Online research tools and books at your fingertips. Any time, anywhere, courtesy of Vail Public Library.
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A-Z database listing
Academic Search Premier
This collection of full-text articles and journals offers information in nearly every area of academic study including computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and many more.
Access World News
Explore and stay informed on local, national, and international 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 from around the world to around the corner, including Denver Post Collection. Also available remotely 24/7 on any device.
Ancestry Library
Provides records and genealogies from across the globe. Its valuable content is a complement to HeritageQuest Online (see below).
Library use only suspended during COVID-19
Auto Repair Source
Powered by the automotive experts at MOTOR, Auto Repair Source provides the most accurate, authoritative and up-to-date 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.
Biography Reference Center
Biography Reference Centger provides thousands of unique and reliable full-text biographies, including the complete full text of Biography and Biography Today. In addition to keyword search, users can locate biographies by subject occupation, activity, nationality, gender, birthplace and more.
Watch a short video on using Biography Reference Center.
Britannica Annals of American History
This online chronicle provides a year-by-year documentary of American thought and action. Read the original words of more than 1,500 authors who made and analyzed American history through their speeches, writings, memoirs, poems, and interviews.
Britannica Original Sources
This source provides a collection of thousands of e-works of classic primary sources and general reference materials. It covers 12 subject areas—world history, U.S. history, political science, law, literature, science, mathematics, social science, philosophy, religion, language, and language arts. Materials include political documents, landmark court decisions, editorials, photos, and multimedia.
Britannica School
This resource provides great research material appropriate for elementary school, middle school, and high school students. Content from the high school level of Britannica will also appeal to adults.
Business Searching Interface
Search and browse information including country economic data, company profiles, industry information, and market research.
Business Source Premier
This premier resource provides access to over 1,000 business publications general magazines to trade publications and top management journals as well as over 10,000 company profiles.
Watch a tutorial on basic searching in Business Source. Or watch a tutorial on advanced searching in Business Source.
Consumer Health Complete
The single most comprehensive resource for consumer-oriented health content, CHC is designed to support the information needs of patients and to foster an overall understanding of health-related topics. CHC provides content covering all areas of health and wellness from mainstream medicine to the many perspectives of complementary, holistic, and integrated medicine.
Watch a tutorial on using Consumer Health Complete.
Consumer Reports
The name you trust for product reviews and purchasing advice is available 24/7.
Denver Post Collection
Explore Denver history through local news, events, and people with Denver Post Collection. Search current and archived issues with full-color newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online. Also available remotely 24/7 on any device.
EBSCOhost Web
Search one, selected, or all databases offered by EBSCO through State of Colorado funding.
Watch a tutorial on basic searching in Ebscohost. Or watch a tutorial on advanced searching in Ebscohost.
Environment Complete
Comprehensive coverage for Environmental Studies including agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, and affiliated areas of study.
Ethnic Diversity Source
This full-text database is a dedicated resource covering the culture, traditions, social treatment and lived experiences of different ethnic groups in America. It provides full text from a growing list of sources including peer-reviewed journals, magazines, e-books, biographies and primary source documents.
Watch a short tutorial about using Ethnic Diversity Source.
Explora Elementary School Version
Explora is an easy-to-use tool that can help you complete research and classroom assignments. Discover reliable information on topics covering a wide range of subjects including art, music, literature, language arts, geography, history, social studies, world cultures and languages, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, health and sports. Search results are aligned with a student’s grades in school.
Watch a tutorial on using Explora for Elementary School.
Explora High School Version
Explora is an easy-to-use tool that can help you complete research and classroom assignments. Discover reliable information on topics covering a wide range of subjects including art, music, literature, language arts, geography, history, social studies, world cultures & languages, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, health and sports. Search results are aligned with a student’s grades in school.
Watch a tutorial on using Explora for High School.
Explora Middle School Version
Explora is an easy-to-use tool that can help you complete research and classroom assignments. Discover reliable information on topics covering a wide range of subjects including art, music, literature, language arts, geography, history, social studies, world cultures & languages, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, health and sports. Search results are aligned with a student’s grades in school.
Watch a tutorial on using Explora for Middle School.
Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia
Access to thousands of encyclopedia entries on a variety of topics.
GreenFILE
Comprised of more than 600 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 environment.
