Study Tools & Research Databases
Access these digital resources for your next research project, to build skills, get homework help, and more!
Career & Skill Building (Adult Learning)
Pass the GED, prepare for the US Citizenship test, write a winning resume, and get Microsoft Office help.
Focuses on skills needed to land jobs currently in-demand and critical soft skills, including: resilience, teamwork and time management. It offers professional certificates for LinkedIn profiles and “whole” person wellness resources. It also provides courses in English, Spanish, Mandarin and four other languages. This resource is available thanks to funding provided by the Southern California Library Cooperative (SCLC).
Online learning platform that will teach you the basic Internet skills and job-hunting techniques you need to find a job. JobScout uses social game design to engage users in self-paced, online activities that focus on Internet skills applied in real life context. JobScout lets you track your progress and access games to reinforce the skills you learn, and boasts a custom resume builder and built-in job search function.
More than 1,100 lessons, tutorials, and videos on computer basics, Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Access), email, social media, reading, math, and more.
Private website that contains the world’s largest scholarship database and provides students with career and college admissions information. To register as a new member, click on the “login” button, then select your state, input your email address and create a personal password. The website does NOT collect student’s names and other personal and private information for resale to third parties.
Children & Teens Homework/Research
(Elementary – High School) – One-to-one homework help from live, online tutors. Learn how to write better letters, term papers, and reports from Writing Lab specialists. Reading assistance. Tutoring for Spanish speakers. Core subjects (grades 3-12): Math, Science, Social Studies, English/Language Arts. Login with your Altadena Library card number.
(Elementary – High School) – Go-to site for all grades and all reading abilities for learning about any subject. Offers thousands of up-to-date, curated, and curriculum-relevant articles, images, videos, audio clips, primary sources, maps, research tools, and Web sites. Separate databases for Elementary, Middle, and High School.
Leading knowledge-building resource universally trusted for accurate and age-appropriate content in Spanish.
CultureGrams® is the leading primary source reference for concise, reliable, and up-to-date cultural information on countries, including daily life and culture, history, customs, and lifestyles of the world’s people.
Full text articles for more than 80 popular elementary school magazines. Articles assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles). Primary search includes Encyclopedia of Animals™ and the Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, as well as American Heritage® Children’s Dictionary and thousands of relevant photos, maps and flags. Log in with your Altadena Library card number.
(Junior High) – Full text articles from more than 150 popular middle school magazines with reading level indicator (Lexiles). Thousands of full-text biographies and historical essays. Includes Essential Documents in American History, the Funk & Wagnall’s New World Encyclopedia, New Oxford American Dictionary, Encyclopedia of Animals™ and thousands of relevant photos, maps and flags. Log in with your Altadena Library card number.
(High School) – EBSCO’s research interface for students and educators. Features relevant content and easy-to-use functionality to help high school students.
(Elementary – High School) – Khan Academy is a not-for-profit providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere. If you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, or adult returning to the classroom, our materials and resources are available free of charge.
Khan Academy (Homework Help)
Explore amazing adventures in science, nature, culture, archaeology, and space. (Best for children aged 6 to 14)
Hundreds of thousands of digital resources about books for children and teens, including a reader’s advisory tool, resources for homework help, homeschooling support, and more. No login required for children and teens! (For educator-specific materials, log into either platform with your work email!)
(Infant – Elementary) – An online collection of existing picture books with animation, sound, music and narration which you can read or have read to you. No Login required.
Newspapers & Magazines
Courtesy of the California State Library, enjoy full access to the online edition of the Times!
Provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 40 national (U.S.) and international newspapers, including the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Times (London), Toronto Star, etc. The database also contains selective full text for more than 330 regional (U.S.) newspapers. In addition, full-text television & radio news transcripts are provided from CBS News, CNN, CNN International, FOX News, NPR, etc. Login with your Altadena Library card number.
Designed specifically for high school libraries, contains full text for nearly 500 popular high school magazines including America’s Civil War, American Heritage, American History, Archaeology, Astronomy, Bioscience, Careers & Colleges, Civil War Times, Congressional Digest, Discover, History Today, Nation, National Review, New Republic, New Scientist, Popular Science, Science News, Scientific American, Smithsonian, World War II, etc. All full-text articles are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles). Login with your Altadena Library card number.
Academic Research
Easy-to-use tool with one of the largest general reference collections of periodical and digital media content. For elementary students, college-prep and college-level researchers, and professional educators. Educators can search for resources that correlate to state and national standards.
ProQuest Academic provides a single source for scholarly journals, newspapers, reports, working papers, and datasets along with millions of pages of digitized historical primary sources and more than 450,000 ebooks.
Curated collection for younger students of premium newspapers, magazines, images, and other kinds of great content.
Curated pro/con database for students and educators. Provides premium content correlated to key curricular standards and subjects.
The University of California’s free public gateway to a world of primary sources. More than 150,000 digitized items — including photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts — reveal the diverse history and culture of California.
Independent journal featuring controversies before the U.S. Congress. A reliable research tool and reference source, Congressional Digest has been at the forefront of controversial topics for the last 90 years. Each issue covers a current debate topic, including background information, legislative summaries, and key arguments.
Archive spans sixteenth to twentieth century, the largest digital collection of historical primary source publications relating to the history and study of sex, sexuality, and gender research and gender studies research. Documentation covering disciplines such as social, political, health, and legal issues impacting LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) communities around the world. Rare and unique books on sex and sexuality from the sciences to the humanities to support research and education. Material selection guided by advisory board of leading scholars and librarians in sexuality and gender studies.
Learn about environmental issues that affect people globally through topic overviews, journals, news, and multimedia content.
Discover 3D interactive models that you can manipulate to help visualize and understand concepts in biology, chemistry, earth, and space science.
Want to suggest a digital resource?
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Please click the button below and submit a formal digital resource request that will be reviewed by our Digital Resources Team. If we find that it meets our scoring parameters, we will consider including it on our site.
A standard evaluation period is approximately 14 business days. When the review is completed, a member of our team will notify you of the outcome.