Web Resources

Contemporary Authors Online [Access from Home] This database offers library users continuous access to current biographical and bibliographical data on more than 120,000 modern authors.

LitFinder [Access from Home] International in scope, covers all time periods, and contains a wealth of primary literature content, including more than 126,500 full-text poems, 850,000 poem citations and excerpts, 5,000 full-text short stories, 2,800 full-text essays, 1,800 full-text speeches, and 1,000 full-text plays. LitFinder also includes biographies, work summaries, photographs, and a glossary.

Novelist [Access from Home] With well over 200,000 fiction titles, lists of award-winning books, book discussion guides, BookTalks, recommended reading lists and more; NoveList is a complete readers’ resource. It contains materials for kids, teens and adults.

Business Source Premier [Access from Home] Business Source Premier is the industry’s most used business research database, providing full text for more than 2,300 journals, including 1,100 peer-reviewed titles. This database provides full text back to 1886, and searchable cited references back to 1998. Coverage includes many disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. This database is updated daily on EBSCOhost.

Gale Directory Library [Access from Home] Search directories with information on companies, publishers, associations and more.



-Ward’s Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies

-Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media

-Encyclopedia of Associations: National Organizations of the U.S.

-Brands and Their Companies

Reference USA [Access from Home] This database has five major components:

Regional Business News [Access from Home] Regional Business News provides comprehensive full text coverage for regional business publications. It incorporates coverage of more than 80 regional business publications covering all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States.

Small Business Resource Center [Access from Home] SBRC covers areas of starting and operating a business including financing, management, marketing, human resources and franchising. Also includes business journals, full-text books and a wide selection of sample business plans crated by real-life entrepreneurs.

Chilton Library Car Repair [Access from Home] Chilton Library provides photographs, diagnostics, step-by-step repair procedures, OEM maintenance schedules, wiring diagrams, recalls and Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) for automobiles and light trucks.

Funk and Wagnalls [Access from Home] Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia provides over 25,000 encyclopedic entries covering a variety of subject areas.

Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia [Access from Home] This database boasts over 40,000 quick-reference articles, news stories, timelines, and over 7,500 photographs and illustrations. It is aimed at the Middle School and High School user.

Ancestry Library Edition A comprehensive genealogy resource offering the U.S. Federal Census, 1790-1930, UK Census Collection, City Directories, other databases, newspapers, military records, and much, much more. For access from home, Ancestry requires individuals to purchase their own subscription. They do not allow libraries to offer this type of access.

Geni – Family Trees and Family History [Access from Home] Geni’s stated goal is to create a single, accurate family tree of the world. It is designed for users with common relatives to work together on one tree, with one single profile for each common relative. Geni has made a version available for libraries to offer to their users. You will need to set up a free account to use the product. You may access this version of Geni from EPL library locations only. To receive the same level of access from home, you need to sign up for a paid Geni Pro account.

Heritage Quest [Access from Home] With over 28,000 books, PERSI – The PERiodical Source Index , the complete U.S. Federal Census, 1790-1940, and other expanding collections, HeritageQuest Online from Proquest gives users the chance to tap in to one of the largest collections of genealogy material in the country.

Indiana History Online [Access from Home] This digital archive provides a core of primary source documents for the study of Indiana history. Document types include: personal narratives and memoirs, state and regional histories, travel guides, pamphlets and political speeches, sermons and songs, legal treatises and children’s books.

Local History Index [Access from Home] A searchable index of articles from the Elkhart Truth (local newspaper) covering topics such as persons, businesses, and events that have current and historical significance to the Elkhart area.

NewspaperArchives [Access from Home] Featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world, NewspaperARCHIVE makes exploring history and genealogy easy and fun. Discover fascinating news in archived newspapers hundreds of years old – including obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles, comics, and more, to fill in the life stories you are interested in. All of these historical newspapers are full-page and fully searchable.

Obituary Index [Access from Home] This a database created by the staff at the Elkhart Public Library. Obituaries that have appeared in local Elkhart newspapers from 1921 to present are indexed. For obituaries from other years, please see Other Obituary Resources at EPL on the Obituary Index page on the EPL website. Searching by last name will bring up the best results. The information contained in the index includes: name, obituary date, newspaper section, date of death and date of birth (if available).

GrantSelect [Access from Home] GrantSelect is an online database of funding opportunities ranging from pure research grants to arts programs, biomedical and health care research, community services programs, children and youth programs, K-12 education funding, international programs, and operating grants for nonprofit organizations. Offering tens of thousands of up-to-date grants and other funding awards, GrantSelect is the most effective and comprehensive tool available for any grant seeker.

