Set up a free account and select your child's age, interests, background, and reading level. You’ll receive a weekly email with recommended books from the Oakland Public Library!

Literature Resource Center is the most current, comprehensive, and reliable online literature resource. Its materials support interdisciplinary approaches, information literacy, and the development of critical thinking skills. Researchers will find information on authors and their works in all genres and disciplines.

Search for fiction and non-fiction based on your favorite authors, titles, subjects or genres, as well as reviews, series lists, and book discussion guides.

Use AtoZdatabases to look up jobs, businesses, company executives, and people. Create sales leads and mailing lists, conduct industry research and background searches on individuals, and find jobs!

CustomGuide gives you a variety of online training modules in computer basics and software, including Microsoft Excel, Word, and Outlook. Tutorials are self-paced and let you track your own progress. You can also print out one-page resource sheets for most popular software applications.

Testing & Education Reference Center (TERC) is an online tool for all ages for standardized test preparation, researching undergraduate and graduate programs, finding tuition assistance, and exploring careers. It also includes test prep assistance for career certification exams and advice on resumes, cover letters, interviewing, and networking.

The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Our Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, a World Oceans map, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.

This website provides information about obtaining passports and visas as well as country information for travelers with such topics as safety and criminal activity, entry and exit requirements, travel advisories, and consulate locations.

Over 200 works of classic literature in multiple E-book formats.  Always available for download, with no expiration date and no library card required.  Listed by title or by author.

A collection of fiction and non-fiction titles for children and adults, including self-published titles from Smashwords.  Checkout and read online or download to devices compatible with PDF or EPUB format. Not compatible with Kindle eReaders. 

Includes the most recent DK Travel and Rough Guide titles. Download entire books, or sections, on your phone or device to guide your travels.

You must download each section separately; downloads are dependent on your device’s memory.

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.

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!

Britannica Escolar provides age-appropriate Spanish language encyclopedias for elementary and middle school students.

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: Region, State, and Local Organizations; Directory of Non-Profit Organizations.

Britannica Escolar provides age-appropriate Spanish language encyclopedias for elementary and middle school students.

De 1996 al presente. Artículos de las revistas más populares en forma digital. Abarca temas de negocios, salud, tecnología, arte y entretenimiento.

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

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.

Comprehensive information on grantmakers and their grants in a database of foundations, corporate giving programs, and grantmaking public charities in the US. This database is available at the Main Library only, on all networked computers and the wireless network (OakWiFi).

Health information from journals, magazines, pamphlets and medical reference books. Written for non-experts.

Contains full-text articles from various magazines, including articles about proven treatment techniques, experimental research theses, and applications for specific sports.

A freely accessible repository of digitized California newspapers, from 1846 to the present. Includes San Francisco Call (San Francisco, 1890-1913), California Star (San Francisco, 1847-1848), Elevator (San Francisco, 1865-1898), Pacific Appeal (San Francisco, 1862-1880), Pacific Rural Press (San Francisco, 1871-1922), Weekly Alta California (San Francisco, 1849), and Wide West (San Francisco, 1854-1858).

Digitized oral histories, audio and video collections, photographs, letters, newspapers, and ephemera from cultural and historical institutions in California. Also included are digitized oral histories and audiovisual material from the collections of Oakland Public Library's African American Museum & Library at Oakland.  

The Online Archive of California (OAC) provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 200 contributing institutions, including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California and collections maintained by the 10 University of California (UC) campuses. Oakland Public Library’s African American Museum and Library (AAMLO) archive and the collections of the Oakland History Room are included, encompassing correspondence, photographs, photomechanical prints, diaries, manuscripts, education, music, performing arts, official records of many East Bay social and political organizations, news clippings, sheet music, monographs, serials, and  historic maps. 

Explore more than five million digitized items from nationwide public and university libraries, archives, and museums in a single free platform and portal.

Books, journals, maps, primary documents, and multimedia describing World History.

Testing & Education Reference Center (TERC) is an online tool for all ages for standardized test preparation, researching undergraduate and graduate programs, finding tuition assistance, and exploring careers. It also includes test prep assistance for career certification exams and advice on resumes, cover letters, interviewing, and networking.

Set up a free account and select your child's age, interests, background, and reading level. You’ll receive a weekly email with recommended books from the Oakland Public Library!

Articles and pictures from a variety of magazines, newspapers and reference books. Intended for elementary school students.

Find all of our Overdrive children's e-Books and downloadable audiobooks here.  E-books can be downloaded and transferred to e-book readers, such as the Sony Reader and Barnes & Noble Nook.   Audiobooks can be downloaded and transferred to Windows-compatible MP3 players as well as iPods.  

