Databases

Available to Central, City, Suburban | In Library Use Only

From Age of Learning, Inc., the award-winning ABCmouse.com curriculum is designed to help young children (ages 2-6+) build a strong foundation for future academic success. ABCmouse.com is 100% educational, with 3,500+ learning activities across all major subject areas—reading, math, science, social studies, art, and music.

Gale Academic Onefile

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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. 

  • See tutorials in General OneFile section, above.
Gale Onefile Agriculture

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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 logo

Available to Central, City, Suburban | In Library Use Only

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. 

Learn with Your Librarian

Ancestry.com Guide

BookBrowse logo

Available to Central, City, Suburban

An online magazine for booklovers - including reviews, previews, "behind the book" backstories, author interviews, reading guides, and much more.

Subscribe to the BookBrowse Newsletter

brainfuse logo shows a brain in a rainbow of colors

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Brainfuse HelpNow

*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

Test Preparation in SkillSurfer includes practice tests and study guides for the GED SAT, PSAT, HiSET, ACT, AP classes, TOEFL, TOEIC, CLEP, THEA, TEAS, common core skills building, ESL, college application assistance, and a parent corner.
SkillSurfer 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

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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.

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.

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Thousands of up-to-date, curated, and curriculum-relevant articles, images, videos, audio clips, primary sources, maps, research tools, recommended Web sites, and three 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.

Gale Business Insights: Essentials

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Provides access to accurate and up-to-date business, company and industry information and a wide variety of global business information in a single source. Efficiently research business case studies, competitive intelligence, company histories and financial reports and career and investment opportunities. This resource replaces the Gale Business & Company Resource Center. Use the links below to become more familiar with the enhanced search features and content.

Tutorials 

Gale OneFile Computer Science logo

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.

Gale Onefile 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.

Gale One File 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.

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

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.

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.

Gale OneFile 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.

Gale Onefile Environmental Studies and 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.

Available to Central, City

Direct, immediate, free access to National Archive records including more than 5 million military rec­ords, documents, and stories. Also includes over 74 million digitized documents and images, such as War of 1812 pension applications, stunning documentary photographs, and even original Civil War battle sketches. The Fold3 Training Center includes a link to ‘Finding Your Military Veterans’ a free video course from Ancestry Academy.

Learn More: http://proquest.libguides.com/Fold3

foundation directory online logo

Available to Central | In Library Use Only


Find information on more than 90,000 U.S. foundations including direct corporate giving programs and company-sponsored foundations, 900,000 recent grants, and more than 400,000 key decision-makers.

PDF icon Instructions

Available to Central | In Library Use Only

Quickly search through detailed descriptions of more than 6,500 foundation and public charity programs that fund students, artists, researchers, and other individual grantseekers.

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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.

Gale in Context Middle School

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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.

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Look here for trusted information on topics in social studies, science, language arts, and more. Access videos, magazine and news articles, images, and books in an age-appropriate resource with tools designed to develop research skills. Elementary supports literacy, enhances learning, and encourages exploration.

Tutorial for teachers: https://support.gale.com/doc/itke-video2

Gale New York Times logo

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Full coverage is from 1/1/1985 – current. The paper is published 7 days a week.

The International Edition has full coverage from 11/2/2013 – current.   The paper is published 6 days a week. 

Gale Onefile Fine Arts

Available to Central, City, Suburban

More than 100 full-text magazines and journals including the Wilson Art Index and RILM. Supports research in areas such as drama, music, art history, and filmmaking.

Gale Onefile Gender Studies

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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 from 30 full-text journals begins in 1980.

Gale Onefile Health and Medicine

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Over 2800 journals and magazines, many of which are full text. It contains nursing and allied health journals, other medical journals, newsletters and consumer health magazines. It contains nursing and allied health journals, other medical journals, newsletters and consumer health magazines.

Gale OneFile News

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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. 

Tutorials 

Gale Onefile Psychology

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Access to 200 subject-appropriate full-text periodicals.

Gale Onefile Science

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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.

Smart Searches Start Here with Gale Onefile

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Google is usually everyone’s go-to for research, but not all the results are accurate. Our library provides Gale OneFile collections to connect you to trusted, up-to-date content from leading magazines, newspapers and scholarly journals. These collections are easy to access, and with integrated tools, you can save, download and share.

