Databases
The Cambridge Public Library provides users access to a wide variety of databases on a multitude of topics. Our databases allow you to access a vast amount of authoritative information faster and more efficiently than ever before. All of our databases are available from home except:
- Ancestry Library
- EBSCOhost Core Collection
Please visit any of our seven library locations to access the above databases.
See our databases below or peruse by subject matter using the tool bar in the left hand column.
Academic OneFile
Academic Onefile contains 8,000 academic journals, the majority in full-text, available in HTML and PDF formats. In addition it contains hundreds of podcasts and transcripts from NPR, CNN, and the CBC.
African American Heritage
African American Heritage is a groundbreaking digital resource exclusively devoted to African American family history research. It provides users a dedicated resource that not only brings together records critical to African American family research; but also connects them to a community of research experts, whose mentoring and assistance can frequently be the difference between research success and futility.
Ancestry Library 
Available in a Cambridge Public Library only. Thousands of family history databases, including vital records, census records, ship passenger lists, military records and lots more!
Biography In Context 
Biography in Context is an engaging online experience for those seeking contextual information on the world's most influential people. The new solution merges Gale's authoritative reference content (including Lives & Perspectives) with periodicals and multimedia organized into a user-friendly portal experience while also allowing users to search for people based on name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender as well as keyword and full text. Also includes the content of Contemporary Authors.
Boston Globe
Provides full text access to The Boston Globe from 1980 - current.
Boston Globe (Historical)
Provides full text access to The Boston Globe from 1872 - 1984.
Boston Metropolitan Collection
Contains the electronic editions of record for valuable local and regional newspapers-all in one easy-to-search database. Each paper provides unique coverage of local and regional news, including companies, politics, sports, industries, cultural activities, and people in the community. Search using keywords or browse by date.
Britannica Suite 
- Public Library Edition - Britannica Online Public Library Edition contains 4 full encyclopedias, the Encyclopædia Britannica, Compton’s by Britannica, Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia, and Britannica Concise Encyclopedia each covering the research needs of a different age group. (Online Mobile Edition)
- Public Library Edition for Kids - Contains Compton's Encyclopedia, Britannica Elementary Encyclopedia, and a wealth of other age-appropriate material for younger students and children.
- School Edition - Elementary, Middle and High School levels, plus read-aloud al all levels and translation for over 50 languages. Britannica Online School Edition gives teachers and students instant access to four complete encyclopedias and other resources that ensure consistency with classroom topics and age-appropriate language.
- Learning Zone (Early Childhood) - Grade Level PreK-5. Play, discover, create—these are the cornerstones of learning for young children. Now, Britannica gives teachers an online solution designed specifically for the needs of ages 4 to 7.
- Brittanica Escolar - Spanish Reference Center delivers two products in one—a reference collection for ages 6-12 and another for the high school and college ages. Separate home pages for each level allow schools and libraries to tailor the product to their users' needs, making it the only online Spanish-language database that offers age-appropriate content for everyone.
- Britannica Moderna - Enciclopedia española para estudiantes mayores y educadores. Spanish encyclopedia for older students and educators.
Business Collection 
Use this database to research all business and management topics. Includes directory listings for over 150,000 companies as well as investment analysts' reports on major companies and industries.
Cambridge Chronicle
Search using keywords or browse by date. Date Range: (8/4/2005-Current)
Cambridge Historic Newspaper Collection
All historic newspapers in the Cambridge Public Library’s collection that do not have copyright restrictions are fully searchable and freely available. Newspapers include the Cambridge Chronicle (1846-1923), the Cambridge Press (1887-1889), the Cambridge Sentinel (1903-1912), and the Cambridge Tribune (1887-1923), with over 650,000 articles covering major historical events from Cambridge’s incorporation as a city in 1846 to the early years of prohibition. Genealogists, historians, local history buffs, and curiosity seekers alike can easily enjoy and discover Cambridge history.
ConsumerReports.org
ConsumerReports.org is the sister product of the Consumer Reports print magazine and provides ratings and recommendations on cars, appliances, electronics, and thousands of other products under the categories of Home and Garden, Babies and Kids, Money, and Food.
Creativebug 
Creativebug has thousands of high-quality, on-trend arts and crafts instructional video classes. Get on-demand access to our full library 1,000+ art and craft classes for artists and makers of all levels. You’ll enjoy award-winning instructional videos on drawing, painting, sewing, knitting, crochet, quilting, baking and more. All classes are taught by experts, with new classes added daily.