Offers a collection of research tools that includes 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.

Learn a new language, perfect the non-English language you already know, or learn English as a Second Language with Pronunciator. This powerful language-learning tool offers 22 months of content, beginner, intermediate, and advanced, for 80 languages and ESL instruction tailored to native speakers of 50 non-English languages.

Work in your browser at home or at the library, or study on-the-go using the Pronunciator app for Apple, Android, or Kindle Fire.

Pronunciator has lots of fun, effective modules for adults and kids. For many languages you can sign up for 30-minute live, teacher-led conversation classes. Pronunciator’s ProCitizen course prepares students to take the United States Naturalization test.

Note: ProCitizen courses can be found on this page under "Test Preparation."

Directory from Martindale: national directory of attorneys.

A directory of area libraries with web links.

Explore more than five million digitized items from nationwide public and university libraries, archives, and museums in a single free platform and portal.

Articles and indexing from over 1200 college-level periodicals, from 1980 to the present. Full text articles are available from over 700 titles.

Best source for magazine articles from popular news-stand magazines. Include articles from over 1000 popular magazines from 1980 to the present.

Full content of the journals of the American Physical Society (APS), dating back to 1893. APS is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. This database is available at the Main and branch libraries, but not outside library facilities.
 

Stream or download full music albums from contemporary artists, eAudiobooks, ebooks, and graphic novels. Stream movies, TV shows, and documentaries. You’ll create a free account, and enter your library card number and check out up to 8 items a month. You can stream content using the hoopla app (available for iOS or Android devices), or download content temporarily. All titles are available all the time, so you don’t need to wait or place holds.

A freely accessible repository of digitized California newspapers, from 1846 to the present. Includes San Francisco Call (San Francisco, 1890-1913), California Star (San Francisco, 1847-1848), Elevator (San Francisco, 1865-1898), Pacific Appeal (San Francisco, 1862-1880), Pacific Rural Press (San Francisco, 1871-1922), Weekly Alta California (San Francisco, 1849), and Wide West (San Francisco, 1854-1858).

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.

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.

For unlimited access to the New York Times from any library location – including the library’s wifi network – please click here to set up your account with a valid email address.

For access from any location outside the library, click here to get an access code that is valid for 72 hours.

Once you have set up your account or obtained your access code, click here to go to the front page of the New York Times.

Full-text of articles published since September 14, 2001.

Digitized oral histories, audio and video collections, photographs, letters, newspapers, and ephemera from cultural and historical institutions in California. Also included are digitized oral histories and audiovisual material from the collections of Oakland Public Library's African American Museum & Library at Oakland.  

This index, produced by Oakland Public Library staff, tracks Oakland and East Bay articles appearing in the Oakland Tribune and other local newspapers and magazines. 

The Online Archive of California (OAC) provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by more than 200 contributing institutions, including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California and collections maintained by the 10 University of California (UC) campuses. Oakland Public Library’s African American Museum and Library (AAMLO) archive and the collections of the Oakland History Room are included, encompassing correspondence, photographs, photomechanical prints, diaries, manuscripts, education, music, performing arts, official records of many East Bay social and political organizations, news clippings, sheet music, monographs, serials, and  historic maps. 

California history and culture at-a-glance for students in grades 4 through 8.

Magazine articles, photographs, audio and video clips, biographies, essays, and critical analyses. For middle school and older students.

Thousands of topic overviews, science experiments, biographies, pictures and illustrations, plus the latest scientific development 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.

Testing & Education Reference Center (TERC) is an online tool for all ages for standardized test preparation, researching undergraduate and graduate programs, finding tuition assistance, and exploring careers. It also includes test prep assistance for career certification exams and advice on resumes, cover letters, interviewing, and networking.

Pronunciator’s ProCitizen course prepares students to take the United States Naturalization test.

Testing & Education Reference Center (TERC) is an online tool for all ages for standardized test preparation, researching undergraduate and graduate programs, finding tuition assistance, and exploring careers. It also includes test prep assistance for career certification exams and advice on resumes, cover letters, interviewing, and networking.

Stream or download full music albums from contemporary artists, eAudiobooks, ebooks, and graphic novels. Stream movies, TV shows, and documentaries. You’ll create a free account, and enter your library card number and check out up to 8 items a month. You can stream content using the hoopla app (available for iOS or Android devices), or download content temporarily. All titles are available all the time, so you don’t need to wait or place holds.