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DATABASES LISTED BY SUBJECT

Some databases are listed under more than one category.

Note: You can now use your own barcode and library catalog PIN to access all our Online Resources. Click here for details.

AUTOMOBILES

 
Auto Links selected by OPL librarians
Auto Repair Reference Center: Repair information for cars and light trucks. More than 40 years coverage for many models. Includes repair procedures and wiring diagrams  
   

BIOGRAPHY

 
African-American History & Culture: An On-Line Encyclopedia from Facts on File: biographies, articles, historical documents, photographs, maps, charts, and more.
Biography in Context: 250,000 biographies from respected sources.
Literature Resource Center: biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of more than 120,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers.
   

BOOKS & LITERATURE

 

Award Winning Books: recommended books in many categories

 
BookBrowse: an interactive magazine for booklovers. BookBrowse provides free access to reviews, book excerpts, recommendations, read-alikes (“If you like this, try these”), author biographies and interviews, resources for book clubs (discussion guides and live author chats), browsing by genre, time period, setting, or theme, and direct links from each book to the library catalog  
Books and Authors: Readers’ advisory information including recommended reading lists for both fiction and non-fiction. Book reviews, plot summaries and author information are provided. Young Adult titles are also covered.
Lit Finder: Covers world literature and authors throughout history. It contains over 150,000 full-text poems, 800,000+ poetry citations, plus short stories, speeches, and plays.  
Literature Resource Center: biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of more than 120,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers.
 
Safari Tech Books: online text of more than 1800 current books on computer technology.
Online Book Club: free chapters of new books: fiction, non-fiction, teen, audio and more  
   

BUSINESS

 
Business & Company Resource Center: business periodical articles from 1980 to the present; also includes company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports and chronologies.
Hoover’s Online (from Dun and Bradstreet): Detailed information on over 80 million companies around the world  
InfoTrac OneFile: largest collection of magazine articles available through OPL; over 7000 periodical titles indexed; over 4000 titles provide full text of articles.
Mergent Online: financial and investment information for publicly held companies. Includes current and historical data, company histories and stock splits, custom charts and graphs. (Mergent used to be known as Moody's.)
Morningstar Online: An investment resource specializing in fund investing. It provides trusted, independent and in-depth news, commentary, fund information, recommendations and research on stocks and mutual funds. It also provides tutorials and investment education.  
Rand California Report: California statistics from over 70 databases produced by leading government, public policy and research institutions.
ReferenceUSA Reference USA is a premier source of business, consumer and residential information. Included are millions of nationwide and comprehensive profiles of businesses, physicians, dentists and new homeowners. U.S. Standard and Canadian White Pages provide demographic data across both regions. Searchers can also obtain household and census type data to understand consumer buying habits. Reference USA is used by entrepreneurs, businesses, students, job-seekers or anyone wanting business and residential information in an easy format.
Small Business Resource Center: Helps entrepreneurs learn how to start, finance, and manage their small businesses, as well as provide information on marketing, management, human resources, and taxes. Resources include hundreds of real-life sample business plans, dozens of titles from business publisher John Wiley & Sons on small business strategy, and the full text of the Encyclopedia of Management, Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources, and Small Business Management - A Framework for Success.  
   

COMPUTERS & THE INTERNET

 
The Librarians’ Internet Index: quality internet resources selected by librarians
Mouse Maneuvers: how to use a mouse  
Mouse Tutorial: more mouse practice  
Search the Internet: this site, maintained by UC Berkeley, is a gateway to the leading internet search engines  
Yahoo.com: one of the best known web indexes  
   

CONSUMER INFORMATION

 

 

 
   

e-BOOKS & DOWNLOADABLE AUDIOBOOKS

 

Important Notes:

