, atlas, and timelines to help users compile the data and information they need to complete their assignments and research projects.
World Book Early World of Learning: What is it? Three interactive learning environments for preschoolers and children in early grades.Why use it? “Trek’s Travels” offers narrated stories, interactive games, and original videos that teach early childhood themes, including numbers, shapes, colors, opposites, and more. “Welcome to Reading” develops and strengthen phonics, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and comprehension skills. “Know It” offers a richly visual first encyclopedia.
World Book Hispanica: What is it? This comprehensive Spanish-language encyclopedia includes more than 100,000 articles, more than 8,500 images and maps, and nearly 1,000 videos, animations, sounds, and interactive media.Why use it? It is designed for native Spanish speakers, bilingual students, and ESL/ELL program participants.
World Book Online: What is it? Resources include encyclopedic content, e-books, multimedia, a vast collection of primary source documents, and a wealth of research tools that allow students to customize and save their work.
World Book Spanish: What is it? This is part of World Book Online Reference Center that is a Spanish-Language encyclopedia called Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos. It contains 2,200 articles and more than 600 illustrations.Why use it? The Spanish Student Discovery Encyclopedia is organized so that the student can find information quickly and easily.

Science

Computer Source | EBSCO: What is it? Full text for nearly 300 publications and indexing and abstracts for nearly 450 publications.Why use it? Provides researchers with the latest information and current trends in high technology.
Ohioline: What is it? Online database of publications from Ohio State University Extension Office; the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center; and the Agricultural Technical Institute.Why use it? Find hundreds of factsheets, bulletins, and other educational materials covering a wide array of subjects – such as agriculture, natural resources, family and consumer sciences, community development, 4-H, and youth.
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection | EBSCO: What is it? The world’s largest full text psychology database offering full text coverage for nearly 400 journals.Why use it? A comprehensive database covering information concerning topics in emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry and psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and experimental methods.
Science Online: What is it? The award-winning Science Online offers a comprehensive, curriculum-oriented overview of a broad range of scientific disciplines in a variety of useful formats. An ideal science solution for schools, libraries and homework assignments.Why use it? Tabbed search results and Boolean search capabilities help users easily find their desired results. High-quality print, e-mail, reduce and enlarge text, and save to folder capabilities; full database citations; a help page; and persistent record links are also available.
Science Reference Center: What is it? Topics covered in Science Reference Center include biology, chemistry, earth and space science, environmental science, health and medicine, history of science, life science, physics, science and society, science as inquiry, scientists, technology and wildlife. By providing a wide range of topics, Science Reference Center satisfies the demand for standards-based content by providing teachers and librarians with articles correlated to state and national curriculum standards. See this 4-min. YouTube video by the Reference and Information Services Division (RISD) of the Ohio Library Council for a basic introduction.Why use it? Designed to meet every student researchers needs, Science Reference Center contains full text for hundreds of science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals and other sources.
Sociological Collection: What is it? Coverage of more than 500 full text journals, including nearly 500 peer-reviewed titles.Why use it? Offers information in all areas of sociology, including social behavior, human tendencies, interaction, relationships, community development, culture and social structure.

Students & Homework

Literary Reference Center | EBSCOhost: What is it? Full text of literary journals and respected literary reference works. Contains plot summaries, literary criticism, author biographies and interviews, and the full text of thousands of poems and short stories.Why use it? Research an author, novel, or poem for school or personal interest. Learn more about a literary movement for book discussions.
Explora: What is it? Explora is a colorful, mobile-friendly interface to selected EBSCO information databases that provides not only a simple search box, but easy-to-browse categories.Why use it? Explora includes: topic overviews that provide students with a starting point for research; articles, essays, and primary source documents to help students feel successful in their research; and reading level indicators (Lexile® Measures) to simplify discovery of grade-appropriate content.
MAS Ultra – School Edition: What is it? Full text for nearly 500 popular high school magazines, plus more than 360 full text reference books.Why use it? Also provides over 85,000 biographies, over 107,000 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of over 510,000 photos, maps and flags, color PDFs and expanded full text backfiles (back to 1975) for key magazines.
Middle Search Plus | EBSCO: What is it? Full text for more than 140 popular middle school magazines, over 84,000 biographies, over 105,000 primary source documents, and a School Image Collection of photos, maps and flags.Why use it? 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.
Points of View Reference Center: What is it? Points of View Reference Center contains many topics, each with an overview (objective background/description), point (argument) and counterpoint (opposing argument). Providing a balance of materials from all viewpoints, it also includes over 1,300 main essays, leading political magazines from all sides of the political spectrum, newspapers, radio and TV news transcripts, primary source documents and reference books. It also offers guides for writing position papers, developing arguments and debating. See this 3-min. YouTube video by the Reference and Information Services Division (RISD) of the Ohio Library Council for a basic introduction.Why use it? Containing resources that present multiple sides of an issue, this database provides the basis from which students can realize and develop persuasive arguments and essays, better understand controversial issues and develop analytical thinking skills.
Primary Search | EBSCO: What is it? Full text for more than 70 popular magazines for elementary school research.Why use it? All full text articles included in the database are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles), and full text information dates as far back as 1990.
World Book Kids: What is it? Thousands of colorful illustrations, diagrams, and maps enrich thousands of articles selected for appeal and curricular standards, with teacher guides, provide instuctions and stimulating ways to use content in the classroom setting or for homework.Why use it? World Book Kids is designed especially for younger users, English-language learners, and reluctant readers. The site offers simple navigation, easy-to-read content, bright colors, and a graphical design.