Working Americans: A Historical Collection

The library’s reference collection contains hundreds of titles of interesting, up to date information about all manner of subjects, but did you know you could find some of those books online? One of the best resources available is Working Americans.

Each volume of the Working Americans series by Grey House Publishing covers a different aspect of American life. Click the link to check out the following with descriptions from the publisher:

Working Americans Vol. 1: The Working Class, 2nd Edition

The updated Second Edition of this important reference work focuses on the lifestyles and economic life of working class families and looks, decade by decade, into the kind of work they did, the homes they lived in, the food and clothes they bought, the entertainment they sought as well as the society and history that shaped the world Americans worked in from 1880 to 2012. From the wealth of government surveys, social worker histories, economic data, family diaries and letters, newspaper and magazine features, this unique reference assembles a remarkably personal and realistic look at the lives of ordinary working Americans.

Look into the past with America's Historical Newspapers

Need to do a paper about how it was back in the good ole days? Want to look back at headlines from across the nation for the Revolution or the Civil War? The library has the database for you with America's Historical Newspapers: Early American Newspapers Series 1 - 3, 1690-1922.

This database chronicles 242 years of American newspapers from precolonial times to just before the Great Depression. Scans of the original papers are available at not cost as long as you are in the library or have a library card.

To access this database, just go to our website (mytpl.org) and click on "Research," then "Databases by Name." Under "A" a link will open to Newsbank, a database source with America's Historical Newspapers available. Click that link to go to the database with the image above.

The database is able to limit your keyword search to dates, newspaper title, places of publication, article type, and language. This way, for example, if you were looking for the front pages of the Times Picayune during the Civil War, a few simple clicks at the bottom of the page can narrow your search. The combinations are endless and more newspapers are added often, so good luck searching!

Discovering African American History Online

African American History Online is an excellent database for learning about the contributions of African Americans to our nation’s history. If you have questions about the Middle Passage or Reconstruction, or you want to learn about the lives of civil rights leaders such as Homer Plessy and Rosa Parks, this database is filled with authoritative information.

To log in, click here or go to our library web site, www.mytpl.org, and click on Research on the black navigation bar that runs from left to right at the top of the screen. From the Research dropdown menu, click Databases by Name, and look under "A" for African American History Online. If you are in one of the Terrebonne Parish Libraries, the database will automatically open. If you are using a computer not in one of our libraries, you will be asked for your library card number.  No pin required!
The African American History Online database is well organized and is easy to navigate. As the image below shows, it is divided into six sections.

The Biographies section helps users discover important civil rights leaders, scientists, and others who have made substantial contributions to African American history. Browse Events and Topics to explore significant movements and subjects in African American history. The Primary Sources feature allows one to view documents significant to African American history, including the Emancipation Proclamation and other key documents.
If you need to know what happened when, you can browse the Timelines feature by topic or by time period. African American History Online also includes hundreds of videos and images. For example, there are images of African Americans protesting America’s involvement in Vietnam, as well as images of Dr. Martin Luther King’s boyhood home. One can also watch videos of African Americans protesting at lunch counter sit-ins, or watch the civil rights march in the nation’s capital in 1963.
If you want to take a more visual approach to history, then browsing the Maps & Charts feature is an excellent place to begin.

Although February is a month set aside as Black History Month, black history is American history and is interwoven in the mosaic that defines our nation. Like every other ethnic group, African Americans have played a pivotal role in our nation’s history and achievements. African-American History Online is an excellent resource that can help students and researchers learn more about the rich cultural heritage and historical achievements of African Americans
-Carlos Crockett, Reference Associate

eLibrary: A Great All-Purpose Database

The Terrebonne Parish Library System offers dozens of research databases that are available through any computer that can access the internet. Full-text databases are virtual libraries that contain thousands of additional materials such as books, magazines, newspaper articles, and images that would never fit within the walls of a public library.

A great first stop for your database search is eLibrary. This full text database offers basic and advanced search options covering resources in the following categories (a few examples are given):

· Newspapers (Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe)

· Magazines (National Geographic and Newsweek)

· Books (World Almanac, Compton's Encyclopedia)

· Maps (political, historical, and demographic)

· Websites (Federal Government websites)

· Pictures (Getty Images, Library of Congress photos)

· Audio/Video (CBS Evening News)

· Transcripts (network and cable news, National Public Radio)

By checking or unchecking the boxes next to the various sources, you can search for materials in one or more of these categories. This feature can be helpful when your teacher requests that you use multiple kinds of sources. Many teachers, for example, require students to find a information from a newspaper, a magazine, and a website.

ProQuest Essentials

The editorial team at eLibrary has created thousands of topic-specific Essential Pages on numerous popular subjects. These custom collections contain classroom and research ready content such as articles, images, video, and more. This is a one-stop-shop for finding numerous resources on a particular subject.

To access the ProQuest Essentials collection, go to the Publications tab and look in the top right corner to “Browse the ProQuest Essentials Collection”

A similar feature is the eLibrary Topic search, located between the main Search tab and the Publications tab. You can search the Topic list as well as browse through various topics grouped by category.

Publication Search

If you are interested in searching a specific publication (like National Geographic), or would like to browse at a list of publications contained in this database, visit the Publications tab. You will be able to browse by Name, Type, and Subject; and see what back issues are available for those publications. For example, you can browse National Geographic from the most recent issue back to 2001.

To search within a particular publication, visit the Advanced Search page located under the Search tab. Simply type in the publication name at the bottom of the screen before you click the search button.

Reference Search

Finally, the Reference tab offers an easy way to use a Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Almanac and Atlas all from one location.

If you haven’t looked at eLibrary yet, check it out. It’s a great way to start your research, and you don’t even need to come to the library to use it. If you have a valid library card and an internet connection, you’re ready to go!

- Kristen Sinclair

Reference Department

Salem Press-History From Home

The Terrebonne Parish Library System has something students of history in school and out might appreciate:

The Salem History Database

Just click the link and enter your Knowledge Card barcode in the blank (no spaces), and you are off and running.

The content in here is so high-quality that it's almost unbelievable, and you can get it all from home. Everything from Aesop to Zoroaster, FULL TEXT. No charge, of course. It's your tax dollars at work!

Be sure to tell a friend or a student you know!

Database in Your Face!