A-Z Online Resources

Search here for the full text of industry and trade magazines, journals and newsletters.

Offers a world of academic research at your fingertips, with more than 17,000 scholarly journals, podcasts and transcripts.

Access Video lets you watch video on demand from any computer or tablet, with no app or software to download. The Access Video collection includes online shows and documentaries from channels like PBS, BBC, History Channel, A&E and more.

Find factory-correct troubleshooting and repair information for U.S. and foreign cars and trucks from 1982 to the present. This resource is available only in Library locations.

Access nearly 249 million U.S. genealogical records from 1690 to the present, including obituaries, marriage and birth announcements, military records and other government documents.

Interested in genealogy? We partnered with Ancestry.com to help you search billions of historical documents, photos, oral histories and more, from the 1500s to the present. This resource is available only in Library locations.

This online version of the official Associated Press Stylebook is searchable, customizable and updated regularly. It offers writing guidelines for spelling, usage, punctuation and style.

Find articles and research from more than 750 journals that cover art, architecture, design, costume, crafts and more. This database also includes more than 63,000 images.

Want to learn about another country? Get in-depth information about 175 countries, including history, culture, customs, food, religion, travel information, maps and much more.

Examine spending patterns of households by demographic characteristics and analyze household spending on more than 300 products and services. Identify households spending the most on a product or service (the best customers) and housholds controling the largest share of spending (the biggest customers).

Get in-depth biographical information about the world’s most influential people from all time periods.

Find facts about more than 760 bird species that breed in the United States and Canada. Includes image and video galleries that show behavior, habitat, nests and more, plus audio recordings of bird songs and calls.

Strengthens literacy for preschool and elementary school students by pairing more than 120 animated stories with nonfiction e-books on similar topics. Includes some books in Spanish.

Find thousands of book reviews, published by the American Library Association.

The Encyclopedia Britannica online, plus a dictionary, thesaurus, world atlas, the full text of current magazine and journal articles, live feeds from a variety of news sources and much more.

Encyclopedia Britannica for Kids. Offers thousands of articles, images, videos and more to help students from kindergarten through high school learn about the world.

Interested in starting your own business? This collection of actual business plans written by entrepreneurs seeking funding for small businesses in the manufacturing, retail and service industries offers real-world examples to show you the way.

Do-it-yourself mechanics have access to photographs, diagnostics and step-by-step repair procedures, maintenance schedules, wiring diagrams, recalls and technical service bulletins for automobiles and light trucks, some dating as far back as 1929.

Provides articles, news and product reviews from more than 600 publications that cover the computer, telecommunications, and electronics industries.

Use product reviews, ratings and comparisons from Consumer Reports magazine to make better buying decisions and save money.

Choose the best quality health, wellness and nutritional products, based on test results published by an independent laboratory.

Get ratings, reviews and advice to help you choose the best retail stores, service companies and healthcare providers in the Puget Sound region.

Get an inside look at the daily life, history, culture and customs of the world's people. Includes information on more than 200 countries, every U.S. state and all 13 Canadian provinces and territories.

Provides detailed U.S. demographic information and statistics to help with business research, market analysis and more.

Discover how words, phrases and pronunciations vary from one place to another across the United States.

Explore thousands of detailed maps chart the growth and development of Seattle, other Puget Sound communities and more than 12,000 cities and towns across the United States.

Practice driving tests for cars, motorcycles, and the Commercial Driver's License (CDL). Online access to the Washington Driver's Handbook.

Explore one of the world’s largest general reference collections of magazines and digital content to find the information you need. Designed for students in middle school and beyond.

Search the Family History Library catalog as well as digitized records, which include over 2 million rolls of microform and hundreds of thousands of books and maps related to family history and genealogical research. Account registration required.

Browse and download full-color, interactive versions of your favorite magazines. No waiting and no limit to the number of downloads you can have.

For fundraisers and grant writers, this interactive resource of more than 100,000 grant providers is available only at the Central Library.

Designed for individual grant seekers, including artists, students, writers and researchers. Both online and print resources from the Fundraising Resource Center are available only at the Central Library.

With Freegal you can stream unlimited music plus download and keep up to five songs per week. Account registration required.

Need to research a topic? Here’s an easy-to-use source for searching magazines, newspapers, journals and audio content.

Explore these searchable and printable genealogy resources, including local and family histories, research guides and the complete U.S. Federal Census, 1790-1940. Powered by Ancestry.

High school students and history scholars can search primary sources, reference works, photos, videos and web content for historical information from ancient times to the present. Edited for accuracy by a team of history scholars.

With Hoopla you can access over 6,000 movies and TV shows, and 300,000 music albums. You can also explore our collection of digital comic books. Account registration required.