  1. NetLibrary eAudiobooks have been replaced by OneClick Digital Audio Books. This is audio book content from the same provider, Recorded Books, but at a new link.
  2. NetLibrary ebooks have been replaced with ebooks from EBSCOhost. This is the same view-only content, but at a new link.
  3. If you had a NetLibrary account for downloading audio books and/or viewing ebooks, you’ll need to go to the new sites and create new accounts.
  4. We appreciate your patience as we and our content providers work through this transitional period.
Oakland e-Port, by OverDrive: Downloadable E-books and e-audiobooks. E-books can be downloaded and transferred to e-book readers, such as the Sony Reader and Barnes & Noble Nook. The e-audiobooks can be downloaded and transferred to Windows-compatible MP3 players as well as iPods.  
OneClickdigital:downloadable audiobooks from Recorded Books. Download to your computer and transfer to listening devices. Many titles are MP3 compatible. You will need to create a Media Manager account in order to download, check out, and transfer audio books.  
Directory Library: A collection of directories in electronic format. Users can search for organizations by name, keyword, industry, and geography. Directories included: Encyclopedia of Associations: National Organizations; Encyclopedia of Associations: International Organizations; Encyclopedia of Associations: Regional, State, and Local Organizations; Directory of Non-Profit Organizations.
Downloadable AudioBooks--Public Domain:  There are several web sites that offer audiobooks of works in the public domain that can be played on iPods and on Macintosh and Linux computers as well as PCs. This page, maintained by Park County Library System in Wyoming, provides descriptions and links to a number of those sites.
 
eBooks from EBSCOhost: Viewable and downloadable e-Books, featuring a wide range of subjects and publishers. Downloaded books can be checked out for up to 7 days. You’ll need to create an account with a user name and password to access the ebook content.  
Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL): A collection of reference books in electronic format:
American Men and Women of Science, 22 nd ed.; College Blue Book, 33 rd ed.; Dictionary of American History;Encyclopedia of Education; Encyclopedia of Modern Asia; Encyclopedia of Small Business, 2 nd ed.; Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, 2 nd ed.; Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia; International Directory of Films and Filmmakers; West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, 2 nd ed.
Titles in this collection can be searched individually, or all together using the Gale PowerSearch feature.
 
Safari Tech Books: online text of more than 1800 current books on computer technology, which can be viewed on your computer. They can not be downloaded or transferred to a device.
Tumblebooks (for kids) are animated, talking picture books that can be played on your computer while online. (No downloading is possible!) The Story Book collection includes a fun variety of stories for different age levels. The pace of the stories can be controlled by the reader -- or set to automatic. The Tumble Readables are large print "read on your own" children's books. There's more . . . including health and language resources!
   

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

 

World Book Online offers a collection of research tools that include encyclopedia articles, current periodicals and related websites. It also features World Book Online for Kids, World book Online for Students and the Spanish language encyclopedia Estudiantil. World Book Online is dynamically complemented with pictures, audio, and video.

   

ESPAÑOL

 
¡Informe! (Revistas en Español): De 1996 al presente. Artículos de las revistas más populares en forma digital. Abarca temas de negocios, salud, tecnología, arte y entretenimiento.
   

GALE POWERSEARCH

 
Gale PowerSearch: All the Gale periodical archives and reference book sets can be searched at once using this feature.
   

GENEALOGY

 
AncestryLibrary: public records and genealogy tools for the family historian. Emphasis on immigrant lists, passenger lists, and other public documents. This database is available at the Main and branch libraries, but not outside library facilities.
HeritageQuest: public records and genealogy tools for the family historian. Emphasis on records from newspapers, local history books and documents.
   

GOVERNMENT INFORMATION

 
Government Information Web Links selected by OPL librarians    
US Government Documents Catalog: US government documents listed by author, title, subject or words found in notes.
   

GRANT RESOURCES

 

Foundation Directory Online Professional comprehensive information on grantmakers and their grants in a database of 92,000 foundations, corporate giving programs, and grantmaking public charities in the U.S. This database is available at the Main Library only.

 
Foundation Grants to Individuals Online a database of more than 6,500 foundation and public charity programs that fund students, artists, researchers, and other individual grantseekers.. This database is available at the Main Library only.
   

HEALTH & MEDICINE

 
Health and Medical Web Links selected by OPL librarians  
Health & Wellness Resource Center: health information from over 700 journals, magazines, pamphlets and medical reference books. Written for non-experts.
NURSING AND ALLIED HEALTH COLLECTION: Covers all aspects of the nursing profession - from direct care to health care administration. More than 400 magazines and journals are indexed, and the collection's very current content is useful to both nursing professionals and students pursuing a nursing curriculum.  
PHYSICAL THERAPY AND SPORTS MEDICINE COLLECTION: Contains full-text articles from over 60 magazines, including articles about proven treatment techniques, experimental research theses, and applications for specific sports.  
PSYCHOLOGY COLLECTION: Indexes more than 500 journals and magazines, covering all fields of psychology, including abnormal, biological, comparative, developmental, adolescent, social, and applied psychology.  
   

