Databases

Scholarly resource provides indexing and abstracts for more than 8,300 journals, with full text for more than 4,500 of those titles. PDF back files to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals.

The Cranston Public Library is an institutional member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. This membership gives our patrons access inside the Central Library to close to 500 databases with a focus on New England genealogy. Click the link above to begin your search or click here to see a full list of available databases (link opens in a new tab).

Due to licensing restrictions American Ancestors is available from inside the Central Library only.

Discover your family history and start your family tree. Try free and access billions of genealogy records including Census, SSDI & Military records.

Due to licensing restrictions Ancestry Library Edition is available from inside the library only.

Rhode Island’s Online Resource Center for learners and curious people of all ages.

Find contact information and more about 30 million business profiles & 220 million residents. Ideal for sales leads, mailing lists, market research, employment opportunities, finding friends and relatives, and more.

Get the App: iOS (opens in a new tab)

World Book Online Spanish version

Encuentra las respuestas en más de 170.000 recursos.

Find the answers from more than 170,000 resources.

Accurate, authoritative and up-to-date auto service and repair information. Auto Repair Source features content from the original equipment manufacturers, including step-by-step repair procedures with supporting images, maintenance schedules, and diagnostic trouble codes so users can accurately diagnose, repair and maintain their vehicle.

Biography Reference Center contains biographical full text articles, page images and abstracts from today’s leading magazines and journals—providing the most current coverage of an individual’s life and work.

This website focuses on Black Freedom, featuring select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history.

A collection of city government documents searchable by keyword, including Approved City Council Minutes from 2023 to current; Resolutions passed by the City Council from 2002 to current; Ordinances adopted from 2002 to current.

Designed for the everyday consumer of health care information. CHC provides convenient access to easily understandable health and medical information. Consumers can search and browse within medical encyclopedias, popular reference books, and magazine articles.

Available to Cranston Public Library cardholders, ConsumerReports.org is one of the most trusted sources for information and advice on consumer products and services, with ratings and recommendations on cars, appliances, electronics, and thousands of other products.

Free online archive featuring keyword searchable local history collections. Includes a complete run of the Cranston Herald and historical Cranston newspapers dating back to 1885. Additional archives are available separately from inside the library only(opens in a new tab). Powered by Advantage Preservation.

Available to Cranston Public Library cardholders, this ebook brings together articles that provide context to the war in Ukraine.

Available to Cranston Public Library cardholders, this ebook is designed for those providing care and support to individuals with dementia, with easy-to-understand and helpful information about dementia and many sources of support available for those affected by dementia.

DOAJ is an online directory that indexes and provides access to quality open access, peer-reviewed journals.

Free DMV practice tests for every state. Includes car, motorcycle, and commercial driving license practice tests and manuals. 

Search all the databases in the EBSCOhost collection.  

Get the App: iOS (opens in a new tab) / Android (opens in a new tab)

World Book Student Encyclopedia

La herramienta de referencia ideal en español para aquellos que están aprendiendo español y estudiantes ELL. Las funciones de exploración brindan indicaciones visuales y las funciones bilingües permiten a los estudiantes alternar entre texto en español e inglés. El sitio incluye artículos concisos, videos, mapas y actividades, y más.

The ideal Spanish-language reference tool for those learning Spanish and ELL students. Browse features provide visual prompts, and bilingual features allow students to toggle between Spanish and English text. The site includes concise articles, videos, maps and activities, and more.

Provides access to education literature and resources included in the Current Index of Journals in Education and Resources in Education Index. Contains more than 1,243,000 records and links to more than 224,000 full-text documents from ERIC.

Designed with students and educators in mind, Explora provides a safe, trustworthy environment for students to look up articles and facts for research papers, class projects or homework.

FamilySearch is the largest genealogical organization in the world and provides access to thousands of records free online. The Cranston Public Library is a FamilySearch affiliate library, which provides access to additional records from inside the Central Library. Create an account to begin.

Due to licensing restrictions some portions of FamilySearch are available from inside the Central Library only.

Flipster is a next-generation digital magazine solution that makes it easy for you to read your favorite magazines on your computer or mobile device.

Get the App: iOS (opens in a new tab) / Android (opens in a new tab) NOTE: Search for "AskRI" as the library name.

