Databases by Subject
Learning Resources & Research Databases by Subject
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Click to access databases in the library.
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- Arts
- Automotive
- Biography
- Books
- Business
- Career Prep
- College Prep
- Computers
- Education
- en Español
- Gardening
- Genealogy
- Government
- Health
- History
- Home
- Homework Help
- Kids
- Languages
- Law
- Literature
- Medicine
- Newspapers
- Reading
- Repairs
- Research (General)
- Research (Scholarly)
- Science
- Social Science
General Research
back to top- Academic Search Complete *: Coverage on a wide range of topics. Includes peer-reviewed full text for STEM research, as well as for the social sciences and humanities.
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Explora for Public Libraries
*: Magazines, reference books, biographies, photos and more to meet your general research needs.
View Tutorial - MasterFILE Complete *: Content from popular full-text magazines, reference books and other highly-regarded sources. Covers wide range of subjects including business, health, fashion, sports, and personal finance.
- Referencia Latina *: Spanish-language resource. Covers academic and non-academic subjects. Offers content from reference books, general interest magazines, health reports, and other sources. Daily updates from a dozen newspapers from ten Latin American countries and more than 2,500 health reports.
Arts & Humanities (Literature)
back to top- Art & Architecture Source *: Full-text art research covering fine, decorative and commercial art, as well as architecture and architectural design. Strong international coverage with hundreds of full-text art journals, magazines and books, plus detailed indexing, abstracts and thousands of images.
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Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center
*: Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center provides comprehensive full text content for many of the most popular hobbies, crafts and recreation activities today. Including full text for more than 740 magazines and books, as well as access to more than 720 videos and over 140 hobby reports, this database offers detailed "how-to" instructions and creative ideas to meet the interests of virtually every hobby-enthusiast.
View Tutorial - Humanities Source *: Covers literary, scholarly and creative thought. Ideal for students, researchers, and educators interested in any aspect of the humanities.
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Literary Reference Center
*: Covers broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. Wide range of subjects covered including plot summaries, literary criticism, book reviews, classic and contemporary poems, short stories and novels, and author interviews.
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Poetry & Short Story Reference Center
*: Coverage includes classic and contemporary poems as well as short stories, biographies and authoritative essays.
View Tutorial
Biography & Genealogy
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Ancestry Library Edition
: The ultimate source for genealogy, family trees and family history records online.
View Tutorial -
Biography in Context
: Contains more than 435,000 biographies on more than 340,000 people.
View Tutorial -
Biography Reference Center
*: Coverage for several of the most popular and heavily-researched biographies and genres, including those contained within Biography Today and Biography (both dating back to the first issue published).
View Tutorial - HeritageHub : Collection of U.S. obituaries and death notices for in-depth genealogical research from 1704 to today.
- MyHeritage Library Edition *: MyHeritage Library Edition is one of the largest, most internationally diverse genealogy databases of its kind. Access to billions of historical documents, millions of historical photos and other resources in thousands of databases that span the past five centuries.
Books & Reading
back to top- EBSCO eBook Collection *: Search and view the full text of eBooks.
- EBSCO eBooks Public Library Collection *: General reference collection featuring titles for both adults and kids. Covers topics ranging from self-help and fitness to cooking and personal finance.
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Literary Reference Center
*: Covers broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. Wide range of subjects covered including plot summaries, literary criticism, book reviews, classic and contemporary poems, short stories and novels, and author interviews.
View Tutorial - MeLCat *: A catalog of materials available through Michigan libraries. Patrons of participating libraries can order items from other statewide participating libraries and have them delivered to their local library branch.
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NoveList K-8 Plus
*: A database of reading recommendations for kids. Find just the right book by subject, age, awards won, Lexile Reading levels, Common Core standards, books made into movies, and more.
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NoveList Plus
*: A database of reading recommendations for adults and teens. Comprehensive information about books including expert recommendations, reviews, articles, lists and more.
View Tutorial - Read It! *: Designed for middle and high school students who have a basic foundation in English grammar and reading but need adapted reading material for a variety of subjects.