Gale Onefile Gardening and Horticulture

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Focus specifically on key issues in gardening, landscaping, and other areas of horticulture. Includes content from 50 journals relating to both the practical aspects as well as the scientific theory of horticulture studies.

Gale General Onfile

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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.

Available to Central, City, Suburban

This five-volume set includes American painting, architecture, sculpture, and photography from the Pre-Columbian sources to the colonial period to the twenty-first century devoting coverage to many previously underrepresented areas of inquiry, including African American artists, Asian American artists, and Native American art, both historical and contemporary. Artists, major movements, institutions, critics, and the architecture found in major cities of the United States are covered, as are new media and methodologies, including digital art, performance art, and installation art.

Heritage Hub logo

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Explore your family history with the premier collection of U.S. obituaries and death notices for in-depth genealogical research from 1704 – today. HeritageHub helps you easily identify relatives, uncover new information and potentially unknown family members. Includes deep coverage from all 50 states, hard-to-find content from the mid 1900’s, and original obituary images.

Video instructions (13mins)
https://youtu.be/rBKDZBHUiJA

Heritage Quest logo

Available to Central, City

A collection of research materials for tracing family history and American culture, including a complete set of U.S. Federal Census [head of household] records from 1790-1930, a collection of over 25,000 family and local histories, and an index of over 1.6 million genealogy and local history articles.

Learn More: http://proquest.libguides.com/heritagequestonline


Gale Onefile Information Science

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Nearly 100 leading industry journals covering topics such as information infrastructure, data processing techniques, metadata architectures, and more. Coverage begins in 1980.

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Spanish interface provides access to Spanish- and Portuguese-language scholarly journals both from and about Latin America

LinkedIn Learning with Lynda.com content

Available to Central, City, Suburban

An Introduction to LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning 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.

Gale Onefile Military and Intelligence

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Over 500 titles and more than 7 million articles with links to related sources outside of the current article: reference books, magazine and newswire articles.

Available to Central, City

Independent and in-depth recommendations and research on stocks, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds in an easy to use, easy to understand format. Includes data reports on 8,484 stocks, 23,928 mutual funds, and 807 ETFs and analysis on more than 1,600 foreign stocks.

PDF icon Quick Guide, PDF icon User Guide
New York Times Online logo

Available to Central, City

Central and city branch patrons can now enjoy the New York Times online.

To read the NYTimes please see the details on our NYT Online instructional page

Questions?

reference@onlib.org

newsbank logo

Available to Central, City, Suburban

A comprehensive news collection ideal for exploring issues and events at the local, national and international level. Titles include over 3,650 American newspapers, blogs, newswires, news magazines, journals, international special reports and videos. Jump to suggested trending topics or special collections like the Onondaga County Newspapers and the Post-Standard.   All papers are in full text or are fully searchable digital images. Customized email alerts can be set up to follow a particular topic or news event of interest.

Collections

USA Today

Buffalo News

Observer-Dispatch

Watertown Daily Times

Times Union

Syracuse Herald-Journal


Helpful How To Tutorials

Use Quick Links to Local Resources and Special Collections

Do a Basic Search

Set Up a Topic Email Alert

Cite an Article

Available to Central, City, Suburban

A database by Newspaper Archive.com 
Newspaper Archive Syracuse Post-Standard (1875-2022)

Available to Central, City, Suburban

A searchable archive of digital images and full text from newspapers in these states;

  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • District Of Columbia
  • Maine
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

Included in the collection is a searchable archive of Syracuse newspapers from 1857 forward.


PDF icon General FAQs

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Database covering more than 120,000 adult, teen and children’s fiction and non-fiction titles. Provides subject heading access, reviews, annotations, hundreds of theme-oriented book lists for readers at all grade levels, award-winning and recommended titles, read-alikes, book reviews and much more.

Gale OneFile Nursing and Allied Health

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Covers all aspects of the Nursing profession -- from direct patient care to health care administration – with content from more than 380 journals.

Gale in Context Opposing Viewpoints

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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.

Gale OneFile Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine

Available to Central, City, Suburban

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. Coverage begins in 1980.

Gale OneFile Pop Culture Studies

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Useful information for researchers in social science, history, or art. Includes 100 subject-appropriate periodicals, which are predominantly full-text.

