Providing Our Library Members with the Research Tools they Need

Having accurate, credible, valuable sources is crucial to any research paper or project you may be involved in. With our rich, extensive catalog of the top research databases available, you’ll be able to access information ranging from medical research to history and literature, with everything in between. All you need to access these databases is your library card, and then you’re ready for your research.

A to Z
Databases

Business & Residential Directory

Academic
Search Elite

Scholarly resource provides indexing and abstracts for more than 8,300 journals, with full text for more than 4,500 of those titles. PDF back files to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals.

Ancestry.com
Database

Search census, birth, death, and marriage certificates, newspaper & historical stories, photos, historical maps and other media.
In-library access only. The temporary remote access to Ancestry from home ended on December 31, 2021.

AskRI.org

AskRI: Rhode Island’s Statewide Reference Resource Center. A local hub of information resources used by job seekers, students, and educators alike!

Auto Repair
Resource

Repair and maintenance information on most major manufacturers of domestic and imported vehicles. New repair procedures, TSBs and updates are added on a regular basis. All content has been created by ASE certified technicians.

Biography Reference
Center

Biography Collection Complete offers a comprehensive collection of full-text biographies supporting history, science, the arts, music, literature, multicultural studies, gender studies, business, government & politics, sports, entertainment and many other areas. This database features more than 177,000 full-text biographies from many different sources.

Digital Archives of the Woonsocket Call

The library’s digital archives of the Woonsocket Call newspapers from 1900-1975. More dates will be added in the future. This archive is free to use via any internet connection. You do not need a library card to use our archive website. This online resource was made possible by funding from the RI Office of Library and Information Services using funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Consumer Health
Complete

Designed to support patients’ information needs and foster an overall understanding of health-related topics. Provides content covering all areas of health and wellness from mainstream medicine to the many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated medicine. Covers topics such as aging, cancer, diabetes, drugs & alcohol, fitness, nutrition & dietetics, children’s health, men & women’s health, etc.

Education Resources
Information Center

ERIC, the Education Resource Information Center, contains more than 1,300,000 records and links to more than 317,000 full-text documents dating back to 1966.

Kids Search
(Explora Primary)

EBSCO’s interface designed for students in grades K through 5. Kids Search provides elementary school students with an easy-to-use, graphically-appealing interface they can use to search their EBSCO databases.

Flipster

Flipster offers an easy, browse-able reading experience. Users can browse magazines by category as well as perform searches for specific periodicals. An online newsstand provides a carousel of the most recent issues, as well as a carousel of all issues allowing for quick access to magazines. The table of contents contains links for quick access to articles of interest and hotlinks within magazines are hyperlinked, opening in separate tabs when clicked. In addition, there is an option to zoom in and out for better readability.

GreenFILE
Database

GreenFILE Includes content on the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and local/national governments. Topics covered include global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling and more.

History Reference
Center

World’s most comprehensive full-text history reference database, featuring full text for more than 2,400 reference books, encyclopedias and nonfiction books from leading history publishers. Also includes full text for more than 130 leading history periodicals, and contains more than 61,100 historical documents; more than 66,000 historical biographies; more than 110,200 photos and maps; and more than 80 hours of historical video.

Learning
Express

Practice tests and tutorials for SAT, ACT, GED, US Citizenship, job skills and more. Provided by Askri.org. Your library card barcode is needed to login.

LISTA

Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) indexes more than 500 core journals, more than 50 priority journals, and 125 selective journals; plus books, research reports and proceedings. Subject coverage includes librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more.

Literary
Reference Center

Comprehensive database that provides users with a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and time frames. Full-text database of more than 35,000 plot summaries, synopses and work overviews; nearly 100,000 articles/essays of literary criticism; more than 252,000 author biographies; also includes over 693,000 book reviews, author interviews and information on classic and contemporary poems , short stories, classic texts and more.

Mango
Languages

Mango is an online language-learning system that can help you learn languages such as Spanish, French, Japanese, German, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, Italian and more. There is even instruction in learning English as a second language! Provided by Askri.org.

MasterFILE
Premier

Designed specifically for public libraries, this multidisciplinary database provides full text for nearly 1,700 general reference publications with full text information dating as far back as 1975. Covering virtually every subject area of general interest, MasterFILE Premier also contains full text for nearly 500 reference books and over 164,400 primary source documents, as well as an Image Collection of over 460,000 photos, maps & flags. This database is updated daily via EBSCOhost.

MEDLINE
Full Text

MEDLINE provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more. Created by the National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE uses MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) indexing with tree, tree hierarchy, subheadings and explosion capabilities to search citations from over 4,800 current biomedical journals.

Middle Search
Plus

Middle Search Plus provides full text for more than 140 popular, middle school magazines. 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. Middle Search Plus also contains 84,774 biographies, 105,786 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of over 453,000 photos, maps and flags.

Novelist
Reader’s Advisory

Novelist Readers’ advisory tool provides access to information on 155,000 fiction titles and a wide range of feature content to enable library staff to serve fiction readers of all ages. Includes author read-alikes, book discussion guides, reading lists and more.

Points of View Reference Center

Points of View Reference Center contains resources that present multiple sides of an issue, and provides rich content to help students debate, assess and develop persuasive arguments and essays, better understand controversial issues and develop analytical thinking skills. Points of View Reference Center covers over 400 topics, each with an overview (background and description), point (argument) and counterpoint (opposing argument). Each topic features a Guide to Critical Analysis which helps the reader evaluate the controversy and enhances students’ ability to read critically, develop their own perspective on the issues, and write or debate an effective argument on the topic.

Sanborn Fire Maps

Access the Woonsocket, Rhode Island Sanborn Maps from the Library of Congress.

Woonsocket 1895
Topographical Atlas

Access the 1895 Topographical Maps of Woonsocket, RI through the courtesy link to Providence Public Library. Explore more of Providence Public Library’s digital collection at: https://provlibdigital.org/.

Providence Public Library Terms of Use: Unless otherwise indicated, all material accessed on Provlibdigital.org is available under the CC BY 4.0 Deed status. Please visit PPL’s complete terms of use at: https://provlibdigital.org/terms-use 

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