Health & Wellness Resource Center [Access from Home] Offers access to more than 1,000 top medical, nursing and allied health journals and periodicals as well as articles from more than 2\,200 general-interest publications with more than 75 percent in full text. Also included are medical newspapers, newsletters, news feeds and a broad collection of full-text reference books.

Health Source: Consumer Edition [Access from Home] Health Source: Consumer Edition provides information on many health topics including the medical sciences, food sciences and nutrition, childcare, sports medicine and general health. Nearly 80 full text, consumer health magazines are available.

Health Source: Nursing Academic Edition [Access from Home] Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition provides nearly 550 scholarly full text journals focusing on many medical disciplines. It also features the Lexi-PAL Drug Guide which covers over 1,000 generic medications, 100 natural products, and 19 vaccines.

Medline [Access from Home] MEDLINE provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more.

Nursing Resource Center [Access from Home] Content offered includes encyclopedia articles, journal citations, medical illustrations, disease overviews, drug monographs, sample care plans and more. Also available are some full-text reference works including: PDR Nurses Drug Handbook, Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health, Delmar\’s Pediatric Nursing Care Plans and the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine.

Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center [Access from Home] This database offers detailed “how-to” instructions and creative ideas to meet the interests of virtually every hobby enthusiast.

Home Improvement Reference Center [Access from Home] Through a collection of videos, images and full-text articles, Home Improvement Reference Center provides users with detailed, user-friendly how-to information covering all manner of home improvement/repair projects.

GCF Free Computer Tutorials [Access from Home] GCF Free Computer Tutorials are for users new to the computer, returning for review or those just wanting to gain more 21st century skills. From Computer Basics to Word to Excel to OpenOffice; there are a many computer tutorials from which to choose.

Testing and Education Reference Center [Access from Home] This start-to-finish resource has just about everything needed to practice for various over 100 exams, including the ASVAB, GED, CLEP, SAT, PRAXIS and NCLEX. It offers access to the Virtual Career Library, which helps guide users through the career-seeking process, from job searching to writing cover letters to negotiating job conditions. It also has information about approximately 4,000 accredited colleges and universities.

Biography in Context [Access from Home] This comprehensive online biographical reference database offers information on famous people in the areas of literature, science, multicultural studies, business, entertainment, politics, sports, government, history, arts and newsmakers. This database contains the content of many of Gale\’s print products, including Contemporary Authors.

Global Road Warrior [Access from Home] This database is a social/cultural, travel, and international business resource covering 175 countries and territories. Content includes 11-million-plus words of editorial, over 6,000 color photos, and 1,575 country maps, all presented in a consistent category framework for each country. Everyone from kids doing school projects to casual and business travelers will find something useful in this database. County facts, demographics, climate, society/culture, essential terms, points of interest and much more are covered. One interesting feature, Food (located under the main heading of Society and Culture) includes 5 to 10 recipes for each country.

Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia [Access from Home] This database boasts over 40,000 quick-reference articles, news stories, timelines, and over 7,500 photographs and illustrations. It is aimed at the Middle School and High School user.

Inspire [Access from Home] INSPIRE is Indiana’s virtual library on the Internet. In conjunction with the public, school, and special libraries of Indiana, INSPIRE offers access to a full range of commercial databases to support the educational, cultural, personal and economic interest of Hoosiers from their homes, offices, libraries, schools and businesses. Many of the databases listed on the EPL Database page are available as part of INSPIRE and may also be accessed via the INSPIRE web site.

MAS Ultra [Access from Home] The School Edition is aimed at high school students, and contains full text for nearly 500 popular, high school level magazines. It also provides more than 360 full text reference books, 85,670 biographies, 105,786 primary source documents, and a School Image Collection of photos, maps & flags, color PDFs and expanded full text back files (back to 1975) for certain magazines.

Middle Search Plus [Access from Home] Middle Search Plus provides full text for more than 140 popular, middle school magazines. All full text articles included in the database are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles). Full text is also available for thousands of biographies and historical essays. The database also contains 84,774 biographies, 105,786 primary source documents, and a School Image Collection of photos, maps and flags

Primary Search [Access from Home] Primary Search provides full text for more than 70 popular, magazines for students in elementary school. All full text articles included in the database are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles), and full text information dates as far back as 1990.