Available to Central, City

Coverage: 2008 – present (with a one-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. 

Available to Central, City

Coverage: 2008 – present (with a one-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. 

Proquest Historical Newspapers logo

Available to Central, City

Full text coverage of the following newspapers:
  • Wall Street Journal (1889 - 2004)
  • NYTimes (1851 - 2018)
  • Washington Post (1877 - 2005)
  • LA Times (1881- 1997)
  • Chicago Tribune (1847 - 1998)
Reference Solutions logo

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

 
 

To Download the Mobile App: 

  1. On your mobile device, navigate to the App Store® (iOS) or Google Play™ (Android) application icon. 
  2. Search for Data Axle Reference Solutions application and download it on your mobile device. 
  3. Click the Data Axle Reference Solutions icon on your mobile device. 
  4. Enter your library’s 5-digit ZIP Code, and then click Find Library. 
  5. Select your library in the list. 

    iOS: Scroll to your library, and then click Done. 

    Android: Select a library from the list. 

  6. Enter your library card number, and then select Remember Me (optional). 
  7. Click Proceed. 

You are now logged into the application on your mobile device

Available to Central, City

The Careers in Human Services guidebook provides insight into potential careers, and instruction on what job seekers can expect in terms of training, advancement, earnings, job prospects, working conditions, relevant associations.

Available to Central, City

Online, searchable, full text content of two titles: 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.

Salem Online logo

Available to Central, City

Complete content from selected printed reference books of Salem Press. Primary documents from European and U.S. History from the Middle Ages to the present day. Articles, essays, maps, charts and images from each reference book are downloadable, can be emailed, printed or saved to Google Drive. Built in citation tools included. 

Salem Online logo

Available to Central, City

Complete content from selected printed reference books of Salem Press. Primary documents, articles, images, maps and charts can be downloaded, saved to Google Drive or emailed.  Citation tools are included. Find American and European History, biographies, Principals of Business, science topics from Ancient Creatures, astronomy chemistry, forensics and climate change; medical articles on substance abuse, cancer and Magill’s Medical Guide.

Available to Central, City

Complete content from selected printed reference books of Salem Press. Primary documents, articles, images, maps and charts can be downloaded, saved to Google Drive or emailed.  Citation tools are included. Find science topics from Ancient Creatures, astronomy chemistry, forensics, natural disasters, earth science and climate change

Salem Online logo

Available to Central, City

Complete content from selected printed reference books of Salem Press. Primary documents, articles, images, maps and charts can be downloaded, saved to Google Drive or emailed.  Citation tools are included. Find American and European History, Great Athletes, Peoples and Cultures, Natural Disasters; science topics from Ancient Creatures, astronomy chemistry, forensics, Privacy Rights in the Digital Age, and climate change.

Post Standard Collection

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

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Over 2,500 entries from 180 international scholars including biographical sketches of important personalities associated with the development of the Jewish religion over the centuries and an index with alternate spellings of Hebrew terms.

Available to Central, City, Suburban

This three-volume encyclopedia examines all aspects of warfare and military technology in medieval times. This set provides an exhaustive and accurate view of how and why wars were waged throughout Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and the Crusader States from circa 500 CE to circa 1500.

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Contains almost 120 in-depth entries, ranging in length from 500 to 10,000 words, on each of the canonical books of the Bible, major apocryphal books of the New and Old Testaments, important noncanonical texts, and thematic essays on topics such as canonicity, textual criticism, and translation.

Available to Central, City, Suburban

A collection of journals providing balanced coverage of both current thought on events in U.S. history as well as scholarly work established in the field.

Gale OneFile Vocations and Careers

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Provides content from over 300 largely full-text publications from general career guides to highly specialized industry journals.

Gale OneFile War and Terrorism

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Gain insight into conflicts: their causes, their impact, and how they are perceived on a global scale. Almost 100 full-text periodicals are included. Coverage begins in 1980.

Gale OneFile World History

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Balanced coverage of events in World History. Useful both to the novice historian and to the advanced academic researcher. Contains nearly 40 predominantly full-text journals.

Available to Central, City, Suburban

Catalog of books and other materials in libraries worldwide. [This is not the Onondaga County Public Library catalog.] Paid for in part with funds administered by the Central New York Library Resources Council.