Research Tools by Category

ALLDATA
ALLDATA is an online source that provides vehicle manufacturers' diagnostic and repair information, and Original Equipment Manufacturer information.
In-library use only.
Funded by MELSA*

Driving-Tests.org
Offers online test preparation for students preparing for their Minnesota driving tests or anyone looking to brush up on their knowledge of Minnesota’s traffic laws. This resource includes practice car and motorcycle tests, Minnesota Driver’s Manual, Minnesota Motorcycle Manual, and FAQs to answer questions about visiting local license centers.

Ancestry Library Edition
This premium version of Ancestry.com provides extensive genealogy and family history resources, including census and immigration records.
In-library use only.
Funded by MELSA*

Biographical information on thousands of people, from historical figures to modern day celebrities.
Funded by MELSA*

Fold3 History and Genealogy Archives Plus
Features premier collections of original military records, including the stories, photos and personal documents of the men and women who served in the military. Many of the records come from the U.S. National archives, The National Archives of the U.K. and other international records.
Funded by DCL*

HeritageQuest
Search thousands of family and local history books and the complete U.S. Federal Census records, digitized family and local history books. Also includes Revolutionary War records and the Freedman's Bank records (1865-1874).
Funded by DCL*

Minnesota Reflections
Collection of images and documents from historical societies, public libraries, special archives, universities, and colleges that depict the history of Minnesota.
*Funded by ELM

Online e-books available to all Minnesotans. Items are always available for checkout without waitlists.

Hoopla Digital
Hoopla allows you to watch streaming videos or listen to streaming audio on your computer, or you can download to your mobile device to enjoy later. The collection includes videos, audio and e-books, music CDs and comic books. Items are always available for checkout without waitlists. Funded by DCL*

Literature Resource Center
Biographies, bibliographies, and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline. Includes Contemporary Authors.
Funded by MELSA*

LitFinder
Features a searchable collection of full-text poems, essays, speeches, plays and stories. Includes biographies, explanations, and literary criticism.
Funded by DCL*

NoveList Plus - your guide to reading
Looking for a good read? This readers' advisory tool helps you find new books based on other books you've enjoyed or topics in which you're interested. Now includes nonfiction.
Funded by MELSA*

Data Axle Reference Solutions
Directory of more than 44 million U.S. businesses and 27.5 million U.S. residents, plus median income and median home values.
Funded by MELSA*

EBSCO Business Source Premier
Covers virtually all subject areas related to business, including company profiles and scholarly journals.
Funded by ELM*

EBSCO Regional Business News
Incorporates coverage of 75 business journals, newspapers and newswires from metropolitan and rural areas within the United States.
Funded by ELM*

LinkedIn Learning
Easy-to-use video tutorials to help you learn software, technical, creative and  business skills — anytime, anywhere. Log in with your Dakota County Library card, create your profile and you are ready to start learning.  The Library’s contract allows for 75 simultaneous users – if that number is reached, you may be asked to wait until a seat is free to use.
Mobile app library ID: dakotacountylibrary
Funded by MELSA*

Morningstar Investment Research Center
Features financial data on more than 30,000 stocks, mutual funds and ETFs, plus buy/sell guidance on more than 1,900 stocks and 2,100 mutual funds, and a "portfolio X​-ray" to analyze your holdings.
Funded by MELSA*

Get investment ratings, research, statistics and forecasts for thousands of stocks and mutual funds.
Funded by DCL

BookFlix
Scholastic BookFlix is an online literacy resource that pairs classic video storybooks with related nonfiction e-books to build a love of reading and learning. 
Funded by MELSA*

​Encyclopedia content for elementary grades plus multimedia, timelines, world atlas, country comparison, animal kingdom and geography explorer.
Funded by ELM*

Britannica School High
Encyclopedia content for high school grades plus multimedia, timelines, world atlas, country comparison and primary sources.
Funded by ELM*

Britannica School Middle
Encyclopedia content for middle school grades plus multimedia, timelines, world atlas, country comparison, and primary sources.
Funded by ELM*​

Produced with advice from experts in early childhood development and education, this database offers an interactive learning environment including engaging games and beginning reading activities.
Funded by DCL*

Explora Kids
Contains elementary school-appropriate magazines, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and images. Funded by ELM.

