Databases

The Ancestry Library Edition collection has approximately 4,000 databases including key collections such as U.S. Federal Census images and indexes from 1790 to 1940; the Map Center containing more than 1,000 historical maps, American Genealogical Biographical Index (over 200 volumes); Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage (over 150 volumes); The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1630; Social Security Death Index (updated monthly); WWI Draft Registration Cards; Federal Slave Narratives; and a strong Civil War Collection.

Maryland AskUsNow! is a 24/7 live online interactive service for the residents and students of the state of Maryland. It uses the expertise of trained librarians to provide answers to questions, research guidance, and help navigating the Internet. The librarian should be able to take you to various websites and will communicate with you using Internet chat. A normal session lasts no longer than 15-20 minutes. The librarian may offer to follow-up by e-mail if your question cannot be answered online in this timeframe.

Beanstack is a free service provided by your local library to help families discover books and apps based on your child's age and interests. Our goal is help prepare your child for school and ensure that he or she is reading at or above grade level by third grade. All books recommended are available for free at your library.

• Access for Allegany County Library - http://alleganycountylibrary.beanstack.org (Ends June 30, 2018)
• Access for Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County - http://relib.beanstack.org (Ends June 30, 2018)
• Access for Washington County Free Library - http://washcolibrary.beanstack.org

The Berg Fashion Library is a unique online portal which offers fully cross-searchable access to an expanding range of Berg content collections – including the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion online, e-books, reference works, images, and much more.

Scholastic BookFlix is a new online literacy resource that pairs classic video storybooks from Weston Woods with related nonfiction eBooks from Scholastic to build a love of reading and learning. The engaging way to link fact and fiction, BookFlix reinforces early reading skills and introduces children to a world of knowledge and exploration.

Booklist Online contains over 120,000 reviews and thousands of features dating back to 1992.

Whether you're looking for information on books, audio books, or videos, you've come to the right place. Books In Print provides a user-friendly interface designed specifically for use by library patrons.

A collection of actual business plans compiled by, and aimed at, entrepreneurs seeking funding for small businesses in North America. Plans are from businesses in the manufacturing, retail and service industries, with company names and addresses changed. Also includes a business plan template, two fictional business plans, a listing of organizations, agencies, and consultants; a glossary; and an updated bibliography.

Guide to thousands of 2- and 4-year schools in the U.S. and Canada. Covers the expected listings and detailed descriptions, degree programs offered, scholarships, and occupational education programs.

College Navigator is your direct link to nearly 7,000 colleges and universities in the United States. If you are thinking about a large university, a small liberal arts college, a specialized college, a community college, a career or technical college or a trade school, you can find information on all of them here.

Discover titles similar to books you already enjoy.

The Foundation Center is the nation's leading authority on philanthropy, connecting nonprofits and the grantmakers supporting them to tools they can use and information they can trust. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. grantmakers and their grants.

Reference eBooks are the same books that rest on our shelves, but in an electronic format. You can access them here through our database page or through our catalog by clicking chain link when you see it in the catalog record.

This newspaper index for the Civil War years, 1860 – 1865 is part of The Historic Newspaper Indexing Project which is a subject and personal name index to local and regional news, legal notices, obituaries, marriages, and advertisements published in Hagerstown, Maryland newspapers from 1790 - 1844 and 1860 - 1865. The regions covered in the index are Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett Counties in Maryland; Cumberland, Adams, Fulton and Franklin Counties in Pennsylvania; and Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan Counties in West Virginia.

hoopla is a groundbreaking digital media service offered by your local public library that allows you to borrow movies, music, audiobooks, ebooks, comics and TV shows to enjoy on your computer, tablet, or phone – and even your TV! With no waiting, titles can be streamed immediately, or downloaded to phones or tablets for offline enjoyment later. We have hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, with more being added daily. hoopla is like having your public library at your fingertips. Anytime. Anywhere.

Checkout limit per user is 5 per month. (Not available for county Student cards.)

The purpose of the Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage Project is two-fold. First, the MDCH Project is a collaborative effort to digitize Maryland-related historical documents, images, audio, and video for Maryland's public libraries and cultural heritage institutions. Second, the MDCH Project website provides centralized, one-stop access to these culturally significant items that will benefit the patrons and staff of the libraries and cultural heritage institutions, as well as future generations, by promoting research, education, and tourism.

Mango Languages creates engaging language-learning experiences for individuals, libraries, schools, corporations, and government agencies across the continent and around the globe.

Casual, cultural, and conversational learning

Speak like a local in 70+ languages with practical, conversation-based language lessons for web, iOS, and Android. Learn Spanish, French, German, and more — download the free Mango app to get started.

Access should be done through your local library.  The link provided for this resource will only work inside Washington County Free Library.

Milestone Documents in American History is a robust online database that includes the complete content of printed reference sets, free. Purchasing printed reference delivers online access at no additional cost. Salem currently offers this service with three series of historical reference: Milestone Documents - A new, primary source series; The Decades - Salem's critically acclaimed American history series; Great Lives from History - The definitive, worldwide biographical resource.

NewsBank, Inc. has been one of the world’s premier information providers for more than 40 years. NewsBank’s comprehensive, Web-based research products satisfy the diverse needs of public libraries, colleges and universities, schools, military and government libraries, professionals and researchers.

This subscription provides access to the Herald-Mail Newspaper as far back as December 1996.

Discover titles similar to what you already enjoy

In addition to locating books to read, users can learn more about books and authors through Feature Articles, Book Discussion Guides, and BookTalks.

