GENERAL DATABASES (POPULAR)
MasterFILE Premier
Designed specifically for public libraries, this multidisciplinary database provides full text for nearly 1,950 general reference publications with full text information dating as far back as 1975. Covering virtually every subject area of general interest, MasterFILE Premier also includes nearly 500 full text reference books, 84,011 biographies, 83,472 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of 192,999 photos, maps and flags.
General OneFile
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, humanities, law, literature and art, politics, science, social sciences, sports, technology, and many general interest topics. Millions of full-text articles.
Academic OneFile Select
Academic OneFile Select provides access to scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers across disciplines. The database meets research needs in subject areas including the arts and humanities, social sciences, and science and technology.
New York Times
Access to New York Times Academic requires registration. The steps are different if you are on-campus versus on campus. Link to our information about logging in.
CQ Researcher
The CQ Researcher is an excellent source on the most critical events and controversial subjects of the day. Each of the 44 weekly issues offers a balanced, in-depth analysis of a contemporary topic by a veteran journalist, pro and con arguments by experts, a chronology, and annotated bibliographies to guide additional research. The CQ Researcher reports on important issues in a wide range of areas including social, economic, political, and environmental policy.
Films on Demand
Films on Demand is a comprehensive collection of high-quality educational videos licensed from a long established educational media distributor (Films for the Humanities and Sciences). Other content providers for Films on Demand include BBC Shakespeare, HBO, Davidson Films, California Newsreel, PBS and many more. Over 50,000 videos cover a wide range of topics organized into broad subjects. Individual segments subdivide each video into discrete shorter units.
Kanopy Streaming
Kanopy is a leading distributor of educational videos. Major subjects covered include the arts, business and training, health sciences, media and communication, natural sciences, social sciences, and teacher education. Users can search, browse and stream videos. Login Instructions
Global Issues in Context
Global Issues in Context offers international viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global issues, topics, and current events. Featured are hundreds of continuously updated issue and country portals that bring together a variety of specially selected, highly relevant sources for analysis of social, political, military, economic, environmental, health, and cultural issues. Each of these gateway pages includes an overview, unique "perspectives" articles written by local experts, reference, periodical, primary source and statistical information. Rich multimedia - including podcasts, video, and interactive graphs - enhance each portal. Use Browse Issues and Topics, Country Finder, Basic Search or Advanced Search to explore the database.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context
This database provides contextual information and opinions on hundreds of today's hottest social issues including the Death Penalty, Gun Control, Genetic Engineering, Censorship, Endangered Species, and Terrorism.
View our online tutorial.
Massachusetts News Sources
Search through ten local newspapers simultaneously: Advocate (North Adams), Amherst Bulletin, Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield), Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton), North Adams Transcript, Recorder (Greenfield), Republican (Springfield), Springfield Advocate, Springfield Examiner, and the Valley Advocate.
View our online tutorial.
Pop Culture Studies
This collection provides useful information for any researcher in a social science, history, art or liberal arts course. This collection is made up of 100 subject-appropriate full-text periodicals, complemented by eight eBook titles.
Boston Public Library E-card
The BPL eCard is available to any Massachusetts resident 13 years and older and provides additional resources for research, personal enrichment, and leisure. See instructions on how to get your free ecard. Once you have your ecard, you can access your favorite resources quickly:
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Simultaneously search through more than 200 encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Ebook Central
This is a collection of over 50,000 books online.
Encyclopedia Britannica
The complete encyclopedia, as well as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary & Thesaurus, and the Britannica Book of the Year. Also includes illustrations (photographs, drawings, maps, and flags) and more than 130,000 links to web sites selected, rated, and reviewed by Britannica editors.
eBook Academic Collection
This growing subscription package contains a large selection of multidisciplinary eBook titles representing a broad range of academic subject matter, and is a strong complement for any academic collection. The breadth of information available through this package ensures that users will have access to information relevant to their research needs.
We also have access to this Collection of EBSCO e-books.
A collection of thousands of e-books that can be read online or with the EBSCO eBooks App.
HCC Online Catalog
Most of HCC's online books are linked from the online catalog. The catalog also includes physical items in the library: reference books, circulating books, music, dvds, audio books, and other media. You may also use the online catalog to search for items in your public library.
General sources
Data.gov
U.S. Government's open data containing data, tools, and resources to conduct research. Tutorial video
Google Public Data
Google has a public data search which enables users to find and compare Bureau of Labor Statistics and some US Census data.
State and County QuickFacts
State and County QuickFacts provides frequently requested Census Bureau information at the national, state and county level.
USAGov
Created and maintained by the US government, USAGov is the official gateway to all US government information on the web. Find data about the U.S., such as maps and population, demographic, and economic data.
More specialized sources
Census of Agriculture
The Census of Agriculture is a census conducted every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) that provides uniform, comprehensive agricultural data for every county in the United States.
CIA World Factbook
The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities. Statistics include economic and demographic information.
Information Plus Reference Series
The Information Plus Reference Series compiles all the pertinent data, both current and historical, on a wide variety of contemporary social issues. Many of these books are available online. If there is a link in the record, you can access them online. If not, you will find the book in our reference area of the library.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context
This database provides contextual information and opinions on hundreds of today's hottest social issues including the Death Penalty, Gun Control, Genetic Engineering, Censorship, Endangered Species, and Terrorism.
View our online tutorial.
Population Reference Bureau
Worldwide demographics.
U.S. Census Bureau
Leading source of data about the United States population and economy.
World Bank
The World Bank is a source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. The World Bank website collects statistics about economics, development, and poverty.
MyBib Citation Generator
MyBib is a free online citation bibliography creation tool. It can create citations and bibliographies in many styles including MLA and APA. MyBib allows you to paste in a website URL or even search for a book, article, or other source by title, and will pull most of the information you need to create a citation (though you may need to double check that the information is correct and complete).
Once you've created your citations, MyBib allows you to copy paste your citations, download them as a Word document, save them to your Google Drive, print them, or email them to yourself.
You can also contact us at the library. We are here to help!
HCC has a Writing Center that can help with citations and examples can be seen in the MLA Guide and APA Guide from Purdue.
