A "database" is an organized collection of information that can be easily searched by a computer. Skokie Public Library has many databases, and some of them have been created and selected especially for students (and teachers, too!). You'll find articles from encyclopedias, magazines, and newspapers; pictures and maps; facts and figures; biographies and project ideas; book reviews and lesson plans; links to educational Web sites; and much more.
The following databases are available from computers inside Skokie Public Library or from home for Skokie Public Library cardholders. More databases are available in the Databases A to Z section of our website. Please note: Skokie Public Library staff has selected some of these resources for use by all visitors to the Library's website. Younger children may need adult supervision and assistance to find, understand, and evaluate content.
Jump to your school on the Web...
or visit the SkokieNet Directory of K-12 Schools
Web resource 
Available with Skokie Public Library card 
Available in Library only
Books, Literature, and Music
Children's Literature Comprehensive Database
Reviews and information about children's books, video and audio recordings, and film strips. Search by age, grade, category, genre, author, illustrator, or keyword.
Kids' Books We Love
Find out what books (and more!) the Youth Services staff is recommending for kids of all ages! We've arranged our favorites so that you can browse by title, author, illustrator, genre, awards, reading level, and material type.
Music Online from Alexander Street Press
Music Online contains hundreds of thousands of musical pieces for listening online. Genres from classical to jazz, from American roots to international music are represented. Liner notes and information on composers are included for most items in the collection. Users who choose to register can save playlists for repeated listening.
Naxos Music Library
Naxos Music Library has a collection of over 30,000 CDs that can be listened to on your computer. The music is mostly in the classical genre with a small amount of jazz and world music. Background and educational material is also included.
Naxos Music Library Jazz
Naxos Music Library Jazz offers over 22,000 tracks of jazz from over 2,300 albums. Over five hundred jazz artists are represented. The catalogs of Naxos Jazz and the 22 labels of Fantasy Jazz are included. Jazz, international jazz, blues, and R & B are included in this varied collection. Stream albums from Albert King to Zoot Sims to your computer with Naxos Jazz.
NoveList K-8
A guide to fiction especially for children from kindergarten through 8th grade and their teachers. Find favorite authors, book titles, or series, or find something new by searching for similar authors, subjects, or award-winning titles.
Skokie Public Library Catalog
The complete holdings of Skokie Public Library with information on availability of books, magazines, videos, CDs, cassettes, CD-ROMs, and other items in the library's collection.
TeachingBooks.net
Listen to audio excerpts of book readings by authors and professional actors and watch original movies featuring authors and illustrators at work in their studios! You'll also find book discussion guides and links to author websites, biographies, activities, and contact information. An "Educator Area" provides thematic booklists, information about children's book awards, and links to related resources in twenty-five categories. Content is divided equally between elementary school-aged content and middle/high school-aged content.
TumbleBook Library for Kids
The TumbleBook Library is an online collection of animated, talking picture books, puzzles, and quizzes especially for children. Stories are adapted from existing picture books and are available in English, Spanish, or Chinese languages.
Education
Atomic Training
Atomic Training contains short videos explaining specific tasks in many of the most popular software applications in use today. The videos may be watched in sequence like a course, or watched individually to learn a specific part of a program.
LearningExpressLibrary.com
Based on official tests, LearningExpressLibrary.com provides online practice tests for many subjects including elementary, middle, and high school school skills improvement and math, reading, and writing skills. Tests are scored immediately and evaluations highlight strengths and weaknesses.
Skokie Public Library's guide to this database available
Live Homework Help™
Live Homework Help™ is an online tutoring service that connects students with expert tutors. Children and young adults from 4th grade through junior college can log in to Live Homework Help™ to work with a tutor on math, science, social studies, and English problems. The service is available from 3:00 to 10:00pm Central Standard Time, seven days a week. Live Homework Help™ en Español is available Sunday through Thursday from 3:00 to 10:00pm. All tutoring sessions are guided by the tutor and last approximately twenty minutes. There is a limit of five sessions per week per Skokie Public Library cardholder.
Encyclopedias and Reference
American History in Video
American History in Video provides an online collection of over 5,000 videos available for the study of American history. The collection features documentaries and series from The History Channel®, A&E Network®, and Biography Channel®. Several types of videos including documentaries, newsreels, and public affairs programs have been chosen to provide a well-rounded collection for historical study. Text transcripts of the videos are available and searchable. A tool is included that allows users to make video clips and and link to them from a multimedia presentation.
Britannica Online for Kids
Retrieve content from Compton's Encyclopedia by Britannica, and Britannica Elementary as well as media, videos, websites, and learning materials. Magazine articles are also available.
CAMIO
CAMIO — Catalog of Art Museum Images Online — contains about 95,000 works of fine and decorative art from leading museums around the world. The scope of the collection ranges from 3000 BCE to the present, representing premiere examples of Asian, African, Latin American, and Western art. Difficult-to-find contemporary art is one of its strengths. The content includes high-resolution images of photographs, paintings, sculpture, decorative and utilitarian objects, prints, drawings and watercolors, jewelry and costumes, textiles, books, installations, and architecture — plus audio-video and mixed media. Benefits of the interface include downloading high-resolution images, the ability to email images and metadata for further study, and fast, powerful, Web-based searching. All content is rights-cleared for educational use.