Explora Teens
Contains middle and high school-appropriate magazine, journal and encyclopedia articles and also includes primary source documents, reference books and multimedia. Funded by ELM.

Gale in Context: High School
Encyclopedia, magazine and journal articles plus primary sources, images, video and more for middle and high school students. Includes the InfoTrac Student Edition database.
Funded by ELM*

Gale in Context: Middle School
Designed for grades 6-8. Search magazines, newspapers, and reference books for information on current events, the arts, science, popular culture, health, etc.
Funded by ELM*

Mango Little Pim
Online language learning designed for kids aged 0-6. Each course is designed to provide the basic building blocks of a second or third language while enhancing development and social skills.
Funded by DCL*

Middle Search Plus
Contains full text for more than 150 popular, middle school magazines.
Funded by ELM*

PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next
Packed with informational articles, ready-made activities, and literacy supports for students of all abilities. Animals and Biographies is specifically designed for K-3 students and States and Native Americans is designed for grades 3-5. PebbleGo is not compatible with Internet Explorer.
Funded by ELM* 

TumbleBook Library - eBooks for eKids
TumbleBooks is collection of animated, talking picture books for kids. It also includes puzzles, games, audiobooks, and language learning. Requires Adobe Flash Player.
Funded by DCL*

​​Consumer Reports
Ratings, research and advice from an independent, nonprofit on a wide range of products and services. Provides browseable, full-text access to the current issue and more than 20 years of previous issues.​
Funded by ELM*

Features consumer information and ratings of services and products in the Twin Cities. Includes ratings for auto repair, banks, health care, phone services, roofers, and much more.
Funded by DCL*

EBSCO MasterFILE Premier
Covers virtually every subject area of general interest. Includes general interest publications, full-text reference books, biographies, primary source documents, and an Image Collection of photos, maps and flags.
Funded by ELM

Points of View Reference Center
A full-text database designed to provide students with a series of essays that present multiple sides of a current issue.
Funded by ELM*

EBSCO Academic Search Premier
Provides full text of scholarly journals and other publications from a wide variety of academic disciplines.
Funded by ELM*

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center)
This database consists of the Resources in Education (RIE) file of document citations and the Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE) file of journal article citations from over 980 professional journals in the field of education.
Funded by ELM*

Gale in Context: High School
Encyclopedia, magazine and journal articles plus primary sources, images, video and more for middle and high school students. Includes the InfoTrac Student Edition database.
Funded by ELM*

HelpNow
Online homework live help.
Funded by MELSA*

Learning Express Computer Skills Center
Interactive multimedia training tutorials to develop computer and internet skills. Available through the LearningExpress Library.
Funded by ELM*

Learning Express Jobs and Career Accelerator
Career exploration tools, a resume and cover letter builder, job search, and other materials related to career and job readiness. Available through the LearningExpress Library.
Funded by ELM*

LearningExpressLibrary 3.0
Online courses in math and English, plus online practice tests for official exams, including civil service, academic achievement, citizenship, real estate, and military.
Funded by ELM*

LinkedIn Learning
Easy-to-use video tutorials to help you learn software, technical, creative and  business skills — anytime, anywhere. Log in with your Dakota County Library card, create your profile and you are ready to start learning. 
Mobile app library ID: dakotacountylibrary
Funded by MELSA*

Professional Development Collection
Provides a highly specialized collection of electronic information especially for professional educators, professional librarians and education researchers.
Funded by ELM*

Britannica Academic Edition
Encyclopedia content plus multimedia, timelines, world data analyst, country comparison and the Britannica blog
Funded by ELM*

Britannica Fundamentals
Interactive learning modules for pre-kindergarten through grade 2 includes drawing, reading, games​ and geographical exploration.
Funded by ELM* ​

Encyclopedia content for all ages plus multimedia, timelines, world atlas, country comparison, quotations and primary sources.
Funded by ELM*

Britannica Library Kids
Encyclopedia content for all ages plus multimedia, timelines, world atlas, country comparison, quotations and primary sources.
Funded by ELM*

A compilation of more than 420,000 primary source documents, complete books, and authentic images across a variety of subject areas. Includes close reading strategies for connecting with historical texts and primary source documents.
Funded by ELM*