HISTORY

 
History Links selected by OPL librarians
U.S. History in Context: Books, journals, maps primary documents and multimedia describing United States History.
World History in Context: Books, journals, maps primary documents and multimedia describing World History.
 

Job & Career

 
The new Job & Career Accelerator section provides information on jobs that suit your interests and experience, lets you check current job listings from over 5 million job postings, creates resumes and cover letters, and assists with interviewing skills. You’ll need to create a username and password to store your personal job search tools in complete confidentiality. Then, click on the Job & Career Accelerator link on the LearningExpressLibrary homepage.  
   

KIDS

 
Amazing Animals of the World offers children access to information about the animal kingdom and its place in our world. It includes interactive information on over 1,200 animals, with illustrations, maps, and glossaries. To get to the database, in the menu on the left side of the screen, click on Amazing Animals of the World.
America the Beautiful is a fact-filled tool for elementary and middle school students for research on the states, famous Americans and U.S. History. It includes articles, interactive almanac and maps, timelines, educational games. To get to the database, in the menu on the left side of the screen, click on America the Beautiful.
BookFlix: Watch, read, listen, and learn! BookFlix pairs high-quality children's video story books with factual Ebooks for the enjoyment of pre-schoolers, kindergartners and beginning readers. With related games and puzzles, BookFlix reinforces early reading skills and builds curiosity about the world.  Some titles are available in Spanish. BookFlix is available in all libraries and remotely from home computers.  
Kids InfoBits: articles and pictures from a variety of magazines, newspapers and reference books. Intended for elementary school students.
Kid’s World Wide Web Links selected by OPL librarians.  
Lands and Peoples provides elementary and middle school students with up-to-date information on countries, cultures and current events. Features include an encyclopedia of countries, facts and figures, cultural comparisons, games and quizzes, and a Global News Desk. To get to the database, in the menu on the left side of the screen, click on Lands and People.
Parents’ and Teachers’ internet resources selected by OPL librarians  
Popular Science provides in-depth science, health, and technology research and news for students in middle school and beyond. It includes photos, maps, and technical illustrations, biographies of great scientists, information on science careers, and ideas for school science projects and experiments. To get to the database, in the menu on the left side of the screen, click on Popular Science.
Social Studies Fact Cards Online for students in grades 4 through 8. California history and culture, the states and presidents of the United States, and early civilizations of the world.
Something About the Author: Something About the Author offers thousands of illustrated biographical profiles of children’s authors and illustrators. It is a premier resource for students, librarians, teachers and other researchers of children’s and young adult literature.  
Tumblebooks are animated, talking picture books that can be played on your computer while online. (No downloading is possible!) The Story Book collection includes a fun variety of stories for different age levels. The pace of the stories can be controlled by the reader -- or set to automatic. The Tumble Readables are large print "read on your own" children's books. There's more . . . including health and language resources!
World Book Online offers a collection of research tools that include encyclopedia articles, current periodicals and related websites. It also features World Book Online for Kids, World book Online for Students and the Spanish language encyclopedia Estudiantil. World Book Online is dynamically complemented with pictures, audio, and video.  
   

LANGUAGE LEARNING

 

Transparent language is a comprehensive online program for learning over 100 languages. Explore games, immersion videos and stories than enable learners to gain language proficiency at a rapid pace. The site also features the Transparent Connect Page in which a learner can access printable worksheets and participate in free open house sessions. One-on-one instruction is available for a nominal fee. (Create your own user account and log in.)  

 

LEGAL RESOURCES

 
Free Books from NOLO Press: Here, you can read selected Nolo books online—in their entirety, for free. These are the current editions of these books.  
Lawyer Directory From Martindale : national directory of attorneys  
   

LIBRARY RESOURCES WORLDWIDE

 
Bay Area Libraries: a directory of area libraries with web links  
CalCat/WorldCat   (use this link from inside the library)

CalCat/WorldCat   (use this link from outside the library)
CalCat provides access to the library catalog holdings of almost all public and academic libraries in California. WorldCat includes records for most public and academic libraries around the world that have online catalogs and at least some holdings in English. To search libraries worldwide (over 9000 libraries represented!) re-set the dropdown menu to “WorldCat” once you are inside the database.
   