Science in Context [Access from Home] Offers access to 300 full-text periodicals ranging from magazines to academic journals. Access to online versions of many Gale print publications including: Astronomy and Space, Experiment Central, Notable Mathematicians, UXL\’s Encyclopedia of Biomes, and Macmillan Science Library is available.

Testing and Education Reference Center [Access from Home] This start-to-finish resource has just about everything needed to practice for various over 100 exams, including the ASVAB, GED, CLEP, SAT, PRAXIS and NCLEX. It offers access to the Virtual Career Library, which helps guide users through the career-seeking process, from job searching to writing cover letters to negotiating job conditions. It also has information about approximately 4,000 accredited colleges and universities.

TOPICsearch [Access from Home] TOPICsearch contains full text for over 60,000 articles from 399 diverse sources including international and regional newspapers and EBSCO’s unparalleled collection of periodicals, biographies, public opinion polls, book reviews, pamphlets, and government information.

Mango Languages [Access from Home] Want to learn a foreign language? Mango Languages may be the answer! Currently, this database offers three types of learning experiences. However, not all languages are available in all three versions.



Mango Basic teaches simple, practical skills for common, polite conversation situations in only a few short hours.



Mango Complete 1.0 courses are aimed at students who want to move beyond basic language skills.



Mango Complete 2.0 teaches in-depth and comprehensive language and grammar skills.



At this time, Mango offers 22 foreign languages including Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Greek, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Turkish, Arabic, and Hindi. They also offer ESL courses for speakers of 14 different languages.

Legal Forms [Access from Home] Legal Forms from Gale is powered by U.S. Legal Forms. Types of forms available include: wills, power of attorney, LLC, landlord/tenant, real estate, contracts, bankruptcy, name change, bills of sale and many more. Forms are downloadable, printable and some may be filled out online, then printed or saved. Gale Legal Forms offers an easy-to-use, step-by-step approach to addressing basic legal matters. EPL subscribes to Indiana forms only.

Academic Search Premier [Access from Home] Academic Search Premier provides full text for more than 8,500 journals, including full text for more than 4,600 peer-reviewed titles. PDF back files to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.

Academic Search Premier [Access from Home] Academic Search Premier provides full text for more than 8,500 journals, including full text for more than 4,600 peer-reviewed titles. PDF back files to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.

Informe [Access from Home] Created exclusively for Spanish-speaking users, this full-text electronic reference tool is the first system to provide indexing, images and full text of popular Hispanic magazines — not just translations. Also included is a thesaurus and interface that are uniquely designed for Spanish-speaking users. Database is presented in English. The results are in Spanish.

Inspire [Access from Home] INSPIRE is Indiana’s virtual library on the Internet. In conjunction with the public, school, and special libraries of Indiana, INSPIRE offers access to a full range of commercial databases to support the educational, cultural, personal and economic interest of Hoosiers from their homes, offices, libraries, schools and businesses. Many of the databases listed on the EPL Database page are available as part of INSPIRE and may also be accessed via the INSPIRE web site.

Library Information Science & Technology [Access from Home] Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) indexes more than 560 core journals, nearly 50 priority journals, and nearly 125 selective journals; plus books, research reports and proceedings. Subject coverage includes librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Coverage in the database extends back as far as the mid-1960s.

MAS Ultra [Access from Home] The School Edition is aimed at high school students, and contains full text for nearly 500 popular, high school level magazines. It also provides more than 360 full text reference books, 85,670 biographies, 105,786 primary source documents, and a School Image Collection of photos, maps & flags, color PDFs and expanded full text back files (back to 1975) for certain magazines.

MasterFile Premier [Access from Home] MasterFILE Premier provides full text for nearly 1,700 general reference publications with full text information dating as far back as 1975. Covering virtually every subject area of general interest, it also contains full text for nearly 500 reference books and over 164,400 primary source documents, as well as an Image Collection of over 502,000 photos, maps & flags. Updated daily.

Professional Development Collection [Access from Home] The Professional Development Collection is designed for professional educators, and provides a highly specialized collection of nearly 520 high quality education journals, including more than 350 peer-reviewed titles. This database also contains more than 200 educational reports.

Science in Context [Access from Home] Offers access to 300 full-text periodicals ranging from magazines to academic journals. Access to online versions of many Gale print publications including: Astronomy and Space, Experiment Central, Notable Mathematicians, UXL\’s Encyclopedia of Biomes, and Macmillan Science Library is available.

TOPICsearch [Access from Home] TOPICsearch contains full text for over 60,000 articles from 399 diverse sources including international and regional newspapers and EBSCO’s unparalleled collection of periodicals, biographies, public opinion polls, book reviews, pamphlets, and government information.

