Reference Help

For help with research or finding information, visit the Reference Desk on the upper level or e-mail your reference question to refdesk@uproc.lib.mi.us.  A Reference Staff member will respond as soon as possible. You may also call the Reference Desk at 906-226-4311 for help during Library open hours.

The PWPL Reference Staff suggests the following search tools to aid searching the Internet for information. For more Search Tools, News Sources, Best Sellers Links, Book Recommendations, Area Links and more, see Web-Links.

The following MeL Databases are available through the MeL.org  portal on your home computer within Michigan:

Academic OneFile
Recommended for: Colleges and Universities. Mostly full text. Academic OneFile is the premiere source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources. With extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects, ...
ArticleFirst
Recommended for: Colleges and Universities. Index only. OCLC's ArticleFirst contains articles and other items listed on the table of contents pages of journals. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index
Recommended for: Genealogy. Index only. Biography and Genealogy Master Index (BGMI) indexes current, readily available reference sources, as well as the most important retrospective works that cover individuals, both living and deceased, from every field of activity and from all areas of the world. Bibliographic citations only -- no full-text...
Business and Company Resource Center
Recommended for: General user, Professionals. Mostly full text. Business and Company Resource Center is a fully integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, comp...
CAMIO® - Catalog of Art Museum Images Online
Recommended for: General user. CAMIO®—Catalog of Art Museum Images Online—is a premiere resource of works of art from around the world contributed and described by leading museums. Showcasing a wide range of fine and decorative art, CAMIO provides high-quality art images for education research and enjoyment. All cont...
ChiltonLibrary.com
Recommended for: General user. Full text. ChiltonLibrary.com represents the most authoritative automotive repair information available to car owners. There are thousands of year, make, and model combinations covering the most popular vehicles of the past 30 years, plus additional coverage of specialty models. ChiltonLibrary.com gives you...
CINAHL Basic
Recommended for: General public and health professionals. Limited full text. CINAHL provides indexing for 2,931 journals with 1,000,000 records dating back to 1981, covering nursing, biomedicine, health sciences librarianship, complementary medicine, consumer health and 17 allied health disciplines. In addition, this database offers index...
Computer Database
Recommended for: General use. Some full text. Computer Database has over 2,687,481 articles from journals, trade magazines and popular computing magazines. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
ECO Electronic Collections Online
Recommended for colleges and universities. Some full text. A collection of scholarly journals in the sciences and social sciences. Includes agriculture, library science, anthropology, literature, business, medicine, economics, ...
Educator's Reference Complete
Recommended for: Educators and Parents. Full text. Educator's Reference Complete is a selection of more than 450 full-text academic journals, hundreds of full-text reports, and many premier reference sources. Included content focuses on educational principles, child development and psychology, and best practices in education. Majority ...
eLibrary Elementary
Recommended for: K-12. All full text. Video, audio, books, pictures, magazines, maps, newspapers, & transcripts of TV and radio shows. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
ERIC
Recommended for: Educators and Parents. Mostly full text. Contains annotated references to non-journal material issued in the monthly Resources in Education (RIE) and to journal articles issued in the monthly Resources in Education (RIE) and to journal articles issued in the monthly Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE). Michi...
Expanded Academic ASAP
Recommended for: Junior and Community Colleges. Mostly full text. Magazine, newspaper and journal articles appropriate to college and university -level research. All topics. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Recommended for: General user. All full text. Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. These reference materials once were accessible only in the library, but now you can access them online from the library or remotely 24/7. Because each library creates...
General BusinessFile ASAP
Recommended for: General user. All full text. Analyze company performance and activity, industry events and trends as well as the latest in management, economics and politics. Access to a combination of broker research reports, trade publications, newspapers, journals and company directory listings with full text and images available. Mi...
General OneFile
Recommended for general user. Mostly full text. A one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics: business, computers, current events, economics, education, environmental issues, health care, hobbies...
General Reference Center Gold
Recommended for: General user. Mostly full text. General Reference Center Gold on InfoTrac Web provides one-stop access to general interest magazines, business periodicals, reference books, maps, historical images...
GPO Monthly Catalog
Recommended for: General user. Index only. The GPO Monthly Catalog through OCLC includes thousands of U.S. government documents, including Congressional reports, hearings, debates, and records; judiciary materials; and documents issued by executive departments (Defense, State, Labor Office of the President, etc.). Includes a ...
Hand Press Book
Recommended for: Colleges and Universities. The Hand Press Book Database is a unique and growing catalog of European printing in the early modern era or “hand-press period” (15th century to the 1830s). This resource integrates descriptive records for major European national, university and research library holdings. It is especia...
Health and Wellness Resource Center
Recommended for: Students, Patients, Health Professionals. Mostly full text. Provides instant access to carefully compiled and trusted medical reference materials. Includes nearly 400 health/medical journals, hundreds of pamphlets, over 700 health-related videos from partner Healthology, Inc., and articles from 2,200 general interest...