MAGAZINE & JOURNAL ARTICLES

 
Academic OneFile : articles and indexing from over 1200 college-level periodicals, from 1980 to the present. Full text articles are available from over 700 titles
 
General OneFile : best source for magazine articles from popular news-stand magazines. Includes articles from over 1000 popular magazines from 1980 to the present.
InfoTrac OneFile: largest collection of magazine articles available through OPL; over 7000 periodical titles indexed; over 4000 titles provide full text of articles.
Magazine and journal articles may also be available in databases listed under specific subjects.
   

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES & INDEXING

 
Infotrac Custom Newspapers: Full-text coverage of more than 350 newspapers from around the world, including articles from the San Francisco Chronicle (since 1996), the Contra Costa Times, the San Jose Mercury-News and the New York Times (all since 2000).
 
NewspaperArchive.com is the world’s largest collection of online newspaper images, including hundreds of English language papers from California and around the world. Most issues of the Oakland Tribune between 1874 and 1977 are included in this collection. Newspaper issues can be searched by word or date, and search help is available from within the NewspaperArchive.com site. This database is available at the Main and branch libraries, but not outside library facilities.
Oakland Newspaper Index: index to articles about Oakland and vicinity in the Oakland Tribune and other local papers, produced by Oakland Public Library staff.
Oakland Tribune archive: full-text of articles published since September 14, 2001
Online Newspapers : how to find and use newspaper websites and online newspaper indexes  
   

OAKLAND

 
About Oakland: internet links assembled by OPL librarians
Community Information File: government and non-profit agencies in Oakland  
   

STATISTICS

 
Rand California Report: California statistics from over 70 databases produced by leading government, public policy and research institutions.
   

STUDENT RESOURCES

 
LearningExpressLibrary: Over 300 online practice tests, including the SAT, GED, ASVAB, Firefighter, Postal Worker, and many others. Also includes U.S. Citizenship Exam Preparation; and English language and math practice exams for Spanish speakers. The new Job & Career Accelerator section is a good tool to help high school and college students in planning their educational and career path. It provides information on jobs that suit your interests and experience, lets you check current job listings from over 5 million job postings, creates resumes and cover letters, and assists with interviewing skills. You’ll need to create a username and password to store your personal job search tools in complete confidentiality. Then, click on the Job & Career Accelerator link on the LearningExpressLibrary homepage.
Lit Finder: Covers world literature and authors throughout history. It contains over 150,000 full-text poems, 800,00+ poetry citations, plus short stories, speeches, and plays.  

NewsBank: Hot Topics & Current Events provides current information about important issues and events. This resource addresses a wide variety of contemporary subjects from around the world related to social studies, science, health, sports, the arts, people and more. The reports are  updated constantly, with new reports added as world and national events unfold. A good student research site, with full text access to the Oakland Tribune back to 2001.

 
NewsBank: Special News Reports and Current Events: Provides information on topics of current interest, including content from sources throughout the world to provide a global perspective, current and background information, statistics, maps, images, websites, and suggested search terms. New information is added daily to featured and current reports.  
Science in Context Thousands of topic overviews, science experiments, biographies, pictures and illustrations, plus the latest scientific developments in articles from over 200 science magazines. It focuses on key concepts taught in classrooms including biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, math, environmental science, life science, medicine, space science, computer science, technology, history of science, and science and society.  
Student Resource Center: magazine articles, photographs, audio and video clips, biographies, essays, and critical analyses. For middle school and older students.

Tuition Funding Sources is a private website designed to help students find scholarships, college and career information. TFS offers students the largest scholarship database in the world with over $41 Billion in scholarship awards along with a career personality test and detailed college and career information.

On homepage, Click on "Membership" to create TFS Login.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context: current information on controversial topics for students, writers and debaters.

   

TEENS

 
Teen links and resources selected by OPL librarians
   

TEST PREPARATION

 
LearningExpressLibrary: Over 300 online practice tests, including the SAT, GED, ASVAB, Firefighter, Postal Worker, and many others. Also includes U.S. Citizenship Exam Preparation; and English language and math practice exams for Spanish speakers. The new Job & Career Accelerator section provides information on jobs that suit your interests and experience, lets you check current job listings from over 5 million job postings, creates resumes and cover letters, and assists with interviewing skills. You’ll need to create a username and password to store your personal job search tools in complete confidentiality. Then, click on the Job & Career Accelerator link on the LearningExpressLibrary homepage.
   

TRAVEL

 
   

UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES

 
College Source Online: College catalogs for 16,000 universities and colleges. School profiles and links to school websites are also provided.

 

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Page Last Edited May 2, 2012