What is a Database?

  • Library databases contain information from published works: magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias, reference books and more. This information can be searched by keyword or subject and often the entire article is available for printing, emailing or saving to disk.
  • Library Databases are different from websites because:
    • Databases contain published works by professionals or experts; whereas websites can be written by anyone, regardless of expertise.
    • Databases provide publishing information so articles can easily be included in bibliographies, whereas websites often to not provide authors, dates or sources.
    • Databases are updated frequently and always include the date of publication. Websites may not indicate when a page was last updated or how recent the information is.
    • Databases have functions to help narrow searches and find related topics

A-C | D-E | F-G | H-K | L-N | O-R | S-Z

  • Ancestry.Com
    [Access at Fairport Library Only]
    Genealogical resource that you can search census, vital, church, court, and immigration records as well as images. A great compliment to Heritage Quest.

  • Authors4Teens
    Find interviews with your favorite authors as well as title lists and contact information.
    *This Resource is available for Fairport Residents only. Call 223-9091 for login information*


  • Auto Reference Center
    Car repair database that includes more than 31,660 vehicles from 1945 - present. Find repair manuals, wiring diagrams, recall bulletins and much more.
    *This Resource is available for Fairport Residents only. Call 223-9091 for login information*

  • Biography Resource Center
    Search for biographies on more than 340,000 individuals from around the world and throughout history. Find photos, full-text magazine and newspaper articles as well as links to Web sites in this resource. *This Resource is available for Fairport Residents only. Call 223-9091 for login information*

  • Business and Company Resource Center  Provided by the NY State Library
    Provides access to a wide variety of global business information including competitive intelligence, career and investment opportunities, business rankings, company histories, news and much more.

  • Career Transitions
    Take a Career Assessment to assist in identifying your career interests. Explore different careers & industries and view projected growth. Use Resume Builder to create your resume. Search and apply for job openings by industry, geography, or careers targeted by the career assessment - the job search is powered by Indeed. Find Interview Tips and Networking help and much more. *This Resource is available for Fairport Residents only. Call 223-9091 for login information*

  • Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
    Database of all Federal programs available to State and local governments.

  • CLIC-on-Health Provided by RRLC
    "One-stop-shopping" site for Rochester health information. Funding for CLIC-on-Health is provided by a grant from NY Senator Jim Alesi and the Rochester Regional Library Council.

  • Consumer Reports
    Search Consumer Reports Online for ratings and reviews on products in various different categories including: Cars, Appliances, Home & Garden, Electronics, Babies & Kids, Money, Food, and Health.*This Resource is available for Fairport Residents only. Call 223-9091 for login information*

  • Country Watch
    [Access at Fairport Library Only]
    Find detailed information and news on the world countires

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  • Democrat & Chronicle Provided by RRLC
    Search the archives from 1999 - to date. It is complete, full-text content of local and regional news, including community events. Paid advertisements are excluded. Funding for this service is provided by the Rochester Regional Library Council through a grant from the New York State Education Department.

  • EBSCO GreenFILE
    Search scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports. GreenFILE offers a unique perspective on the positive and negative ways humans affect the environment.

  • EBSCOHost Español Provided by the NY State Library
    Search the EBSCO database Primary Search in the Spanish language.

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  • Fairport Public Library Magazine Subscriptions
    The Fairport Library subscribes to over 290 magazine subscriptions. The most recent issues are available for use in the library only, however all back issues are available for you to check out.

  • GALE Custom Newspapers Provided by the NY State Library
    Search 150 full-text newspapers, including the New York Times (most recent 12 months), Christian Science Monitor, Boston Herald, Denver Post and more.

  • GALE Custom Newspapers - New York State Newspapers Provided by the NY State Library
    Eight full-text newspapers for New York State (from Buffalo, New York City and Syracuse) including: The Buffalo News and the Syracuse Post-Standard.

  • Gale National Newspaper Index Provided by the NY State Library
    Provides indexing of American's top five newspapers: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post.

  • Grolier Online NOVEL NY
    Includes the Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, and The New Book of Knowledge.

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  • Heritage Quest MCLS
    A powerful and popular genealogical resource that includes the Federal Censuses, over 25,000 family and local histories, bank and military records, and genealogical and local history sources.


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  • Mango Languages Mango Languages
    An online language-learning system, that teaches conversation skills for a wide variety of languages including: Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, as well as many others. For individuals fluent in other languages, there are also lessons available to learn English. It is possible to create an account to manage your lessons, but this is not required. *This Resource is available for Fairport Residents only. Call 223-9091 for login information*

  • Morningstar.com
    [Access at Fairport Library Only]
    Find information on stocks and mutual funds, as well as industry information. See how various stocks and funds will work with your portfolio.

  • NetLibrary Reference Center Provided by MCLS
    Search and browse reference resources including encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, handbooks, thesauri, and more.


  • NoveList NoveList
    NoveList is a readers' advisory service for over 155,000 fiction titles and 90,000 reviews. This resource has features like "Find a Favorite Author", and "Find a Favorite Title"; it also contains over 500 Book Discussion Guides.*This Resource is available for Fairport Residents only. Call 223-9091 for login information*


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  • Primary Search via SEARCHASAURUS Provided by the NY State Library
    Children's magazines and pamphlets, designed for the elementary school student.

  • Proquest Platinum NOVEL NY
    Search over 2,000 periodicals including: American History, Billboard, Biography, Business Week, Computerworld, Consumer Reports,Discover, Economist, Forbes, Psychology Today (access provided by NOVEL NY)

  • ReferenceUSA
    Directory for U.S Businesses, Residents and Healthcare. Search for businesses, people and healthcare professionals and hospitals.

    *This Resource is available for Fairport Residents only. Call 223-9091 for login information*


  • Rochester Business Journal
    Create a free account to access and search the RBJ archives.

  • Rochester History Provided by MCLS
    Rochester History is a journal that covers the history of Rochester and western New York. All articles are available on-line - from 1939 to the present.

  • Rochester Images Provided by MCLS
    Contains over 22,000 historical and contemporary images from Rochester and Monroe County.

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  • Twayne's Author Series Provided by the NY State Library
    View full text discussions of an author's works and a chronology of the author's life; design your own search; or view topics with a curriculum-related list of writers to use as research starting points. Twayne World, US, and English Authors each contains the full text of 200 frequently used Twayne Literary Masters books on individual World, US, or English authors, for a total of 600 individual full-text titles.

  • World Book Kids World Book Encyclopedia Kids Edition
    Search the kids edition of the World Book Encyclopedia.

  • World Book Student Edition World Book Encyclopedia Student Edition
    Search the student edition of the World Book Encyclopedia. You also have the option to search the Student and Kids Editions of World Book with this resource. Find timelines pertaining to your research topics or create your own timeline.

  • World Book Spanish Language Edition World Book Spanish-Language Encyclopedia
    Browse the Spanish Edition of the World Book Encyclopedia for common research topics.

  • WorldCat via OCLC FirstSearch Provided by RRLC
    OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) is an online catalog of books and other materials in libraries worldwide. Funding for WorldCat is provided by the Rochester Regional Library Council through a grant from the New York State Education Department.

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