Ramsey County Library will be closed on Monday, May 27.

Books & Reading

Research Databases

Research databases | Selected Websites

  • 3M Cloud Library

    Search and checkout 3M Cloud Library e-books! The Cloud Library is available to you on your computer or mobile device!

  • 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.

  • 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)*

Subject Magazines

  • Zinio

    Get the current issues of some of your favorite magazines – no waiting, no due dates.  You can read digital versions of Consumer Reports, Newsweek, National Geographic, Martha Stewart Living and many more popular titles.  Electronic magazines take the reading experience beyond the limits of paper through intuitive navigation, keyword article searching and interactive rich media elements such as audio and video.

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Selected Websites

Research databases | Selected Websites

Audiobooks Award Winners Bestsellers Book Groups/Book Discussions Book News Children's eBooks and eReaders General Sites Horror Inspirational Fiction Movies Multicultural Mystery Poetry Romance Science Fiction/Fantasy Series Social Networking for Readers Teens Westerns

Audiobooks

  • 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.

Award Winners

  • 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

  • Caldecott Medal Winners

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

  • 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.

eBooks and eReaders

  • Dear Author eBooks

    Dear Author is blog dedicated to reviews of romance books, but they also focus on eBooks and digital technology related to eBooks.

  • eBookAnoid

    Dedicated to reviewing eReaders, eBooks, eBook websites and all things related to eBooks and eReaders.

  • eBooks @ Adelaide

    Free books, online.  Devoted to providing "access to the 'classic' works of civilization."  Titles are available in ePub and Kindle editions.  Housed at the University of Adelaide Library.

  • Electronic Books (UT Library Online)

    Comprehensive collection of resources related to electronic books.  Compiled by the University of Texas Libraries.

  • Internet Archive Text Archive

    Download free books and texts. The Internet Archive Text Archive contains a wide range of fiction, popular books, children's books, historical texts and academic books.
     

  • Project Gutenberg

    Project Gutenberg offers over 39,000 free ebooks: choose among free ePub books, free Kindle books; download them or read them online.

  • The eBook Reader.com

    A resource for everything about the world of digital reading and electronic book readers, from dedicated eReaders like the Kindle to tablets and smartphones.  Includes the eBook Reader blog, with updates on eReaders news.

General Sites

  • Book Page

    Monthly publication offering interviews with favorite authors, book reviews in all categories, and book news.

  • BookBrowse

    Excerpts, reviews and more from the best current books.

  • IndieBound

    Features lists of independent bookseller-recommended favorite handsells and bestseller lists. Formerly BookSense.

  • Library Booklists and Bibliographies

    Comprehensive list of fiction and non-fiction booklists for adults, teens and children.

  • Overbooked

    Book list, author information and web links specializing in literary and genre fiction.

Horror

  • Monster Librarian

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

Inspirational Fiction

  • FaithfulReader.com

    Interviews, excerpts, new releases, author sites, awards, and study guides for readers of inspirational fiction and non-fiction.

  • The Christy Awards

    Awards for the best in contemporary Christian fiction.

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

  • Stop, You're Killing Me!

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

  • The Mystery Reader

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

Poetry

Romance

  • All About Romance

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

  • Romantic Times Book Club

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

  • The Romance Reader

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

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!

  • Shelfari

    Create a virtual bookshelf, discover new books, connect with friends and learn more about your favorite books--all for free.  Owned by Amazon.com.

Teens

  • Reading Rants

    Out of the ordinary booklists for teens.

  • Teenreads.com

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

Westerns

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