You can now watch more than 30,000 films from Kanopy, a streaming film service with a focus on classic and independent films. Account registration required.

Perfect for students and law scholars, this searchable database includes articles from more than 1,200 law reviews, Bar Association journals and international law reviews.

Explore LGBTQ history, culture, health, and political, social and legal issues in the United States and around the world. The searchable database includes approximately 1.5 million pages of information.

Updated biographical information, library criticism and reviews on more than 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from ancient times to the present.

Learn a new skill at your own pace, with thousands of courses covering animation, audio, video, business skills, marketing, design, photography, programming and much more. Login to lynda.com. Account registration required.

Want to improve your conversation skills in another language? This interactive tool offers more than 70 languages, including English, for children and adults.

Prepare for school or career by improving your knowledge of Microsoft products and technologies. Basic skills, advanced training and certification are available. Login to Microsoft Imagine Academy.

Get up-to-date information about stocks, funds and other investment options, plus calculators and tools to help you manage your portfolio.

Full-text access to five major daily newspapers: Chicago Tribune 1985-current; Los Angeles Times 1985-current; New York Times 1980-current; Wall Street Journal Eastern Edition 1984-current; and Washington Post 1987-current.

This ProQuest database offers searchable access to full-text articles from The New York Times.

Free access to all current New York Times articles online. Read the New York Times on any Library computer or Wi-Fi network, or get an access code good for 72 hours to read outside the Library or through the New York Times app. You will need to set up a New York Times account with your email address to read unlimited articles.

Curious about the past? Find full-text and full-image content from The New York Times, including articles, headlines, ads, obituaries and more. Contains full-text and images in PDF format of the New York Times from 1851 to three years before current year.

An extensive database of fiction and nonfiction on a wide range of reading interests for adults, teens and kids. Search for books by subject, read full-text reviews and get reading suggestions by author or subject. Book discussion guides are included.

Perfect for debate prep or anyone interested in seeing both sides of social issues, this database offers insight and research into today’s hottest topics in science, social studies, current events and language arts.

OverDrive has thousands of e-books and audiobooks you can borrow for three weeks and download to most devices.

Explore the history and meaning of English words. Includes more than 600,000 words dating back over a thousand years.

Enjoy a diverse mix of homegrown Seattle music with PlayBack, the Library’s online collection of recordings by local bands and musicians.

Put the world’s great magazines and newspapers at your fingertips. More than 7,000 magazines and newspapers in more than 60 languages are available in full-page, full-color formats, just as they appear in print.

Doing a research project for school or work? Start with this vast archive of more than 90,000 reference and information resources that spans centuries.

For general health questions or in-depth research, here’s an easy-to-use database of more than 500 trustworthy medical journals and popular health magazines covering medicine, nutrition, lifestyle and more (formerly ProQuest Family Health).

Get online access to the Puget Sound Business Journal for local business news. The Book of Lists offers rankings and information about Seattle-area businesses. This resource is available only in Library locations.

Looking for someone? Search this database of more than 25 million U.S. and Canadian businesses and more than 267 million U.S. residents. Download up to 250 records at a time.

Look at benchmark financial statements and ratios for businesses. These studies provide detailed financial data to help entrepreneurs and startups create strategic plans and compare them to real-world measures.

Improve your computer and business skills. Access more than 2,000 digital books about computing, databases, programming, web design and more.

Get online access to the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce for local information on business, construction, real estate, engineering, architecture, and more.

Search fully digitized editions of The Seattle Times, and download and print full-text articles. Depending on the issue date, different formats of articles may be available. The Seattle Times Historical Archive (1895-1984) is made possible through a generous grant from The Seattle Public Library Foundation.

Learn American Sign Language (ASL) online with this visual dictionary. Searchable by word or phrase. Create word lists, flash cards, and quizzes.

This database offers full-text newspaper, magazine and reference content from more than 2,200 high-quality sources on topics such as current events, history, health, language arts, math, science, social studies, and technology.

Provides detailed statistics that describe social and economic conditions in the United States.

Plan your next trip with Lonely Planet travel guides. Choose from 75 e-book titles from Lonely Planet, always available, no wait list.

Help your child build reading, math and language skills with this fun collection of animated, talking picture books for preschool and elementary-age children. Includes some books in French and Spanish.

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

Get news from over 130 sources across Washington State including newspapers, broadcast news, and community newspapers.

Find news and information about Seattle and other Northwest communities in this collection, which includes newspapers from Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

Looking for a job in Washington state? Find current salaries, training requirements and educational programs for a wide variety of occupations, plus tools to help you choose a career. You can use WOIS on any Library computer, or call 206-386-4636 for a remote access key.