Helps consumers make informed decisions when purchasing a new vehicle, including information on fuel economy, annual fuel cost, and emissions for new model year cars, sport utility vehicles, and light trucks. Provided by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Features over 25,000 informative segments of the encyclopedia, with alphabetically arranged articles, illustrations and maps. Updated annually.

Free, self-guided courses to help you learn the essential skills needed to live and work in the 21st century.  From Microsoft Office and email to reading, math, and more, GCFLearnFree.org offers more than 180 topics, including more than 2,000 lessons, 800+ videos, and 55+ interactives and games, completely free. 

GotResumeBuilder.com is a free resume builder service. Simply create resume content with a step-by-step writing guide, select a design template, and download your resume in multiple formats.

GreenFILE from EBSCOhost includes content on the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and local/national governments. Topics covered include global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling and more.

A comprehensive full text history reference database. Features full text for more than 2,400 reference books, encyclopedias, and non-fiction books from leading history publishers as well as full text for more than 130 leading history periodicals. The database also contains more than 61,100 historical documents, 66,000 biographies of historical figures, 110,200 historical photos and maps and more than 80 hours of historical video.

Stream movies, music albums, comics, ebooks, and audiobooks with your Cranston Public Library card. Borrow up to 5 Instant title(s) each month.

You can download the free hoopla digital mobile app on your Android (opens in a new tab) or iOS (opens in a new tab) device or visit Hoopla (opens in a new tab) to begin enjoying thousands of titles from major Hollywood studios, record companies and publishers.

Job & Career Accelerator puts everything you need to land a job in one place. You can: Explore over 1,000 different occupations, discover the career that’s best for you, search local and national job and internship postings, create professional resumes and cover letters, practice and master interviewing skills and more!

Kanopy offers a broad selection of more than 30,000 films including quality documentaries, feature films, international language films and training videos from producers including PBS, BBC, The Criterion Collection, The Great Courses and thousands of independent filmmakers. Films can be streamed via cranstonlibrary.kanopy.com (opens in a new tab) or by downloading the Kanopy mobile app for iOS, Android, AppleTV, Roku, or Chromecast. Log in using your Cranston Public Library card and receive 12 tickets each month.

Practice tests, exercises, skill-building courses, eBooks, and information to achieve the results you want—at school, at work, or in life. Looking to land a job? You'll find an entire Learning Center dedicated to helping you get the one that's right for you.

Learning Express for Spanish Speakers

Herramientas de aprendizaje, carrera y ciudadanía en español. 

Learning, career and citizenship tools in Spanish.

This guide presents freely accessible information resources  on improving and maintaining cognitive (brain) functioning and encouraging brain-healthy behaviors for Rhode Island's senior population. The project is a collaboration of the James P. Adams Library at Rhode Island College (opens in a new tab) and Age-Friendly Rhode Island (opens in a new tab)  which have teamed up to provide both a platform and presentations on brain health information resources.

Literary Reference Center (LRC) is a comprehensive literary reference database, which provides users with a broad spectrum of reference information from antiquity to the present day. It combines information from over 1,000 books and monographs, major literary encyclopedias and reference works, hundreds of literary journals, and unique sources not available anywhere else. LRC contains detailed information on the most studied authors and their works.

Available to Cranston Public Library cardholders, this ebook covers diseases, disorders, treatments, procedures, specialties, biology, and issues in an easy-to-use A-Z format, with sidebars addressing recent developments in medicine and concise information boxes for all diseases and disorders.

Mango is an online language-learning system that can help you learn languages like Spanish, French, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Mandarin Chinese, Greek, Italian, Russian and more.

Get the App: iOS (opens in a new tab) / Android (opens in a new tab)

Designed specifically for public libraries, this multidisciplinary database provides full text for nearly 1,700 general reference publications with full text information dating as far back as 1975. Covering virtually every subject area of general interest, MasterFILE Premier also contains full text for nearly 500 reference books and over 164,400 primary source documents, as well as an Image Collection of over 502,000 photos, maps & flags. This database is updated daily via EBSCOhost.

MedlinePlus is an online health information resource for patients and their families and friends. Find reliable, up-to-date information about diseases, conditions, and wellness topics. Provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, this trusted resource is available anytime, anywhere, on any device.

