Encyclopedias & Dictionaries

Spanish-speaking, bilingual, and ESL/ELL high school students and adults will enjoy researching with this comprehensive Spanish database. Access more than 170,000 articles, images, and videos on many different topics.

Discover the African American experience through the eyes of the news media recorded all the way back to 1783. Explore topics, eras, and events, as well as notable people.  From arriving in America through slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, and beyond, discover what journalists wrote as the story of Black Americans unfolded. Continuously updated.

Specifically designed with the needs of middle school students in mind, Explora for Middle Schools includes full-text articles from popular, vocational, and trade magazines, full-text newspaper articles, along with images, videos, and primary sources.

If you are involved in educating elementary students, you can find the most popular children’s magazines, e-books, and easy-to-read encyclopedic entries here. Find material to supplement your curriculum or stimulate student interests. Full text.  Peer reviewed.  Updated daily. 1985-present.

Interested in volcanoes, astronomy, or scientists like Einstein? Research to your heart’s content in hundreds of science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, and other sources.  Full text.

When you need basic knowledge quickly, there is nothing like an encyclopedia! High school students and adults can explore 25-thousand topics covering a wide span of topics. The database is updated annually.

Do you want to understand a topic you have been hearing discussed at work or on the news, but don’t have hours to spend reading and researching? Find concise, intelligent introductions to a wide range of subjects written by experts in their fields. It is the perfect way to get a head start on challenging or complex topics.

What is that huge tree in your backyard? Are those small red berries poisonous? Could that be a poison sumac? Enjoy identifying and learning more about trees by leaf, fruit, or name using this easy interactive tool. 

It just slithered across your path. Is it solid-colored or does it have a pattern? Does it lay eggs or give birth to live young? Is it dangerous? Use this easy, interactive tool to identify snakes and sort fact from fiction.

Ohio’s early people left fascinating clues behind in the form of tools still being uncovered today. Find out what that flint artifact you found was used for and more about the cultures that created them.

Whether you are a preschooler, high school student, or anything in between, you can find information suited to your learning level using this powerful tool. Learn how to count. Research lizards. Find out about the middle ages. Whatever your topic, you can find encyclopedias, multimedia, e-books and primary source databases in a single search. You can also access help from a dictionary, atlas, and local and country research guides. Talk about one-stop shopping!

Preschoolers to third graders will delight in a fun, interactive environment that encourages reading comprehension and phonetic skills. Kids enjoy stories, activities, videos, and games developed by early childhood education experts. The online tool easily integrates into classroom curriculum.  

Spanish speakers and beginning Spanish students can have fun finding information for assignments and research in this optimal World Book Spanish language reference tool, geared to their level. Discover topics like animals, places, plants, arts, sports, and much more. It includes encyclopedia, multimedia, e-book, and primary source databases, fully integrated in a single search.

Kids can easily find and understand answers to research questions using World Book Kids online. Geared to a younger audience, there are many engaging images. Enjoy activities, games, maps and more! Read aloud and Spanish translation options are also available. Learn and grow while finding answers in articles that are easy to understand. 

French speakers and French language learners will enjoy researching with this World Book tool in French. It includes encyclopedia, multimedia, e-book, and primary source databases, fully integrated in a single search. Find thousands of easy-to-read articles, engaging media, interactive games, and teacher resources – to name just a few.

Kids in elementary through middle school can learn, research, and grow with this award-winning content. Features include “Behind the Headlines,” to put the news in context for kids, “Biography Center,” which houses more than 10,000 biographies of historical and contemporary figures, as well as a built-in dictionary and easy-to-navigate atlas. 

Students can explore more than 650 pre-generated timelines and 14,000 individual events using this interactive tool. Find timelines for everything from notable Americans from the 1700s to today, to the development of photography!