College & Career Prep
back to top- Associates Programs Source *: Full-text coverage for the subject areas most relevant to two-year college programs including biotechnology, graphic arts, criminal justice and veterinary assisting.
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LearningExpress Library
*: Provides a completely interactive online learning platform of practice tests and tutorial course series designed to help test takers succeed on academic or licensing tests.
View Tutorial - Vocational Studies Premier *: Designed specifically for the research needs of two-year colleges. Scholarly content most relevant to vocational programs. Wide range of subjects covered including counseling, biotechnology, cosmetology, fashion design, forensics, graphic arts, health information technology, law enforcement, and veterinary assistant.
en Español
back to top- Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos *: A bilingual visual dictionary from World Book including thousands of images and more than 12,000 labels in the categories of Arts, History and Government, People, Places, Plants and Animals, Science and Mathematics, Sports and Hobbies, and World Religions. Also includes a World of Animals section. To change the language to English, select the Inglés button at the top right of the page.
- Referencia Latina *: Spanish-language resource. Covers academic and non-academic subjects. Offers content from reference books, general interest magazines, health reports, and other sources. Daily updates from a dozen newspapers from ten Latin American countries and more than 2,500 health reports.
- Salud en Español *: This database provides topic-specific reports covering all aspects of health and wellness, including overviews of diseases, conditions, procedures and treatments. Salud en Español is the one-stop resource for evidence-based reports and fact sheets in the Spanish language.
Health & Medicine
back to top- Alt HealthWatch *: Full-text alternative health research database focused on complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness. It offers the latest information about the evolving practice of holistic medicine and therapies.
- Consumer Health Complete *: Provides content covering all key areas of health and wellness, from mainstream medicine to the many perspectives of complementary and holistic medicine.
- Consumer Health Information *: Detailed answers to the 200 most-commonly-asked health questions. Available in 17 languages. Answers are provided in evidence-based reports that feature graphics, illustrations, easy-to-read text and links to additional information.
- Coronavirus Research Database : A free health and medical research database for openly available content related to the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition *: Provides researchers, allied health professionals, nurses and medical educators access to full-text scholarly journals focusing on many medical disciplines. It provides indexing, abstracts and full-text for hundreds of nursing and allied health journals, many of which are peer-reviewed.
- HealthSource: Consumer Edition *: Consumer health information including magazines and reference books. It also includes searchable full text for current health pamphlets.
- Salud en Español *: This database provides topic-specific reports covering all aspects of health and wellness, including overviews of diseases, conditions, procedures and treatments. Salud en Español is the one-stop resource for evidence-based reports and fact sheets in the Spanish language.
History & Government
back to top- Black Life in America : The experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media.
- Caribbean Search *: Full-text content pertaining to the countries and people of the Caribbean. Created in conjunction with Caribbean librarians and researchers.
- Central & Eastern European Academic Source *: Multidisciplinary and multilingual resource covering a variety of subject areas including history, business and law.
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History Reference Center
*: Covers U.S. and world history topics and features historical reference books, magazines and thousands of primary source documents.
View Tutorial
Home & Garden
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Auto Repair Source
*: Service and repair information for thousands of domestic and imported vehicles. All content comes from the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and includes step-by-step repair information, diagrams, maintenance schedules, parts and labor estimates, service bulletins and recalls. Designed for touch-enabled devices such as laptops and tablets, AutoMate offers a user-friendly search experience and access to a wealth of information to help users diagnose, repair and maintain today's complex vehicles. Diagrams and images can be easily magnified and printed.
View Tutorial -
Consumer Reports
: Access information on the Consumer Reports website including ratings and information from past issues.
View Tutorial -
Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center
*: Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center provides comprehensive full text content for many of the most popular hobbies, crafts and recreation activities today. Including full text for more than 740 magazines and books, as well as access to more than 720 videos and over 140 hobby reports, this database offers detailed "how-to" instructions and creative ideas to meet the interests of virtually every hobby-enthusiast.