Encyclopedia content for elementary grades plus multimedia, timelines, world atlas, country comparison, animal kingdom and geography explorer.
Funded by ELM*

Britannica School High
Encyclopedia content for high school grades plus multimedia, timelines, world atlas, country comparison and primary sources.
Funded by ELM*

Britannica School Middle
Encyclopedia content for middle school grades plus multimedia, timelines, world atlas, country comparison, and primary sources.
Funded by ELM*​

EBSCO Master File Complete
Provides full-text magazines, reference books and primary source documents. It also includes an extensive image collection containing photos, maps and flags.
Funded by ELM*

Gale in Context: Middle School
Designed for grades 6-8. Search magazines, newspapers, and reference books for information on current events, the arts, science, popular culture, health, etc.
Funded by ELM*

MAS Complete
Full-text database of popular magazines, reference books and primary sources covering many subjects, including history, science and health. It also includes and over a million photos, maps and flags.
Funded by ELM*

Oxford Reference Online
Contains over 100 dictionaries and reference titles covering the complete subject spectrum: from general reference and language to science and medicine, and from humanities and social sciences to business and professional.
Funded by DCL*

WorldCat (OCLC FirstSearch)
WorldCat is a catalog of books, videos, recordings, and other materials held in thousands of libraries worldwide.
Funded by ELM*

Alt HealthWatch
Alt HealthWatch provides indexing and full text for more than 160 complementary, alternative, and holistic health care publications, approximately 20 of which are peer-reviewed.
Funded by ELM*

Consumer Health Complete
Provides content covering all areas of health and wellness from mainstream medicine to the many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated medicine. This full text database covers topics such as aging, cancer, diabetes, drugs & alcohol, fitness, nutrition & dietetics, children's health, men & women's health, etc.
Funded by ELM*

Health Source: Consumer Edition
This resource provides access to nearly 80 full text, consumer health magazines, and many others. This database also includes searchable full text for current, health-related pamphlets and more than 130 health reference books, including books published by the People's Medical Society.
Funded by ELM*

Minnesota Public Health Data Access
Public access to Minnesota data about environmental risk factors and health. Includes interactive charts and figures, maps, custom tables and county profiles across a range of environmental indicators.

​JobNow!
Get live job coaching, resume assistance, and more...
Funded by MELSA*

Learning Express Computer Skills Center
Interactive multimedia training tutorials to develop computer and internet skills. Available through the LearningExpress Library.
Funded by ELM*

Learning Express Jobs and Career Accelerator
Career exploration tools, a resume and cover letter builder, job search, and other materials related to career and job readiness. Available through the LearningExpress Library.
Funded by ELM*

LearningExpressLibrary 3.0
Online courses in math and English, plus online practice tests for official exams, including civil service, academic achievement, citizenship, real estate, and military.
Funded by ELM*

LinkedIn Learning
Easy-to-use video tutorials to help you learn software, technical, creative and business skills — anytime, anywhere. Log in with your Dakota County Library card, create your profile and you are ready to start learning.
Mobile app library ID: dakotacountylibrary
Funded by MELSA*

Traitify
Traitify is a visual personality assessment tool that recommends careers, jobs and education based on personality and preference data.

Mango Languages
Mango is a self-paced online language-learning system that teaches actual conversation skills for many different languages including English.
Funded by DCL*

Mango Little Pim
Online language learning designed for kids aged 0-6. Each course is designed to provide the basic building blocks of a second or third language while enhancing development and social skills.
Funded by DCL* 

Transparent Language 
Transparent Language is a powerful and personalized language-learning system. It locks foreign language words and phrases into your memory so that you can recall them perfectly and remember them forever.
Funded by MELSA*

Duluth News-Tribune (via NewsBank)
Complete full-text content of local and regional news, 1995 to the present.
Funded by MELSA*

Minnesota Reflections
Collection of images and documents from historical societies, public libraries, special archives, universities, and colleges that depict the history of Minnesota.
Funded by ELM*

Rochester Post Bulletin
Complete full text, 2006-current.
Funded by MELSA*

St. Cloud Times (via ProQuest)
Complete full-text content of local and regional news.         
Funded by ELM*

