Books & Reading

Research Databases

Research databases | Selected Websites

  • Contemporary Authors

    Provides complete biographical and bibliographical information, and references on more than 120,000 U.S. and international authors.
    Subscription purchased by the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA), with funding from state and federal tax revenues.

  • Electronic Books

    Index of records for more than 665,000 e-Books that have been cataloged by OCLC member libraries, including titles from NetLibrary and other providers.
    Subscription purchased by Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM)*

  • Literature Resource Center

    Biographies, bibliographies, and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline.

    Subscription purchased by the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA), with funding from state and federal tax revenues.

  • LitFINDER

    Includes Poem Finder--the ultimate poetry reference on the Web; and Story Finder--a full-text anthology of classic and contemporary short stories, and Essay Finder--full-text essays in humanities and social sciences.

  • Minnesota Library Information Network (MnLINK)

    Search several library catalogs and databases at once. Ramsey County Library is an official gateway library to MnLINK.

  • Novelist K-8 Plus

    Designed especially for elementary and middle school students, NoveList K-8 Plus is an online database with fiction and nonfiction titles chosen specifically to support the school curriculum as well as the pleasure reading needs of students.
    Subscription purchased by the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA), with funding from state and federal tax revenues.

  • Novelist Plus

    NoveList Plus is a comprehensive online readers' advisory tool. Using NoveList Plus, you can search among hundreds of thousands of popular fiction and readable nonfiction titles, and also retrieve author read-alikes, book lists, book discussion guides, and more.
    Subscription purchased by the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA), with funding from state and federal tax revenues.

  • OAIster

    Union catalog of digital resources, including descriptive information about each resource.
    Subscription purchased by Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM)*

  • OneClickdigital

    OneClickdigital offers a selection of eAudiobooks.  OneClickdigital replaces NetLibrary for downloading eAudiobooks.

  • Overdrive

    OverDrive provides the ability to checkout and download Adobe EPUB and PDF e-books.

  • WorldCat

    Searchable catalog of books, web resources and other materials worldwide.
    Subscription purchased by Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM)*

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Selected Websites

Research databases | Selected Websites

Audiobooks and E-Books Award Winners Bestsellers Book Groups/Book Discussions Book News Children's General Sites Historical Fiction Horror Inspirational Fiction Literature and Poetry Movies Multicultural Mystery Romance Science Fiction/Fantasy Series Social Networking for Readers Westerns Young Adults

Audiobooks and E-Books

  • Audiofile Magazine

    Audiobook reviews, recommended lists, and feature articles as well as listings for the Audies, yearly awards given to the best in audiobook and spoken word entertainment.

  • Project Gutenberg

    Over 33,000 free ebooks downloadable to PCs, IPads, Kindles, Sony Readers and other portable devices.

Award Winners

  • Book Awards A-Z

    Links to over 200 national and international book awards.

  • Great Books List

    Collection of Great Books lists--authoritative attempts to list the group of books consistently rated as great by readers and critics down through the generations.

  • Pulitzer Prize winners

    Complete list of Pulitzer Prize winners.

Bestsellers

Book Groups/Book Discussions

Book News

  • BookReporter.com

    Author profiles, book reviews, feature articles, book quizzes, contests and a free weekly newsletter. Check out the Coming Soon section for info on new releases.

  • Publishers Weekly

    News, reviews and the latest in book and publishing news.

Children's

  • ATN (All Together Now) Book Lists

    A copious number of book lists for children, grouped by genre, theme, values and more.

  • Caldecott Medal Winners

    Listing of Caldecott Winners, an award given to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

  • Kids' Booklists

    A group of booklists grouped by school grade (maintained by Multnomah County Library).

  • Lexile Framework for Reading

    Search tens of thousands of titles for their Lexile measure or search by Lexile measure.

  • Newbery Medal Winners

    Listing of the Newbery Medal award winners, an award given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

General Sites

Historical Fiction

  • Histfiction.net

    Guide to historical fiction, including author information, book lists and resources.

Horror

  • DarkEcho Horror

    Articles, interviews and reviews of horror literature and dark fiction.

  • Monster Librarian

    Reviews of horror fiction, author interviews, new releases, and horror book news.

Inspirational Fiction

Literature and Poetry

Movies

  • Based On The Book

    Mid-Continent Public Library's 'Based on the Book' is a compilation of over 1,250 books, novels, short stories, and plays that have been made into motion pictures.

Multicultural

Mystery

  • The Mystery Reader

    Thousands of book reviews in a variety of mystery subgenres, features, author interviews and much more.

  • Stop, You're Killing Me!

    Features title lists of your favorite mystery, intrigue and suspense authors and series characters.

Romance

  • All About Romance

    Book reviews, book lists, message boards and more for lovers of romantic fiction.

  • The Romance Reader

    Thousands of candid book reviews for lovers of romantic fiction. Also features author interviews, news and much more.

  • Romantic Times Book Club

    Magazine for lovers of romance, mystery & women's fiction featuring news, reviews and interviews.

Science Fiction/Fantasy

  • Fantastic Fiction

    Bibliographies, links and more for over 6,000 science fiction, fantasy and horror authors.

  • Locus Online

    Features news, reviews, resources, and perspectives of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Includes the Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards

  • SF Site

    Book reviews, opinion pieces, author interviews, fiction excerpts, and links to all things SF.

Series

Social Networking for Readers

  • Good Reads

    Members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they've read and would like to read, form book clubs and much more.

  • Librarything.com

    Catalog your books online. Connect with other readers for recommendations and discussion!

Westerns

Young Adults

  • Reading Rants

    Out of the ordinary booklists for teens.

  • Teenreads.com

    Fun site for teens that includes author interviews, reading lists, contests and more.

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