View Tutorial - Home Improvement Reference Center *: A full text database focusing on home improvement and home repair. Thousands of repairs will be available in the areas of outdoor projects, electrical projects, remodeling projects, plumbing projects, wood projects, decorating projects and maintenance. In addition to the repair information, other magazines and reference books focusing on home improvement are included
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Small Engine Repair Reference Center
*: Detailed yet user-friendly repair guides for all manner of small engines. All of the content is organized in an easy-to-use manner so that users can quickly find the information they need.
View Tutorial
Homework Help
back to top- Britannica School *: Britannica School is a suite of resources for kids and teens with four levels: Learning Zone, Elementary, Middle, and High. School code is MeL5.
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Early World of Learning
*: Content for emergent readers in preschool, Kindergarten and early elementary ages. Helps young learners build vocabulary, comprehension, phonics and reading fluency. Read-aloud narration of classic stories, nursery rhymes, interactive games and original videos. "Treks Travels" offers narrated stories in English and Spanish. "Welcome to Reading" provides 48 stories in four progressive Lexile levels to aid skill development. "Know It" includes visual non-fiction topics for early learners. "Print and Do" activities reinforce developmental themes within the site.
View Tutorial - eBook High School Collection *: Specifically for high school students and educators, this collection offers full-text eBook coverage that aligns with school's curricula as well as complements EBSCO's other eResources. There is a selection of teacher resources and titles align with Common Core Curriculum Standards.
- EBSCO eBooks K-8 Collection *: The eBook K-8 Collection contains titles chosen to support a quality learning experience for K-8 students across all subject areas taught in elementary and middle schools, and content aligns with Common Core Curriculum Standards (for participating U.S. states). The collection also features a selection of teacher resources to support educators and administrators.
- Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos *: A bilingual visual dictionary from World Book including thousands of images and more than 12,000 labels in the categories of Arts, History and Government, People, Places, Plants and Animals, Science and Mathematics, Sports and Hobbies, and World Religions. Also includes a World of Animals section. To change the language to English, select the Inglés button at the top right of the page.
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Explora for High Schools
*: High school magazines and reference books including thousands of biographies, primary source documents, over a million photos, maps and flags. Subjects covered include history, current events, science, sports and biographies.
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Explora for Middle Schools
*: Middle school magazines and reference books including thousands of biographies, primary source documents, over a million photos, maps and flags. Subjects covered include history, current events, science, sports and biographies.
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Explora for Primary Schools
*: Children's magazines, easy-to-read encyclopedia entries, and an image collection designed for elementary school libraries.
View Tutorial - MAS Complete *: Designed for high school libraries and offers coverage of popular high school magazines and reference books. Wide range of subjects offered including art, history, sports and music. Over 1,000,000 photos, maps and flags.
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NoveList K-8 Plus
*: A database of reading recommendations for kids. Find just the right book by subject, age, awards won, Lexile Reading levels, Common Core standards, books made into movies, and more.
View Tutorial -
Opposing Viewpoints in Context
*: A one-stop source for information on today's hottest social issues organized by reading level.
View Tutorial - PebbleGo *: Grades PreK-3. Animals (including dinosaurs) and social studies sections of this early literacy and learning tool. Easy-to-navigate visual interface for emerging readers.
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Points of View Reference Center
*: Presents multiple sides of an issue. Helps students assess and develop persuasive arguments and essays, better understand controversial issues and develop analytical thinking skills.
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Tutor.com
: Provides on-demand tutoring, homework help, test preparation and writing assistance for students in grades K-Adult in over 60 subjects.
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World Book Kids
*: General reference covering topics in all subject areas. Designed for elementary school learners with easy-to-read content and multimedia. Hundreds of activities, hands-on science projects and experiments, lesson plans, and resources for educators are included. All content aligned with Michigan Academic Standards. Correlations are available from the "For Educators" link under "Educator Tools."
