A-Z Research Tools

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database  — Provides extensive information about children's books, video and audio recordings, and other media. Records includes official cataloging data, subject terms, and annotations, plus information provided by various Reading Measurement Programs. In addition, CLCD contains full-text reviews of children's books. Search by genre, age-level recommendations and more.

ChiltonLibrary.com — ChiltonLibrary provides exclusive photographs, diagnostics designed by instructors, step-by-step repair procedures, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) maintenance schedules, wiring diagrams, recalls and Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) for automobiles and light trucks in one easy-to-use web site

Community Organizations  — Search our database of organizations in Bloomington, Monroe County.

ConsumerReports.org — ConsumerReports.org is one of the most trusted sources for information and advice on consumer products and services. ConsumerReports.org accepts no outside advertising, no free test samples, and has no agenda other than the interests of consumers.

Digital Collections  — Includes At War & At Home, a digital collection examining what Bloomington and Monroe County were like before, during, and after the Civil War; and Indiana Bedrock, a photographic collection of Monroe County's early limestone artists, craftsmen, and workers, placed in a context that is meaningful, memorable, and accessible to all. Compiled by Indiana Room staff, community partners, and volunteers. Part of Indiana Memory.

Fold3.com — Fold3 (formerly Footnote.com) is a subscription website that features searchable original documents of special interest to genealogists and historians, providing users with an unaltered view of the events, places and people that shaped the American nation and the world. Browsers are invited to share, discuss, and collaborate on their discoveries with friends, family, and colleagues.

Foundation Center Databases for Grants — Monroe County Public Library is a cooperating Collection of the Foundation Center. This is made possible with the financial support of United Way of Monroe County. These databases are only available inside the Main library in Bloomington. Ask staff for assistance. More information.

Gale Virtual Reference Library (eBooks)  — From Gale®, part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing. Access thousands of pages in hundreds of eBooks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Print, email and download articles.

GreenFILE —a freely accessible research database focusing on the relationship between human beings and the environment, with well-researched but accessible information on topics ranging from global warming to recycling to alternate fuel sources and beyond. Comprised of scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports, GreenFILE offers a unique perspective on the positive and negative ways humans affect the ecology. mobile access

Grolier Online - Multimedia Encyclopedia — Quick reference with rich media and news for middle school and high school - Reduce search time across a wide variety of media with the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia—the powerful database that contains both resources for students and activities for teachers and librarians to use with their students.

Grolier Online—New Book of Knowledge — An online encyclopedia, complete with Wonder Questions, facts and figures, projects and experiments, literary selections, and Internet links to carefully evaluated related sites.

Grolier Online—Lands and Peoples — A geography and current-events encyclopedia with the latest information including articles, maps, photographs and charts on each and every country in the world plus many other features.

Grolier Online—America the Beautiful — State-by-State history and current events for elementary and middle schools with over 1,400 colorful, easy-to-read, highly interactive articles with over 2,300 of the most useful Web links—complete with summaries. Also has timelines, games, an almanac and maps.

Herald-Times Index  — Search for articles that appeared in The Herald-Times for the years 1985 - 2005. Compiled by Indiana Room staff and volunteers. See also an index to The Herald-Times for the years after 1988 via The Herald-Times Online.

HeritageQuest Online  — Provides a collection of research materials for tracing family lineage and American culture. Includes more than 25,000 genealogies, local histories, primary source materials and genealogical and local history serials. All materials are keyword searchable and can be downloaded and copied. Also includes Census images for 1790-1930. Census records can be searched by name, place of birth, age, and ethnicity.

INSPIRE —INdiana SPectrum of Information REsources—A database of newspaper, magazine and journal articles, many of them full-text. INSPIRE can be accessed by Indiana residents who have Internet access at school, home, in their library or at their place of business. If you are having trouble using INSPIRE from home or work, visit the INSPIRE Frequently Asked Questions page.

IUCAT —Holdings of the Indiana University Libraries. IUCAT may be used by anyone.

Local Information —Resources and links provided by the Indiana Room of the library.

Mango Languages — Mango is an online language learning system that teaches real conversation skills for practical communication. Through fun and engaging interactive lessons, Mango makes learning a new language fast, easy and incredibly effective.

Mitchell1 OnDemand5 —Mitchell 1 is the premier provider of automotive repair and estimating information to the automotive industry. A single source look-up to locate any year, make, model and product as it relates to a repair procedure, wiring diagram, spec, parts and labor estimating, a TSB or factory recall.

Monroe County Obituary Index — Currently includes obituaries from old and current local newspapers in Monroe County. Compiled by MCPL staff. Includes information about when obituaries appeared in our local newspapers. Compiled by Indiana Room staff and volunteers.

Monroe County Yearbook Index — Search by name for faculty, staff, and students in area yearbooks. This database is compiled by Indiana Room staff and volunteers.

National Geographic Publications Index  —This index contains records describing each NGS magazine article, book, map, video, cd-rom, and more. From 1888 to date.

Novelist Plus — Fiction and non-fiction recommendations for a wide range of adult, teen and child reading interests as well as book reviews, author read-alikes, theme-oriented book lists, book discussion guides, book talks, and feature articles. mobile access

Reference USA — The ReferenceUSA database contains detailed information on more than 12 million U.S. businesses, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and churches. In addition, the Residential database includes 102 million U.S. households.

TumbleBookLibrary  —TumbleBooks is an online collection of, animated, talking picture books, including some bilingual titles. Also features unabridged audiobooks, puzzles and games for children.

WorldCat — WorldCat is a worldwide union catalog created and maintained collectively by more than 9,000 member institutions. With millions of online records built from the bibliographic and ownership information of contributing libraries, it is the largest and most comprehensive database of its kind.