Research Resources

Education

American Museum of Natural History Photo Collection
Dioramas, Educational Exhibits and behind the scenes photos from the archives of the American Natural History Museum in New York City.

Avalon Project at Yale Law School
A digital archive of key historic documents in the fields of law and politics.  The collection ranges from the Ancient to the Modern era.

Brainfuse Helpnow
Offers live tutor access for homework help, skills building and test preparation.  Because HelpNow is personalized, both the student and the tutor can access quiz questions to do an intensive test prep which may include loading lessons on the whiteboard. All live sessions are saved and can be replayed as well as shared with friends and teachers by email.  Using the CloudPack feature, students can store and upload MS Word, Excel, JPG, and other accepted file types directly onto the whiteboard.
Live Tutoring tutorial

Britannica Academic Edition
An accurate, current, and comprehensive resource for college-level learners, researchers, and faculty. Discover encyclopedia articles, full-text journal and magazine articles, primary sources, multimedia, and other unique resources and tools that make research easier and more productive.

Digital Public Library of America Primary Source sets
DPLA Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills by exploring topics in history, literature, and culture through primary sources. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA’s Education Advisory Committee.

Driving Tests Online
An online collection of Driver’s Test Prep materials.  This site includes motorcycle and CDL practice tests, along with online drivers’ manuals.

Educator’s Reference Complete by GALE
Resource for educators and education students.  Provides access to periodicals covering pre-school to college and most educational specialties.  Also contains federal and international reports and publications, including full-text for many titles cited in ERIC.

Linkedin Learning
Linkedin Learning is a collection of online courses and video tutorials to help you learn business, technical and creative skills.

Tech Talk
A variety of technology related tutorials on topics such as using Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint; creating a business plan, and how to give a business presentation.

Genealogy

Ancestry Library
Genealogical information, including  census data, vital records, directories, and photos.  

HeritageHub
Explore your family history with the premier collection of U.S. obituaries and death notices for in-depth genealogical research from 1704 – today. HeritageHub helps you easily identify relatives, uncover new information and potentially unknown family members. Includes deep coverage from all 50 states, hard-to-find content from the mid 1900’s, and original obituary images.

Heritage Quest Online
Includes millions of genealogy records, including Ship Manifests, Ellis Island records and US Census data.

Health

Alcoholics Anonymous – Syracuse 
Information on where to find AA meetings in the Syracuse, NY area.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Information on diseases and conditions, traveler’s health, emergency preparedness and more.

GALE Onefile Health & Medicine
Multi-source database provides access to the full text of nursing and allied health journals 

MedlinePlus
Find information on health, wellness, disorders and conditions.  Learn about prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines, herbs and supplements.  Discover tutorials, health and surgery videos, quizzes and games. 

Mental Health America
Information on living a mentally healthy life and finding help with mental health issues. 

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
Mental health support and resources. 

NIH Mental Health Resources
The National Institute of Health’s website for mental health topics; includes articles and videos designed for use by the average person, and covering a variety of mental health topics.

NIH National Institute on Aging
The National Institute of Health’s website for senior health issues.

Nature & Conservation

eBirds
eBird is the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen science project, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed each year by eBirders around the world. A collaborative enterprise with hundreds of partner organizations, thousands of regional experts, and hundreds of thousands of users, eBird is managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Birds of North America
From drawings made in the United States and territories by John James Audobon; a New York State Public Library Digital Special collection.

Endangered Species: US Fish & Wildlife Service
A registry of species listed as threatened or endangered.  The database allows you to search your state and county for local endangered or threatened species. 

Fishing Regulations of New York State
Published by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. 

Mammals of New York State
Originally published in The Conservationist magazine, this series features common mammals found in New York State. 

Macauley Library: Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The Macauley Library at Cornell University has compiled a substantial collection of images, audio and video of birds.  Images, audio-files and video recordings are captioned, providing the date, place and contributor name. 

New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation
Information on attractions throughout New York State.  Includes historic sites, nature centers, golf courses, and trails.

New York State Trees & Forestry
This site from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation offers information on the New York State Tree Nursery program, the New York State Big Tree Registry, information on native plant species, and details of the state’s Open Space Conservation plan. 

Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency
Information on waste disposal and recycling guidelines for residents of Onondaga County.  This website also includes seasonal information on topics such as Christmas Tree and yard waste disposal. 

New York State Historic Newspapers
Created and administered by the Northern New York Library Network  and the Empire State Library Network, this projects works to digitize and make available newspapers from every county in the state.

New York Times Database 
Full text articles from the New York Times from 1/1/1985 to today.

The Syracuse Post Standard by Newsbank
This collection features articles from the Syracuse Post-Standard, including locally produced blog content. This collection includes material from the current day’s issue of the paper, along with access to premium subscriber-only content

Reference

200 Years on the Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is one of the most famous man-made bodies of water in the world. Designed, financed, built, operated, and maintained by the people of New York, the canal was one of the largest public works projects ever attempted anywhere in the world when the first shovel of earth was turned near Rome, New York, on July 4, 1817.  This exhibit from the Digital Public Library of America chronicles the Canal’s early days. 

Baldwinsville Local History Collections
Local history items of interest gathered on the New York Heritage website. The collections include the Baldwinsville Yearbook Collection, the Christopher Collection: a collection of historic photos of the Baldwinsville area, scanned copies of the Gazette and Farmer’s journal beginning in 1846, and the New York Ordinance Works Collection; a collection of historic photos from when munitions were manufactured in this area during WWII.

Canalmap.com
Sponsored by the New York State board of tourism, Canalway.com offers travel information for places of interest all along the Erie Canal.  The site allows you to search for places of interest by category, region or feature.

Computer Science by GALE Onefile
Provides access to business and technical publications in the computer, electronics and telecommunications industries. 

Culinary Arts by GALE OnefileIncludes 150 of the major cooking and nutrition magazines. Coverage includes thousands of searchable recipes, restaurant reviews, and industry information.

Diversity Studies by GALE Onefile
Explores cultural differences, contributions and influences in our global community. Includes 150 full-text journals. Coverage begins in 1980.

Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather
With over 330 entries, the Encyclopedia covers essential topics that include the processes that produce weather, the world’s climates, classification of climates, important scientific concepts used by climatologists and meteorologists, as well as the history atmospheric sciences, biographies of noteworthy contributors to the field, and significant weather events from extreme tropical cyclones to tornadoes to hurricanes.

Gale Academic OneFile
Over 12,000 journals and reference sources, many of which are peer-reviewed and full text. It has extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and more. 

Gale General OneFile
Over 12,000 periodicals, newspapers, reference books and multimedia sources, over half of which are full text. The backfile extends nearly 30 years. Subjects include humanities, education, environmental issues, technology, health care, politics and more. 

National Register of Historic Places
The National Park Service provides a nationwide catalog of sites, buildings and landmarks that have met specific criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.  The database allows you to search by community and surrounding areas.  Many sites include profiles that can be downloaded as PDF files. 

The Onondaga County Public Library’s GVRL Collection
The Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) is a collection of eBooks that includes encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. These materials once accessible only in hard copy are now available online from the library or remotely.

Opposing Viewpoints
Contains a range of perspectives on many important issues, with over 13,000 pro/con viewpoints. Includes a variety of resource types: reference, news, primary sources, multimedia and more.

Ready.gov
Information on how to prepare for major weather events, flooding, power outages and other incidents.

Reference Solutions
Business and residential phone numbers, addresses, and other directory information, including reverse phone number lookups. The business directory offers advanced mode searching by yellow page heading, business SIC code, zip code, SMSA and more.

Research in Context
Resource for students in grades 6 to 8.  Offers magazines, newspapers, primary sources, over 12,000 videos and more on a variety of topics.  Supports national and state curriculum standards in language arts, social studies and science.

Students K-5

Gale in Context Elementary
Gale In Context: Elementary supports elementary education with trusted information on topics
in social studies, science, language arts, and more. Access videos, magazine and news articles,
images, and books in an age-appropriate, ad-free resource with tools designed to develop
research skills.

Novelist K-8 Plus
Is designed for students in grades K through 5. It provides an easy-to-use, graphically-appealing way for kids to search resources.  Kids Search includes: non-fiction books, animals, history, magazines and pictures on a variety of topics ranging from animals to history to stories. Lexile (reading) levels of the information found go up to Grade 5.