Criminal Justice Collection
The Criminal Justice Collection database focuses on all aspects of the criminal justice field. Publications include: American Criminal Law Review; Corrections Today; Criminal Justice; Criminal Justice Ethics; Forensic Examiner; Psychology Today; and more.
Digital Collection (by OverDrive)
The Digital Collection (by OverDrive) is always open! Borrow popular e-books, audiobooks, magazines, and streaming video from Minuteman's shared collection. Read and listen through your browser at minuteman.overdrive.com, or read and listen on a mobile device with the Libby (by OverDrive) app.
EBSCOhost Core Collection
Available in a Cambridge Public Library only. EBSCOhost Core Collection is intended to provide librarians with a reliable tool to select the best materials for their collections and inform them of the most current resources available. Text container
Environmental Studies in Context 
Learn about animals, plants, music science, sports, and more! For Grades K-5. A content-rich, authoritative, easy-to-use digital resource featuring age-appropriate, reliable, curriculum-related content covering a broad range of educational topics.
Expanded Academic ASAP
From arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology, this database meets research needs across all academic disciplines. Access scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers - with full text and images!
Flipster
Flipster makes the Cambridge Public Library's most popular and sought-after magazines available digitally via our website or your mobile device.
Gale in Context: Elementary
Gale in Context: Elementary targets the research needs of students in kindergarten through grade 5. It features a developmentally appropriate and visual graphic interface, a subject-based topic tree search and full-text, age-appropriate, curriculum-related magazine and reference content.
Gale LegalForms - Massachusetts 
Gale LegalForms brings together thousands of national and state-specific legal forms for everything from wills to business contracts. The forms are fill-in-the-blank, downloadable, and continuously updated to reflect the latest laws.
General OneFile 
General OneFile is a one-stop source for news and periodical articles. OneFile contains over 5,000 full-text periodical titles, and more than 9,200 titles in all, on a wide range of topics.
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.
Health and Wellness Resource Center 
Provides instant access to carefully compiled and trusted medical reference materials. Includes nearly 400 health/medical journals, numerous reference volumes, over 700 health videos, hundreds of pamphlets and health-related articles from 2,200 general interest publications. Material contained in this Resource Center is intended for informational purposes only.
Health Reference Center Academic
Use this database to find articles on: Fitness, Pregnancy, Medicine, Nutrition, Diseases, Public Health, Occupational Health & Safety, Alcohol and Drug Abuse, HMOs, Prescription Drugs, etc.
HeritageQuest Online
HeritageQuest Online is a digital resource that combines searchable images of U.S. federal genealogical census records and digitized books containing family and local histories from around the country. It includes 25,000 family and local history books, U.S. census records, and PERSI, an index of over 1.6 million genealogy and local history articles.
Hoopla
Hoopla centers on a variety of media, including access to music, movies, audiobooks, eBooks, comics, and television.
JSTOR 
JSTOR offers our patrons the opportunity to access an essential resource that facilitates their educational, professional, and independent research needs. Our collection focuses on arts, humanities, and life sciences (including ecology and botany) journals within JSTOR, featuring more than six hundred and fifty titles across multiple disciplines.
Kanopy 
Kanopy is a video streaming service of more than 30,000 films, including the Criterion Collection.
Browse Kanopy's ticket-free packages, which don't deduct from your monthly ticket allotment:
Diversity: https://www.kanopy.com/category/65978
Favorites: https://www.kanopy.com/category/65969
World Cinema: https://www.kanopy.com/category/65972
British Cinema: https://www.kanopy.com/category/71805
Episodic: https://www.kanopy.com/category/71802
Kanopy Kids: https://cambridgema.kanopy.com/kids
Leadership and Management 
Provides access to authoritative periodical content covering topics such as 21st-century skills, organizational dynamics and leadership, adult learning and continuing education, and more. Updated daily, this library resource is useful for researchers or any professional interested in career development.
LearningExpress Library 
Learning Express Library includes nearly 1,000 online tutorials, practice tests, and e-books. Covers job search and workplace skills improvement, skill building in reading, writing, math, and basic science, career certification and licensure exam prep, college and grad school entrance test prep, GED test prep, and more.
LinkedIn Learning 
LinkedIn Learning, formerly known as Lynda.com, is an online educational site that features thousands of courses and video tutorials in business, software, technology, and creative skills, taught by industry experts. Courses are offered in English, Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.
