America’s Newspapers

Are you looking for news from around the country?  Out of town obituaries? Current events from around the globe?  You can find all of this and more when you search America’s Newspapers.  With your library card from home, you can access 49 newspapers — including the Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Washington Post, Miami Herald, and Chicago Tribune. Seventeen of the newspapers cover much of the state of Ohio.  In addition, you can even access the Akron Beacon Journal when you are using a computer at any of our library locations. 

Not only can you get newspaper articles, but magazine articles from 26 weekly magazines are available as well!  The full-text of People Weekly, Sports Illustrated and even Time can be searched.  You can select a specific title, or you can search the entire collection of newspapers and magazines. For some topics, the search has already been done for you! Just follow the handy links on the left to get collections of articles.  Choose Hot Topics for current events by subject; or chose one of the Special Reports that have articles that go further in depth and cover a variety of interests such as the presidential campaign, science, natural disasters, world economics and much more. 

Heritage Quest Online

Trying to research your African-American ancestors? Why not try Heritage Quest Online?  This valuable resource provides access to the Freedman’s Bank Records database, which is considered one of the most important resources for African-American genealogical research.  The database documents more than 70,000 bank depositors along with their dependants and heirs.

Heritage Quest Online also provides access to most years of the U.S. Federal Census images from 1790-1930, the U.S. Serial Set s, over 22,000 family and local histories, more than 2 million genealogy and local history articles, and records from the Revolutionary War Era Pension & Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files.  This resource is available at all library locations and is also accessible from home.

ReferenceUSA

Want to find a florist in a distant city? Updating your address book? Looking for a job? Trying to locate an old school friend? Working on your genealogy? Need to find the owner of a particular company? You might want to start with ReferenceUSA.  Here’s why:

ReferenceUSA is a powerful database with the information you find in phone books and much more. It contains listings for more than 14 million U.S. businesses, 210 million U.S. residents, 1.5 million Canadian businesses, and 12 million Canadian households. This is a versatile database; you can also criss-cross addresses and phone numbers.

This subscription is available at each Akron-Summit County Public Library location. You can even dial-in from home or office to use it; your library card is the magic key to accessing this great source.

So, if you need a phone book for the United States and Canada, give ReferenceUSA a try. Call the Business & Government division at 330-643-9020 for further guidance.

ANCESTRY LIBRARY EDITION

New to family history or still looking for that illusive ancestor?  Ancestry Library Edition might provide just the clues or answers you are seeking.  The most comprehensive genealogical database available, Ancestry consists of thousands of databases containing billions of names and records. Search for ancestors in the U.S. Federal Census from 1790-1930, find your immigrant ancestor, view digitized WWI draft registration cards, learn about your Civil War ancestors, view historical maps and more. Updated weekly, this valuable resource is accessible at Main Library and all branches.

ALLDATA Online

ALLDATA® Online, is one of the world’s most comprehensive resource for automotive diagnostic and repair information.  The source material comes from the publishers of the MOTOR manuals for vehicles.  Other features in addition to repair information include Technical Service Bulletins and printing wiring diagrams on letter sized paper.  To get started, just click the “Enter” button and choose “Select Vehicle”.  ALLDATA® Online can be accessed in any of the Akron-Summit County Public Library locations.