View Tutorial
Languages
back to top- Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos *: A bilingual visual dictionary from World Book including thousands of images and more than 12,000 labels in the categories of Arts, History and Government, People, Places, Plants and Animals, Science and Mathematics, Sports and Hobbies, and World Religions. Also includes a World of Animals section. To change the language to English, select the Inglés button at the top right of the page.
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Mango Languages
: Mango Languages prepares learners for realistic conversations and strengthens everyday communication skills in over 70 world languages, including English.
View Tutorial - Read It! *: Designed for middle and high school students who have a basic foundation in English grammar and reading but need adapted reading material for a variety of subjects.
- Referencia Latina *: Spanish-language resource. Covers academic and non-academic subjects. Offers content from reference books, general interest magazines, health reports, and other sources. Daily updates from a dozen newspapers from ten Latin American countries and more than 2,500 health reports.
- Salud en Español *: This database provides topic-specific reports covering all aspects of health and wellness, including overviews of diseases, conditions, procedures and treatments. Salud en Español is the one-stop resource for evidence-based reports and fact sheets in the Spanish language.
Law & Business
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AtoZDatabases.com
*: Detailed information on 30 million businesses and executives, over 200 million residents, 2 million new businesses as well as new movers/homeowners, U.S. healthcare professionals, a jobs database, background and criminal search and email marketing.
View Tutorial - Business Book Summaries *: Concise yet comprehensive summaries to help professionals and students keep up with the latest information in the business world. A wide range of topics is covered including business biographies, change management, communication, entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing, personal growth, productivity and technology.
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Consumer Reports
: Access information on the Consumer Reports website including ratings and information from past issues.
View Tutorial -
DemographicsNow: People and Business
*: Search for individuals and businesses or access demographic information by geographic region.
View Tutorial - EBSCO eBooks Business Collection *: A key resource for academic and business school libraries.
- Entrepreneurial Studies Source *: The latest insights on entrepreneurship and small business topics for business students and researchers. Content comes from business journals, magazines, reference books, case studies and company profiles.
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Gale Legal Forms
: Provides a wide selection of state-specific (and multi-state) legal forms across the most popular legal areas. Includes real estate contracts, wills, pre-marital agreements, bankruptcy, divorce, landlord tenant and many others.
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Legal Information Reference Center
*: Designed to assist the general public in legal matters of all kinds. Coverage includes exclusive full text for many top consumer legal reference books, thousands of legal forms, and detailed how-to instructions covering a wide-range of legal issues. A majority of the full-text legal reference books are provided through Nolo.
View Tutorial - Legal Source *: Authoritative database for current issues, studies, thoughts and trends of the legal world. It is an excellent resource for attorneys, educators, business people, law librarians, students, paralegals and others involved with the law.
- Political Science Complete *: Covers political topics with a worldwide focus. Designed for students, researchers and government institutions.
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Reference Solutions (Formerly Reference USA)
: Contains detailed information on more than 14 million U.S. businesses, 210 million U.S. residents, 855,000 U.S. health care providers, 1.5 million Canadian businesses, and 12 million Canadian households.
View Tutorial - Regional Business News *: Provides coverage from regional business publications for the U.S. and Canada.
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Small Business Reference Center
*: Offers coverage that addresses many small business topics from consumer small business reference books, business videos, help and advice section and how to create business plans.
View Tutorial
Newspapers & Media
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America's News
: Explore and stay informed on local and national topics, people and events in areas such as business, health, education, jobs and careers, political and social issues and more. Features a wide variety of credible, vetted news sources spanning the U.S. Includes the Detroit News, Ann Arbor News, and Flint Journal.
View Tutorial - Black Life in America : The experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media.
- Detroit Free Press Archive : Searchable archive of the Detroit Free Press from 1831 to the present. New issues are added about 1 month after publication. Available through ProQuest.
- Detroit News Collection : Explore Detroit history through local news, events and people with The Detroit News Collection. Search current and archived issues with full-color newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online. Available remotely 24/7 on any device.
- HeritageHub : Collection of U.S. obituaries and death notices for in-depth genealogical research from 1704 to today.