Inspire [Access from Home] INSPIRE is Indiana’s virtual library on the Internet. In conjunction with the public, school, and special libraries of Indiana, INSPIRE offers access to a full range of commercial databases to support the educational, cultural, personal and economic interest of Hoosiers from their homes, offices, libraries, schools and businesses. Many of the databases listed on the EPL Database page are available as part of INSPIRE and may also be accessed via the INSPIRE web site.

New York Times [Access from Home] View cover-to-cover, original full image content of the New York Times from 2008 to within two months of the current date. Navigate by title, date, and page number. A searchable index is available online at Newspaper Source

Newspaper Source [Access from Home] Newspaper Source provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 40 (U.S.) & international newspapers. The database also contains selective full text for 389 regional (U.S.) newspapers. In addition, full text television & radio news transcripts are also provided.

NewspaperArchives [Access from Home] Featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world, NewspaperARCHIVE makes exploring history and genealogy easy and fun. Discover fascinating news in archived newspapers hundreds of years old – including obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles, comics, and more, to fill in the life stories you are interested in. All of these historical newspapers are full-page and fully searchable.

Wall Street Journal [Access from Home] View cover-to-cover, original full image content of the Wall Street Journal from 2008 to within two months of the current date. Navigate by title, date, and page number. A searchable index is available online at Newspaper Source

Education to Go (ed2go) [Access from Home] Education to Go (ed2go) offers a wide range of highly interactive courses that you can take entirely over the Internet. All courses are led by expert instructors, many of whom are nationally known authors. These online courses are convenient, fun, fast, and free. Courses run for six weeks and new sessions begin monthly. Course topics include areas of professional development and personal enrichment. A certificate of completion is issued with a passing score. Some courses may meet continuing education requirements.

Biography in Context [Access from Home] This comprehensive online biographical reference database offers information on famous people in the areas of literature, science, multicultural studies, business, entertainment, politics, sports, government, history, arts and newsmakers. This database contains the content of many of Gale\’s print products, including Contemporary Authors.

Clubs and Organizations [Access from Home] This Database is comprised of local agencies and clubs, as well as local chapters of national organizations. Information is obtained primarily from the pages of the Elkhart Truth, with additional information coming directly from the organizations themselves.

ERIC [Access from Home] ERIC, the Education Resource Information Center, contains more than 1,300,000 records and links to more than 323,000 full-text documents dating back to 1966.

Gale Virtual Reference Library [Access from Home] Offers access to reference/research ebooks. Titles include: Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia , Encyclopedia of Small Business , Grzimek’s Student Animal Life Resource , Encyclopedia of the Great Depression , West’s Encyclopedia of American Law , Blackbirch Kid’s Visual Reference of the United States, and History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of Conflicts Worldwide.

Global Road Warrior [Access from Home] This database is a social/cultural, travel, and international business resource covering 175 countries and territories. Content includes 11-million-plus words of editorial, over 6,000 color photos, and 1,575 country maps, all presented in a consistent category framework for each country. Everyone from kids doing school projects to casual and business travelers will find something useful in this database. County facts, demographics, climate, society/culture, essential terms, points of interest and much more are covered. One interesting feature, Food (located under the main heading of Society and Culture) includes 5 to 10 recipes for each country.

GreenFILE [Access from Home] GreenFILE offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 384,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,700 records.

Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center [Access from Home] This database offers detailed “how-to” instructions and creative ideas to meet the interests of virtually every hobby enthusiast.

Home Improvement Reference Center [Access from Home] Through a collection of videos, images and full-text articles, Home Improvement Reference Center provides users with detailed, user-friendly how-to information covering all manner of home improvement/repair projects.

Military and Intelligence [Access from Home] The journals in this database have been hand-selected by Gale editors to meet the content needs of libraries serving military personnel. The database contains more than 500 titles and more than 7 million articles (80 percent full-text).

Reference USA [Access from Home] This database has five major components:

Worldcat [Access from Home] This database includes millions of records built from the bibliographic and ownership information of contributing libraries. Records for everything from stone tablets to electronic books, wax recordings to MP3s, DVDs and Web sites are included in the database. Many records are enriched with cover art, tables of contents, reviews, excerpts and other descriptive information and records typically have library holdings information attached to show where they can be accessed. WorldCat contains more than 61 million bibliographic records and 1 billion holdings contributed by more than 8,600 libraries around the world.