To log in, please click on "Get Started" and enter your Cambridge Public Library card number and PIN/password.
Please note that you can only access course content through the CPL's LinkedIn Learning login page, and not by directly visiting the LinkedIn Learning homepage.
Literature Resource Center
Find up-to-date biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism and reviews on more than 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world. The optional MLA International Bibliography module adds citations for hundreds of thousands of books, articles and dissertations from 1926 to the present, linked to full text where available.
Mango Languages
Mango Languages is designed to equip you with conversational abilities from the very start. Whether you're learning how to order a pizza or ask when the game starts, Mango immerses you in real, everyday conversations in a wide variety of languages. It features instruction in English for speakers of more than a dozen languages. For a tutorial of the program, you can visit this YouTube video.
Morningstar Investment Research Center
Comprehensive and up-to-date financial information on stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.
Naxos Music Library 
Naxos Music Library is the world´s largest online classical music library. Currently, it offers streaming access to more than 160,205 CDs with more than 2,494,739 tracks of both standard and rare repertoire. Over 600 new titles are added to the library each month.
Naxos Music Library Jazz 
Naxos Music Library Jazz offers a selection of jazz legends and contemporary jazz. Select titles of leading independent labels are added every month.
New York Times (1985-Current)
This database includes the New York Times from January 1, 1985 to the present, including the New York Times Magazine and the New York Times Book Review.
NoveList Plus
NoveList is a readers' advisory resource which assists in finding new authors and titles. NoveList allows you to use a favorite author or title as a template to locate other authors and titles of interest. You can also enter words that describe the contents of a book you would like to read, and NoveList retrieves titles that contain these words in the book's subject headings field. In addition, you can browse over 1,200 theme-oriented book lists, 150 award lists and 1,000 fiction related web-sites. NoveList contains materials for all ages including picture books, children's "chapter" books, young adult titles and books for adult readers. The database provides enhanced subject access to over 92,000 fiction titles. Updated quarterly, NoveList integrates information from a variety of sources.
Oxford English Dictionary
Search the Oxford English Dictionary online for the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past.
Oxford Reference
Oxford Reference is the premier online reference product, spanning 25 different subject areas, bringing together 2 million digitized entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias.
PebbleGo 
Access hundreds of animal articles, educational games, and learning activities from school or from home with easy to-use searching tools. Introduces early learners to database and research concepts.
Peterson's Test Prep 
Contains over 300 practice tests and courses, dozens of ebooks containing valuable study material and practice tests, information on over 4,000 accredited schools, scholarship search featuring $8 billion in available scholarships, resume builder with over 1,000 brainstorming phrases to get you started, career modules covering subjects from career change to salary negotiations.
PowerSearch
Gale PowerSearch provides you with access to all the Gale content in your library's collection through one, single search query. PowerSearch helps users select the databases most appropriate to include in a cross-search by providing an alphabetical listing along with a description of each one. Users search with the method that's easiest for them - by entering keywords, using pre-defined subject terms or constructing complex search queries using Boolean logic. Below the search term field, users will find a list of Gale databases so they can simply select as many databases as they want to include in their search. The database from which each document is found appears as part of the search results.
Science - Gale Interactive 
Science comes to life as you zoom, rotate, and explore interactive 3D models. View related reference content and search Gale content to find more information.
Science In Context
Science in Context provides topic overviews, experiments, biographies, pictures and illustrations, as well as articles from over 200 magazines and academic journals and links to quality web sites. The database covers curriculum-related science topics, and offers teachers an easy-to-use tool to identify content directly correlated to state and national standards.
Student Edition
This database is designed for high school students, 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, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
Transparent Languages 
For learners of all levels looking to build their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in a foreign language. Combining extensive courses and supplemental resources for over 100 languages, including English.
U.S. History In Context
U.S. History in Context is an engaging online experience for those seeking contextual information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in U.S. History. The new solution merges reference content with full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
Value Line
Value Line is a complete, multidimensional investment management solution that enables both new and experienced investors to make timely, better-informed decisions. It provides a wealth of in-depth financial information, intelligently presented both in print and online, plus objective research, insightful commentary, proven price projections, and advanced analytical tools. User Manual.
Wall Street Journal
Access to The Wall Street Journal from anywhere.
World History In Context
World History in Context is an engaging online experience for those seeking contextual information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in World History. The new solution merges reference content with full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
WorldCat 
OCLC catalog of books and other materials in libraries worldwide.