History Reference Center
This database features full text from more than 1900 reference books, encyclopedias, and nonfiction books PLUS 200 history periodicals.
Watch a tutorial on using History Reference Center.
Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center
Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center offers detailed “how-to” instructions and creative ideas to meet the interests of virtually every hobby enthusiast. Full text is provided from leading hobby and craft magazines.
Watch a short tutorial on using Hobbie & Crafts Reference Center.
Home Improvement Reference Center
This database provides do-it-yourselfers with detailed, user-friendly “how-to” information covering a variety of home improvement and repair projects through a collection of comprehensive full-text content.
Watch a short tutorial on using Home Improvement Reference Center.
Law Depot
Allows you to create your own legal documents by having you answer questions pertinent to the document and your specific situation. Legal assistance is also available. Law Depot access for Vail Public Library cardholders is integrated into the Libby app under the “Extras” section.
The Libby app can be accessed on computers as well as mobile devices. A Libby app help article may answer some questions.
Learning Express Library
This valuable service is available 24/7 from any Internet-enabled computer at your library or from your home! The Learning Express Library includes academic testing and career testing. It also includes GED test materials.
Tutorials to help you use Learning Express
Legal Information Reference Center
This database offers the everyday user the necessary tools and detailed “how-to” instructions to independently address a wide-range of legal issues. Users can search over 12,800 state-specific legal forms – searchable by all 50 U.S. states and by top subject areas, including adoption, bankruptcy, name changes, and more.
Library Information Science and Technology Abstracts
LISTA covers librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management, and more.
Library Speakers Consortium
Vail Public Library showcases a virtual author talk series each month featuring bestselling, award-winning, and highly acclaimed authors from around the world. The featured writers and thought leaders will cover a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres.
The free, virtual series takes place two to three times a month and includes the opportunity to ask questions to the author. A complete list of events is available on Vail Public Library virtual author talk series website at LSC | Vail Public Library Webinars and Online Events (libraryc.org)
All events are free and open to the public. For more information or to register for the author talks, visit LSC | Vail Public Library Webinars and Online Events (libraryc.org) or call 970-479-2187.
Linked In Learning
Linked in Learning provides unlimited access to over 16,000 online courses. Keep up to date with technology, build career-boosting business skills, explore hundreds of topics in management, leadership, and marketing, or gain multimedia, design, web development, and social media skills. Linked in Learning offers expert instructors, searchable course transcripts, downloadable files, new courses added weekly, and Certificates of Completion.
Literary Reference Center
Literary Reference Center is a rich full-text literary database covering all genres and time periods. It includes thousands of synopses, critical essays, book reviews, literary journals and author biographies, plus full-text classic novels, short stories and poems.
Watch a short tutorial on using Literary Reference Center.
Mango Languages
Choose from 70+ world languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, German, Greek, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and Korean.
To get started, set up an account by visiting VPL’s Mango login page. Sign in or click the ‘Sign up’ button. You can register for a free account provided by the library from this page with just an email address and password.
Choose a language and have fun!
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MAS Ultra School Edition
Specifically designed to provide high school students with full text access to periodicals, reference books, primary source documents, biographies and more.
MasterFILE Premier
MasterFILE™ Premier contains nearly 1,750 periodicals covering general reference, business, health, education, general science, multicultural issues and much more. Also find nearly 500 full text reference books and biographies. Use this resource to access Consumer Reports online for free.
Middle Search Plus
Middle school students can access biographies, historical essays, encyclopedias and popular, middle school magazines. Provides access to full text for more than 140 middle school magazines, 85,639 biographies, 104,481 primary source documents and an image collection of 285,912 photos, maps and flags.
My Heritage
Diverse genealogy databases providing access to billions of historical documents, millions of historical photos and other resources in thousands of databases that span the past five centuries. This genealogy database is available to Vail Public Library card holders from home.
New York Times
Get access to the New York Times courtesy of the Vail Public Library. Read the daily New York Times online. Enjoy access to articles, blogs, videos, podcasts, multimedia features and historical content dating back to 1851. Once you have created an account with New York Times, you may download and use the app.
With your New York Times account, you can also access Times Machine, a database of every New York Times newspaper published before December 31st, 2002.
You will need to create a New York Times user account (unless you already have one) using either link below.