NoveList K-8 contains materials for all K-8 grade levels and includes picture books, children's "chapter" books and young adult titles. Updated monthly, NoveList K-8 is your starting place for learning about the books that you and your students need and will want to read!

Browse hundreds of downloadable audiobooks! Check out and download best-selling titles to your PC, then transfer to a supported device or burn many titles to CD to enjoy anytime, anywhere.

Oxford Reference Premium is a one-stop shop for reputable information from a well-trusted source. It covers 25 different subject areas, including art & architecture, history, language, law, philosophy, religion, science, and more. Over 260 titles are searchable in one place with new titles added all the time. A great first stop for any research needs.

Remote access to the site must be through the WCFL website: https://www.washcolibrary.org

Free audiobook downloads for 5,000+ titles and magazines.

Allegany County use: https://alleganycountymd.rbdigital.com/
Garrett County use: https://ruthenlowmd.rbdigital.com/

RB Digital is the world’s largest newsstand and bookstore. With its many digital products and services, RB Digital creates better ways for people to discover published content, get more of it and do more with it. Now, readers can purchase content once to be read on any screen. RB Digtial provides the ability to shop for, search inside, read, share and save digital content in 23 local newsstands in any country in the world.

Each county also has access to branded content through RBdigital.  Magazines and Audiobooks are available through these links:

• https://alleganycountymd.rbdigital.com/
• https://ruthenlowmd.rbdigital.com/
  

ReferenceUSA has vital information on every business & consumer in the United States & Canada. It assists business executives in finding valuable sales leads, conducting market research or competitive analysis, and provides an avenue for businesses to do effective marketing & outreach. Students are able to reference this data for research projects and job seekers may find gainful employment. ReferenceUSA provides data on businesses, consumers, healthcare providers, new movers & homeowners, as well as historical business information.

Salem Health covers diseases, disorders, treatments, procedures, specialties, anatomy, biology, and issues in an A-Z format, with sidebars addressing recent developments in medicine and concise information boxes for all diseases and disorders. Titles include:

• Magill's Medical Guide
  
• Salem Health: Infectious Diseases & Conditions
• Salem Health: Cancer
  

Salem History is a robust online database that includes the complete content of printed reference sets. Salem currently offers this service with three series of historical reference: Milestone Documents - A new, primary source series; The Decades - Salem's critically acclaimed American history series; Great Lives from History - The definitive, worldwide biographical resource. Titles available include:

• The 50 States
• American Immigration, Encyc. of American Immigration
  
• Encyclopedia of Mathematics and Society
  
• Great Lives from History: Latinos
  
• Milestone Documents in African American History
• Milestone Documents in American History
  
• Milestone Documents of American Leaders
  
• Milestone Documents in World History
  
• Milestone Documents of World Religions
  
• Musicians & Composers
  
• Weapons & Warfare

Salem Literature is a robust online database that includes the complete content of printed reference sets. Titles currently available:

• Critical Survey of Mythology and Folklore: Heroes & Heroines
• Critical Survey of Mythology and Folklore: Love, Sexuality, and Desire
• Critical Survey of Mythology and Folklore: World Mythology

Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 provides access to more than 660,000 large-scale maps for more than 12,000 American towns and cities. Sanborn fire insurance maps are the most frequently consulted maps in libraries, and are valuable historical tools. In electronic form, Sanborn maps allow users to easily manipulate the maps, magnify and zoom in on specific sections, and layer maps from different years.

Provides more than 4,200 sources of education-related financial aid and awards at all levels of study. Includes a section on federal financial aid that features a quick summary of programs sponsored by the federal government. Also includes a state-by-state listing of agencies that users can contact in their home state.

Smithsonian Global Sound is a virtual encyclopedia of the world's musical and aural traditions. The collection provides educators, students, and interested listeners with an unprecedented variety of online streaming audio recordings that support the creation, continuity, and preservation of diverse musical forms.

TrueFlix™ is the only online resource that leverages the award-winning True Books content to help students hone literacy skills, build knowledge of subject-area content, and cultivate 21st Century skills through the inquiry process.

Browser Check:

Please click on the following link to make sure your computer meets the necessary technical requirements* and has the proper plug-ins installed: http://go.grolier.com/browsercheck

*TrueFlix Technical Requirements

TrueFlix streaming video and animations require a T1 connection or higher and Macromedia Flash Player 9 or higher (this is a free download at www.adobe.com).  

For PC:

• At minimum a Pentium II processor with 128 MB of RAM with Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Windows XP operating system.
  
• Browsers: IE 6.0 (7.0 for Windows XP) and Firefox 2.x.
  
• 15-inch monitor with the resolution set at 1024 x 768 for best viewing (will operate fine at 800 x 600) with high 16-bit colors or higher selected.

For Mac:

• Macintosh OS
  
• XBrowsers: Safari 1.0 or higher and Firefox 2.x.
• 15-inch monitor with the resolution set at 1024 x 768 (will operate fine at 800 x 600) with "thousands of colors" selected.

 TrueFlix includes numerous audio features and therefore requires speakers or headsets.

e-Books for e-Kids

Investment information and analysis to meet the changing needs of investors.

Value Line recently went through a website redesign, please review their Users Guide page to see how to navigate the new website.

Allegany, Garrett, and Washington Counties in Western Maryland have a rich and diverse history. View images from the collections of the libraries, historical societies, and individuals in the three counties. There are photographs, newspaper articles, and indexes, rare books and more.

Features the content of The World Book Encyclopedia, plus 16 additional databases, which include an online atlas, Spanish-language encyclopedia, teacher resources, World Book Kids, images and sounds, current events, and an online version of the World Book Dictionary.