MedlinePlus es un servicio informativo para pacientes, familiares y amigos. Producido por la Biblioteca Nacional de Medicina de EE. UU. (NLM, por sus siglas en inglés), le brinda información de calidad y relevante de salud y bienestar que sea confiable, fácil de entender y sin publicidad en inglés y español; sin costo y accesible en cualquier lugar, tiempo y dispositivo.

MedlinePlus is an online health information resource for patients and their families and friends. A service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), it provides you with high-quality, relevant health and wellness information that is trusted, easy to understand, and free of advertising, in both English and Spanish. Anywhere, anytime, on any device—for free.

Have you read everything by your favorite author? Use Author Read-alikes to locate other authors and titles of interest or search for fiction by topic. NoveList also includes full-text searchable book reviews, annotations, genre- and theme-based book lists, award lists, and book discussion guides.

The OOH can help you find career information on duties, education and training, pay, and outlook for hundreds of occupations. Developed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Access a digital library of thousands of eBooks and Audiobook titles to borrow.

Borrow up to 8 titles at one time. Most titles can be downloaded onto your device. No overdue fees. Titles will automatically expire after the lending period or you can request them again. Register for an Overdrive account by visiting http://riezone.overdrive.com (opens in a new tab) or by using the Libby mobile app on your iOS (opens in a new tab) / Android (opens in a new tab) mobile devices. You will need to provide your library card number and library card security PIN. For more information, visit this Getting Started Guide (opens in a new tab).

Bringing you conversations with library workers, authors, community superstars and other neighbors around the Ocean State and beyond about their current favorite books, TV and movies, and all the big things they are doing in our little state! New episodes every other Tuesday at noon.

Overdueing It is funded in part by the Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services (link opens in a new tab) and is produced by library staff around the state. We are proud to be a resident partner of the Rhode Island Center for the Book (link opens in a new tab).

Overdueing It: The Rhode Island Library Podcast. We’re Overdueing It, but you’re doing just fine!

Palace Project is a new open-source digital library platform that combines the content already in the eZone with additional content  like Audible audiobooks, graphic novels, and more. Borrow up to 8 titles at one time. No overdue fees. Titles will automatically expire after the lending period. Download the Palace mobile app on your iOS (link opens in a new tab) / Android (link opens in a new tab) mobile device. You will need to provide your library card number and library card security PIN.

Available to Cranston Public Library cardholders, this ebook brings together 43 articles of pandemic information, from the late Middle Ages and the Black Death, to the Twenty-first Century and SARS, Zika and COVID-19.

Points of View Reference Center™ is a full-text database designed to provide students with a series of essays that present multiple sides of a current issue. The database provides more than 280 topics, each with an overview (objective background/description), point (argument), counterpoint (opposing argument), and Critical Thinking Guide.

ProvLibDigital.org is the online home of the digital collections for the Providence Public Library and includes more than 14,000 images.

PLOS is a nonprofit open access scientific publishing project aimed at creating a library of open access journals and other scientific literature under an open content license.

PubMed Central® (PMC) is a free archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM)

Database of Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries maintained by the Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Commission.

Esta fuente proporciona informes de temas específicos que cubren todos los aspectos de la salud y el bienestar, incluidas descripciones generales de enfermedades, afecciones, procedimientos y diversos tratamientos. Salud en Español es el recurso único para los informes basados en la evidencia y las hojas informativas en el idioma español.

This database provides topic-specific reports covering all aspects of health and wellness, including overviews of diseases, conditions, procedures and treatments. Salud en Español is the one-stop resource for evidence-based reports and fact sheets in the Spanish language.

Tutor.com provides on-demand tutoring, homework help, test preparation and writing assistance for students in grades K-12 in over 40 subjects. No appointment is needed. Tutors are available 2:00pm – 10:00pm. You can also use their practice quizzes and SkillsCenter Resource Library to study 24/7. Login from anywhere using your Cranston Public Library card.

Get the App: iOS (opens in a new tab) / Android (opens in a new tab)

Udemy can help improve your career skills or further develop a personal interest with access to more than 4,000 continuously updated, on-demand video courses.  Explore the many options across 75 categories in business, technology, design, and more taught by world- class instructors.

The World Book web site offers an encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, homework help, study aids, and curriculum guides.