St. Paul Pioneer Press (via NewsBank)
Complete full text, 1988-current. Image Edition 2018-current.
Funded by MELSA*

Complete full-text content of local and regional news, 1986 to the present.
Funded by MELSA/DCL*

Star Tribune (via ProQuest)
Full text of articles from the newspaper, 1986 to the present. Also includes full text of New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and many others.
Funded by ELM*

America's News
Current content and deep archives from more than 3,650 U.S. news sources, on a diverse range of popular topics, including business, health, politics, careers, entrepreneurship and much more.
Funded by MELSA*

Provides full text of scholarly journals and other publications from a wide variety of academic disciplines.
Funded by ELM*

Duluth News-Tribune (via NewsBank)
Complete full-text content of local and regional news, 1995 to the present.
Funded by MELSA*

EBSCO Business Source Premier
Covers virtually all subject areas related to business, including company profiles and scholarly journals.
Funded by ELM*

EBSCO Master File Complete
Provides full-text magazines, reference books and primary source documents. It also includes an extensive image collection containing photos, maps and flags.
Funded by ELM*

EBSCO Regional Business News
Incorporates coverage of 75 business journals, newspapers and newswires from metropolitan and rural areas within the United States.
Funded by ELM*

Explora Kids
Contains elementary school-appropriate magazines, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and images. Funded by ELM.

Explora Teens
Contains middle and high school-appropriate magazine, journal and encyclopedia articles and also includes primary source documents, reference books and multimedia. Funded by ELM.

Explora Library
Full text of popular magazine and scholarly journal articles covering all subject areas including multimedia, primary source documents and reference books.
Funded by ELM.

Historical Minneapolis Tribune (1867-1922)
Full page images from the Minneapolis Morning Tribune (1909-1922) and indexing and abstracts for 1867-1908. Subscription purchased with funds provided to Minnesota State Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services Technology Act (LSTA) through the Institute of Museums and Library Services.

Historical New York Times (1851-2017​)
Offers searchable full text and digital reproductions of every page from every available issue.
Funded by MELSA*

Los Angeles Times (1996–current)
Articles from the Los Angeles Times from 1996 to current. One of the newspapers in ProQuest U.S. Newsstream database.
Funded by ELM*

Minnesota News Sources
Provides full-text content of local and regional news from the St. Paul Pioneer Press (1988-present), Star Tribune (1986-present), and Duluth News-Tribune (1995-present)​.
Funded by MELSA​*

New York Times (1999–current)
Articles from the New York Times from 1999 to current. One of the newspapers in ProQuest U.S. Newsstream database.
Funded by ELM*

Newspaper Source
This resource contains several local Minnesota newspapers such as Duluth News Tribune, Bemidji Pioneer, Lake Country News, Cloquet Pine Journal, Rochester Post-Bulletin, Worthington Daily Globe, as well as papers from Wisconsin. This resource also contains Al Jazeera and some TV and radio transcripts.
Funded by ELM*

ProQuest US Newsstream
Enables users to search current U.S. news content as well as archives that stretch back into the 1980s. Features newspapers, wires, broadcast transcripts, blogs and news sites in full-text format, including Star Tribune.
Funded by ELM*

St. Paul Pioneer Press (via NewsBank)
Complete full text, 1988-current. Image Edition 2018-current.
Funded by MELSA*

Articles from USA Today from 1997 to current. One of the newspapers in ProQuest Global Newsstream database.
Funded by ELM*

Wall Street Journal (1984–current)
Articles from the Wall Street Journal from 1984 to current. One of the newspapers in ProQuest U.S. Newsstream database.
Funded by ELM*

Washington Post (1997–current)
Articles from the Washington Post from 1997 to current. One of the newspapers in ProQuest U.S. Newsstream database.
Funded by ELM*

LinkedIn Learning
Easy-to-use video tutorials to help you learn software, technical, creative and  business skills — anytime, anywhere. Log in with your Dakota County Library card, create your profile and you are ready to start learning.  The library’s contract allows for 75 simultaneous users – if that number is reached, you may be asked to wait until a seat is free to use.
Mobile app library ID: dakotacountylibrary
Funded by MELSA*

Science Reference Center
A comprehensive research database that provides easy access to a multitude of full text science-oriented content.
Funded by ELM*