Databases

Use our subscription databases to find citations and full text articles. To get started, just click on the database that you would like to search. If you're outside the library, you may need to enter your library card number and PIN in order to access the database.

• Digital Media
• Digital Learning
• Free Library Catalog

Awarded “Best Library Digital Resources” by Philadelphia Magazine

• Academic OneFile

  Find peer-reviewed, full-text articles from journals in the areas of the physical and social sciences, technology, medicine, engineering, the arts, literature, and more. More than 18,000 peer-reviewed journals and more than 9,200 in full text.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Art
  • Homework Help and Study Aids
  • Literature
  • Medical
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Science
  • Social Science
  • Technology
  • Adults
  • Teens

• Academic Search Main Edition

  Provides full-text and peer-reviewed journals essential for undergraduate & graduate studies. Subjects include biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, psychology, & religion from over 1,800 full-text and more than 1,200 full-text peer-reviewed journals.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Homework Help and Study Aids
  • Psychology
  • Religion
  • General Research
  • Science
  • Adults
  • Teens

• Access PA

  An access portal to a suit of resources provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • Children

• Free Library of Philadelphia Online Public Access Catalog

  Catalog of The Free Library of Philadelphia's Collection

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • Children

• Gale eBooks (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library)

  Explore over 500 nonfiction, fully searchable reference titles. Access accurate information on science, literature, history, business, and more.
  Use the following video to learn more about this resource

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Ebooks
  • Homework Help and Study Aids
  • Music
  • General Research
  • Business and Entrepreneurs
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • Children
  • Digital Media

• Gale in Context | Elementary (formerly Kids InfoBits)

  Students in K-5th grade will find kid-friendly content covering topics such as animals, arts, geography, health, literature, people, social studies, technology, and more! Includes more than 16,600 images and over 600 high-quality educational videos.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Biography and Autobiography
  • Health and Fitness
  • Homework Help and Study Aids
  • Literature
  • Movies and Television
  • Music
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Social Science
  • Sports and Recreation
  • Technology
  • Children
  • Animals and Nature

• Gale in Context | Middle School (formerly Research in Context)

  Gale in Context | Middle School provides support for middle grade students working on papers and projects. Includes full-text magazine & news articles, multimedia, biographies, and primary sources.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Biography and Autobiography
  • Government Information
  • Homework Help and Study Aids
  • Literature
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Science
  • Social Science
  • Teens
  • Children
  • History

• Gale In Context: Biography

  Comprehensive online biographical reference database containing 414,000 biographies.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Biography and Autobiography
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens

• Gale In Context: High School

  Primary documents, biographies, topical essays, background information, critical analyses, full-text coverage of 800 magazines, photographs and illustrations, audio and video clips

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Health and Fitness
  • Homework Help and Study Aids
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • Children

• Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints

  Examine the many sides of today's hottest social issues. Explore pro/con viewpoints, articles, and infographics.
  Use the following video to learn more about this resource

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Homework Help and Study Aids
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Social Science
  • Teens
  • Adults
  • Teens

• Gale OneFile | High School Edition (formerly InfoTrac Student Edition)

  Content for high school students from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and rich media (images, audio, video) covering a range of subjects, from science, history, and literature to political science, sports, and environmental studies.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Environment and Nature
  • Homework Help and Study Aids
  • Literature
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • Politics
  • General Research
  • Science
  • Sports and Recreation
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • History

• General OneFile

  A broad collection of news articles, magazines, reference books, images, audio, and video that support general interest research and exploration. Offering more than 8,800 full-text titles, with millions of articles available.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens

• JSTOR

  Digital archive to back issues of over 300 journals. Available at all Free Library locations. JSTOR no longer provides remote access to public libraries as of September 2023. *Chrome browser not supported

  Available To: All Free Library locations

  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens

• Kid's POWER Library

  Access all of Power Library's great resources for kid's

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Children
  • General Research
  • Children

• NewsBank Hot Topics

  Trending news and topics for your next assignment! Covers current events, business & economics, civics, government, & politics, social issues, science, technology & health, sports, arts & literature, and people in the news. *Chrome browser not supported.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Art
  • Business and Economics
  • Health and Fitness
  • Homework Help and Study Aids
  • Literature
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • Politics
  • General Research
  • Sports and Recreation
  • Technology
  • Adults
  • Teens

• NewsBank Main Menu

  The main portal to Newsbank Inc.'s databases, providing international, national, local, and historical news coverage.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Genealogy
  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens

• Newsbank Special Reports

  NewsBank's Special Reports focus on topics of current interest. They include content from sources throughout the world to provide a global perspective, current and background information, statistics, maps, images, websites, and suggested search terms.

  Available To: All Free Library locations.

  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens

• POWER Library

  Pennsylvania Online World of Electronic Resources

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • Children

• Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982

  Search more than 3 million articles from 375 leading magazines from 1890 to 1982.

  Available To:

  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens

• Salem Press Reference

  Searchable database of reference titles developed by Salem Press

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Literature
  • General Research
  • Science
  • Adults
  • Teens
  • History

• Student Search: General Encyclopedia

  Search across a range of digital encyclopedias to find information on any topic.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • General Research
  • Science
  • Teens
  • Children
  • Animals and Nature

• TDNet

  Listing of full-text journals available electronically at the Free Library. Replaces JournalWebCite.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Newspapers Magazines and Journals
  • General Research
  • Adults
  • Teens

• TrueFlix

  Read the book and watch the movie! TrueFlix provides a selection of digital books from Scholastic Publishing and pairs each with a film for a fun, new way to learn for Grade 3 and up.

  Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.

  • Children
  • Ebooks
  • Homework Help and Study Aids
  • Literacy
  • General Research
  • Children

denotes POWER Library resource

This project is made possible in part by Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and through Library Access Funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, Department of Education, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, Governor.