Health Reference Center Academic
Recommended for: Students, Patients, Health Professionals. Mostly full text. Provides access to professional and personal health magazines, journals and reference sources. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
HeritageQuest Online
Recommended for: Genealogy, local history and biography researchers. Some full text. HeritageQuest Online includes all of the images and extensive indexing from the 1790 - 1930 U.S. federal censuses. It offers more than 22,000 digitized book titles, including early family histories and local histories. Additionally, there are more than...
History of Science, Technology and Medicine (HSTM)
Recommended for: Colleges and universities. HSTM integrates four premier tools (Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science, Current Bibliography in the History of Technology, Bibliografia Italiana di Storia della Scienza and citations from the Wellcome Library) to create an international bibliography for the history of science,  techn...
Informe!
Recommended for: Spanish Language Resources. Full text. Una colección de revistas hispánicas con textos completos. Abarca negocios, salud, tecnología, cultura, temas de actualidad y otras materias. Michigan residents access only.
InfoTrac Custom Newspapers
Recommended for: General user. All full text. A collection of full text newspapers from around the Country and the World. Includes the last 12 months of the New York Times and the Grand Rapids Press (1996-current). Michi...
InfoTrac Junior Edition
Recommended for: Middle and Junior High School. Full text. Over 330 titles, cross searchable with E-Books, this database is designed for students in junior high and middle school with access to a variety of indexed and full-text magazines, newspapers and reference books for information on current events, the arts, science, popular culture...
InfoTrac Student Edition
Recommended for: High School. Mostly full text. Over 1100 titles, cross searchable with E-Books, this database gives access to a variety of indexed and full-text magazines, newspapers, podcasts, and reference books for...
Kids InfoBits
Recommended for: K-6. All full text. Kids InfoBits is a database developed especially for beginning researchers in Kindergarten through Grade 5. Featuring a developmentally appropriate, visually graphic interface, the most popular search method is moving from a broad subject to a narrower topic using the subject-based topic tree...
LearningExpress Library
Recommended for: General user. LearningExpress Library provides a completely interactive online learning platform of practice tests and tutorial course series designed to help patrons, students, and adult learners succee...
LegalTrac
Recommended for: General user, professional. Some full text. Students, law school faculty and legal researchers will all find the legal publications they need in LegalTrac®. Drawing on a wide variety of the most highly regarded legal publications, LegalTrac® provides indexing for more than 1,400 titles including major law reviews, legal...
Making of Modern Michigan
Recommended for: General user. Some full text. Michigan's unique heritage is represented through photographs, family papers, oral histories, genealogical materials and much more from local history collections around the state. No login required.
MEDLINE
Recommended for: Patients and health professionals. Some full text. Covers all areas of medicine, including dentistry and nursing. From the National Library of Medicine. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
MeL Best of the Web
Recommended for: General user. Librarian-recommended Web sites on all topics, many with a Michigan focus. No log-in required. 
MeLCat
Recommended for: General user. A catalog of materials available through Michigan libraries. Patrons of participating libraries can order items from other statewide participating libraries and have them delivered...
Michigan Authors and Illustrators
Recommended for: General user, Reading Advice. A searchable database of Michigan authors and illustrators. Provides biographical and contact information. Indicates whether person will do library pre
NetLibrary
Recommended for: General user. All full text. Over 20,000 eBooks available on all topics. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
New York Times
Recommended for: General user. All full text. The daily newspaper New York Times 1995-present. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
NewsBank Michigan Newspapers
Recommended for: General user. Full text of the Detroit News (1/1/1999-Current, Grand Rapids Press (2002-Current, and Lansing State Journal (1/1/1999-Current. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
NoveList
Recommended for: Readers of fiction (all ages), librarians, and teachers. Helps to find the next best fiction book to read. Search by author, title, series, plots, or even books like the one you just finished. Browse lists of award...
SCIPIO: Art and Rare Book Sales Catalogs
Recommended for: General user and Colleges and universities. Art and Rare Book Sales Catalogs is the only online union catalog of auction catalog records in existence. This database provides bibliographic access...
SIRS Discoverer Deluxe
Recommended for: K-9. All full text. A children's database of articles, books, video, audio on all topics. The interface is appropriate to children and includes reading levels, teacher's help pages, and more. Michigan...
SIRS Renaissance
Recommended for: High school, College and University. Full text. Provides dynamic information on the following topics: architecture and design, culture, literature, multimedia, music, performing arts, philosophy and religion...
What Do I Read Next?
Recommended for: General user, Reading Advice. A database to help you decide what to read next. Search by character, topic, setting, time period, genre, title, author and series. Will also make recommendations...
WilsonSelectPlus
Recommended for: High School, College. All full text articles in science, humanities, education and business. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
World Almanacs
Recommended for: General user. Contains full text of Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, The World Almanac for Kids, The World Almanac of the U. S. A., The World Almanac...
WorldCat
Recommended for: General user. The world's largest online catalog of books and magazines. Includes a description of the item and which libraries own the item. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.

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