For unlimited access from within the library, click the At library link button and enter your NYT account user name and password.
For remote access, click the At home link button and log in with your library card number and then your NYT account user name and password for a 72 hour pass. When that pass expires, repeat the process for a new pass.
Newspaper Source Plus
Digital collection of the world’s major news content. It includes millions of articles from newspapers, newswires and news magazines. In addition, it offers television and radio transcripts and ongoing daily updates from popular news sources.
NoveList K-8
Read-alike recommendations curated specifically for younger readers. It can help kids find books that are right for their reading level and interests.
NoveList
This is a fiction database that provides subject heading access, reviews, annotations and much more for over 135,000 titles. It also includes other content of interest to fiction readers, such as Author Read-alikes, What We’re Reading, Book Discussion Guides, BookTalks and Annotated Book Lists. For school media specialists and teachers, there are Picture Book Extenders and articles on Teaching with Fiction.
Poetry & Short Story Reference Center
Poetry & Short Story Reference Center is a rich full-text database containing thousands of classic and contemporary poems, short stories, biographies, essays, lesson plans and learning guides. It also includes high-quality videos and audio recordings from the Academy of American Poets.
Watch a short tutorial on using Poetry & Short Story Reference Center.
Points of View
This excellent resource helps students research multiple sides of current issues and complex topics including affirmative action, cloning, DNA profiling, HIV/AIDS status disclosure, immigration, Iraq and much more.
Tutorial on using Points of View
Primary Search
Designed for use in elementary schools, this database provides access to primary sources, articles and information from popular, elementary school magazines, encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free eBooks with over 60,000 available titles. All titles available on Project Gutenberg are within the public domain. You can download them to an e-reader or read them online.
Psychology & Behavioral Sciences
This premier resource contains full text for more than 560 journals concerning topics in emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and experimental methods.
Reference Solutions
Formerly known as Reference USA, Data Axle Reference Solutions is the go-to resource for comprehensive data on both businesses and individuals, tailored to the needs of small business owners, marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, researchers, and job seekers. It empowers users to create marketing plans, conduct competitive analysis, secure funding, and locate individuals. This platform offers detailed profiles of over 50 million U.S. businesses, 150 million U.S. residents, 7+ million job postings, internships, historical business data, and healthcare listings, making it an invaluable research tool for job seekers, businesses, and researchers.
Regional Business News
This premier resource provides access to 50 regional business publications.
Religion & Philosophy Collection
Religion & Philosophy Collection is a full-text database for theology and philosophy research. It includes hundreds of full-text journals and magazines covering many religious and philosophical topics, including world religions, religious history, political philosophy and philosophy of language.
Watch a short tutorial on using Religion & Philosophy Collection.
Science Reference Center
Designed to meet every student’s science research needs, Science Reference Center contains full text for hundreds of science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals and other sources. Topics covered include biology, chemistry, earth and space science, environmental science, health and medicine, history of science, life science, physics and more.
Tutorial on using Science Reference Center
Small Engine Repair Reference Center
Small Engine Repair Reference Center is your online tool for small engine repair assistance, including ATVs, commercial mowers, farm tractors, generators, motorcycles, marine (boats), outdoor power equipment, personal watercraft/jet ski (PWC), snow blowers, snowmobiles, tillers and other small engines. A library card is required to use this resource from home.
Tutorial on using Small Engine Repair Reference Center
TOPICsearch
This current events database allows researchers to explore social, political & economic issues, scientific discoveries and other popular topics discussed in today’s classrooms including controversial opinions and viewpoints.
Wall Street Journal
Vail Public Library patrons with active library cards can create a Wall Street Journal account that is valid for periods of 10 days. Just renew your access from the above link when access needs to be renewed.
The Washington Post
Vail Public Library provides free access to The Washington Post. Enjoy expert reporting and analysis from Washington and around the world, including award-winning investigative coverage and editorial commentary. While you are on-site at the library, enjoy full access to WashingtonPost.Com.
Need access while on the go? Free 7-day Washington Post subscription passes are also available.
Offsite Access: To access The Washington Post from outside of the library, follow this link. Unrestricted offsite access is available to readers for 7 days after registering with an email address and password. On the eighth day, return to the offsite access link to trigger a new 7-day access period.