- Newspaper Source Plus *: Provides coverage from newspapers, newswires, and news magazines. TV, radio transcripts, and ongoing daily updates from popular news sources are also included. Primary full coverage newspapers are The Washington Post and USA Today.
Repairs
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Auto Repair Source
*: Service and repair information for thousands of domestic and imported vehicles. All content comes from the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and includes step-by-step repair information, diagrams, maintenance schedules, parts and labor estimates, service bulletins and recalls. Designed for touch-enabled devices such as laptops and tablets, AutoMate offers a user-friendly search experience and access to a wealth of information to help users diagnose, repair and maintain today's complex vehicles. Diagrams and images can be easily magnified and printed.
View Tutorial - Home Improvement Reference Center *: A full text database focusing on home improvement and home repair. Thousands of repairs will be available in the areas of outdoor projects, electrical projects, remodeling projects, plumbing projects, wood projects, decorating projects and maintenance. In addition to the repair information, other magazines and reference books focusing on home improvement are included
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Small Engine Repair Reference Center
*: Detailed yet user-friendly repair guides for all manner of small engines. All of the content is organized in an easy-to-use manner so that users can quickly find the information they need.
View Tutorial
Scholarly Research
back to top- Academic Search Complete *: Coverage on a wide range of topics. Includes peer-reviewed full text for STEM research, as well as for the social sciences and humanities.
- Associates Programs Source *: Full-text coverage for the subject areas most relevant to two-year college programs including biotechnology, graphic arts, criminal justice and veterinary assisting.
- EBSCO eBooks Academic Collection *: Multidisciplinary eBooks representing a broad range of academic subjects.
Science & Technology
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Agricola
*: Contains records from the USDA's National Agriculture Library and provides millions of citations relating to the field of agriculture.
View Tutorial - Applied Science & Technology Source *: Full-text and indexed content covering the full spectrum of the applied sciences and computing disciplines from acoustics to aeronautics, neural networks to nuclear engineering.
- Environment Complete *: Offers coverage for students and scholars in the areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy and affiliated areas of study.
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Niche Academy
: Offers a wide variety of tutorials on computers, social media, ebooks, library databases, and more.
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Science Reference Center
*: Full-text science magazines, encyclopedias, reference books, and a collection of images.
View Tutorial - Turfgrass Information File *: Cooperative project of the United States Golf Association and the Michigan State University Libraries' Turfgrass Information Center. Provides bibliographic and descriptive records of all types of work related to turfgrass culture.
Social Science & Education
back to top- Caribbean Search *: Full-text content pertaining to the countries and people of the Caribbean. Created in conjunction with Caribbean librarians and researchers.
- Central & Eastern European Academic Source *: Multidisciplinary and multilingual resource covering a variety of subject areas including history, business and law.
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ERIC: Education Resources Information Center
*: ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) is an authoritative database of indexed and full-text education literature and resources. Sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education, it is essential tool for education researchers of all kinds.
View Tutorial - Education Source *: Provides scholarly research and information for education students, professionals and policy makers. Covers all levels of education - from early childhood to higher education - and educational specialties such as multilingual education, health education and testing.
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Explora for Educators
*: Resources for teachers including lesson plans, curriculum standards, student tools, and valuable websites.
View Tutorial - Jewish Studies Source *: Multidisciplinary view of the study of Jewish civilization from its historical origins to the present.
- Library & Information Science Source *: Journals and periodicals that help librarians and researchers keep pace with the latest trends in the field.
- Professional Development Collection *: Specialized database of full-text electronic information especially for educators, professional librarians and education researchers.
- Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection *: Covers a broad range of subjects in the fields of psychology, behavioral sciences and related disciplines. For psychologists, counselors, researchers and students.
*MeL Databases

These databases are part of MeL which is a project of the Library of Michigan, an agency of the state government. The Library of Michigan contracts with MCLS and partners with a number of Michigan organizations and institutions to provide MeL services. This project is made possible by grant funds from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the State of Michigan through the Library of Michigan.
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