Research Tools

Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
The online edition of the World Book Encyclopedia is available for use at home as well.
Grolier Products are available for use at home. Portage students have access to the Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, The New Book of Knowledge, America the Beautiful, and Lands and Peoples.
Databases
An educational search engine with additional features such as image search, people search, and timeline.
ProQuest K-12 Information and Learning is a suite of three databases: eLibrary Curriculum Edition, History Study Center, and ProQuest Learning: Literature. These databases focus primarily on journal and newpaper content, but also include, books, encyclopedias, almanacs, picture collections, maps and transcripts from television and radio news and talk shows.
InfoTrac is a database of magazine articles. InfoTrac contains both the index and, in most cases, the full text of the magazine article. It does not, however, reproduce the pictures in all cases.
SIRS Knowledge Source is a collection of periodical articles drawn from leading sources on social issues, health, science, business, arts and the humanities. It includes access to government publications. The suite of products includes: SIRS Researcher, SIRS Renaissance, SIRS Government Reports, and SIRS Discoverer.
Michigan Electronic Library is a service of the Library of Michigan giving access to a number of resources to all Michigan residents.
CultureGrams Online is a database of information about countries and states. Each country includes a description of the geography, government and the people. There are pictures of each country as well as the flag, a map and a sound file of the national anthem. There are also recipes for native dishes.
Each of the 8 online history and social studies databases contains authoritative and relevant primary and secondary sources. History Reference Online also gives an extensive library of over 450 history reference books.
Each of the 8 online history and social studies databases contains authoritative and relevant primary and secondary sources. History Reference Online also gives an extensive library of over 450 history reference books.
Toolbox
The CIA World Factbook contains complete profiles of every country in the world. Profiles include information on each country's geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and foreign issues. Nicely detailed maps are also available.
As the U.S. government's official web portal, USA.gov makes it easy for the public to get U.S. government information and services on the web.
A citation generator for APA, MLA, and other required formats.
Atomic Learning provides short, easy-to-understand tutorial movies and a library of curriculum resources for more than 110 applications.
Use the ask a librarian and digital collections links at the top of the screen to access the many online resources that the largest library in the world has ot offer.