CultureGrams Online
Country reports about daily life, culture, customs, courtesies, and lifestyles of more than 187 countries and the 50 United States. A photo gallery, famous people collection, and recipes from around the world are also available.
Current Biography Illustrated
Current Biography Illustrated provides access to over twenty thousand biographical profiles of celebrities, politicians, business people, writers, actors, sports figures, artists, scientists, and many other notable figures and newsmakers from the 1940's to the present. The biographies, compiled from Current Biographies magazine, average 2,500 words each.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Full text reference sources for research from over two hundred titles. Topics include Arts, Biography, Environment, History, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Religion, Science, and more.
Skokie Public Library's guide to this database available
Science Online from Facts on File
Science Online contains scientific information for students in all areas of science. Use this resource to find science experiments, videos, diagrams, articles, and biographies of famous scientists.
Searchasaurus
Search by keyword or browse by subject for articles from magazines, newspapers, and encyclopedias. Subjects include animals, art and music, health, history, people and places, science and math, sports, and stories. A dictionary, encyclopedia, and picture collection are also available. Designed for students in kindergarten through 8th grade.
Who's Who on the Web from Marquis
Profiles of more than one million of the most accomplished people from all fields of work and life including government, business, science and technology, the arts, entertainment, and sports. Includes current and historical biographies.
World Book Online Info Finder
Includes all the articles from the print versions of the World Book Encyclopedia, plus thousands of additional articles, learning resources, and research tools.
Local Information
Chronology of Skokie History
The Chronology of Skokie History chronicles the history of Niles Center and Skokie from 1500 to 2000. This historical outline provides links to photographs and documents as well as useful references for further research.
Skokie Fire Department History digitized archive
This collection of photographs, documents, and artifacts relates the history of the Skokie Fire Department. These materials were digitized by Skokie Public Library in conjunction with the Skokie Historical Society and Ron Smith of the Skokie Fire Department, with federal grant funding awarded by the Illinois State Library and Jesse White, State Librarian.
Skokie History Project digitized archive
In cooperation with the Skokie Historical Society, Skokie Public Library has digitized a collection of photographs, maps, business cards, and invoices that document the history of Niles Center and Skokie from the early 1800s to the 1990s.
Skokie Newspaper Index
The Skokie Public Library newspaper index contains citations to articles which appeared in the Skokie Review (from 1984 to the present), The News (from 1978 to 1984, when it ceased publication), and Life: Skokie edition (from 1978 to October 2004, when it ceased publication). When the full text of an article appears on the newspaper's website, a link is provided from the index to the article. You can also view the full text of indexed articles by consulting back issues of the newspapers found on microfilm in the Library. A card file housed in the Library's reference department contains citations to articles which appeared in Skokie newspapers between 1960 and 1977.
More information about the Skokie Newspaper Index is available online.
Magazines and Newspapers
Chicago Tribune – 1849 to the present via ProQuest
Search the complete text of the Chicago Tribune from 1849 to the present day. Content from 1849 through 1987 is available as images of the original newspaper so photographs, death notices, cartoons, and advertisements are present and searchable along with article content. Text versions of articles and obituaries only are available from 1987 to the present.
Kids Search from EBSCO
Search for articles and pictures in this kid-friendly database especially for students in kindergarten through 5th grade. Subjects include animals, art and music, geography, health, news, language arts, math, science, social studies, and sports.
The New York Times via LexisNexis Library Express
Search for articles from The New York Times from June 1980 to the present. The text of articles and obituaries are included and searchable. Death notices and advertisements are not included.
NewspaperDirect PressDisplay
NewspaperDirect PressDisplay allows instant online access to over 250 newspapers from more than 55 countries in 33 languages and all in full-page format.
Skokie Public Library's guide to this database available
Searchasaurus
Search by keyword or browse by subject for articles from magazines, newspapers, and encyclopedias. Subjects include animals, art and music, health, history, people and places, science and math, sports, and stories. A dictionary, encyclopedia, and picture collection are also available. Designed for students in kindergarten through 8th grade.
Skokie Newspaper Index
The Skokie Public Library newspaper index contains citations to articles which appeared in the Skokie Review (from 1984 to the present), The News (from 1978 to 1984, when it ceased publication), and Life: Skokie edition (from 1978 to October 2004, when it ceased publication). When the full text of an article appears on the newspaper's website, a link is provided from the index to the article. You can also view the full text of indexed articles by consulting back issues of the newspapers found on microfilm in the Library. A card file housed in the Library's reference department contains citations to articles which appeared in Skokie newspapers between 1960 and 1977.
More information about the Skokie Newspaper Index is available online.
Wilson OmniFile Full Text Select
OmniFile is a multidisciplinary database. It contains the full text of articles from more than 1,600 publications with content from 1994 to the present.