Resources & Databases
For an extensive list of all resources and databases, please visit Chester County Library’s Databases website here.
eMaterials
Beanstack: Find and join reading challenges, log reading, complete activities, or write reviews, and earn a reading streak!
Comics Plus: Read thousands of digital comics, graphic novels, manga, and picture books, for free! There are no holds, wait lists, or borrowing limits. Check it out on your computer, tablet, or smartphone. Get started with the Children’s Collection, Teen Collection, or Full Collection.
Please note: Parents are encouraged to review the Age-Appropriate Guidelines and select from the curated collections as appropriate.
Creativebug: Experience the joy of making with thousands of award-winning video classes taught by top designers and artists. Classes range from beginner to advance skill level and include fiber, fabric, paper, food, and jewelry art and craft topics.
Kanopy: Gain free access to thousands of movies with your library card. Simply add your Chest County Library System card number to create an account.
Book Reviews
Books & Authors (POWER Library): Discover fiction and non-fiction books that match your interests! Books and Authors (powered by Gale’s popular What Do I Read Next? series) is for readers from every level of reading proficiency and enables users to explore the endless possibilities and combinations of books, authors, genres and topics from more than 240,000 titles.
Contemporary Authors (POWER Library): Guide to current authors in popular fields, based on the print set Contemporary Authors
NovelList Plus: Find reading recommendations including reviews, lists, articles, and more. Use NoveList to find read-alikes in both fiction and non-fiction for readers of all ages. NoveList also has series information, award winners, best-of lists, top ten lists, and much more!
Books & Literature
Books, movies, and more in a PA library (Access PA Catalog): Search a single catalog reflecting the holdings of over 1,500 Pennsylvania libraries and their combined collections of over 41 million books, audio materials, reference materials, movies, and much more.
BookFLIX (POWER Library): Watch videos and read books about Animals and Nature, Earth and Sky, People and Places, ABC’s and 1, 2, 3’s, Family and Community, Music and Rhyme, Adventure, and more. Enjoy read aloud with words highlighting and interactive games. Some films and books are available in Spanish too!
E-Books (EBSCO) (POWER Library): Full text books in a variety of fields
LitFinder (POWER Library): Discover literature content from more than 150,000 full-text poems, 840,000 poem citations and excerpts, 7,100 full-text short stories and novels, 3,800 full-text essays published in the 16th-20th centuries, 2,400 full-text speeches, and 1,250 full-text plays. It also includes biographies, work summaries, photographs, and a glossary. Within LitFinder’s collection, users can access works from over 80,000 authors from 660 nationalities.
Genealogy
Ancestry /Library Edition: (In Library Use Only) Genealogical database, including census records.
HeritageQuest: Genealogy and local history resources including periodical articles.
Languages
Mango Languages: Mango is the fast, easy, and most effective way to learn to speak a foreign language.
News for You Digital Access: ‘News for you’ is a weekly news publication written at a basic adult English level for ESL speakers and others with limited English proficiency. ‘News for You’ includes weekly assignments for ESL students and teachers. Contact the Reference Desk at 610-344-5957 or ref@ccls.org for login credentials.
Job & Career
ReferenceUSA Jobs/Internships Module: Find your next job with advanced search options, a convenient mapping tool, and detailed business profiles.
Pennsylvania Job Resources (POWER Library): Discover job resources for Pennsylvania job seekers and employers. These Pennsylvania government provided resources are designed to help you find a good career, review job openings, and match you with employers.
Cisco Networking Academy: Free, online, self-paced courses to help community members explore potential career pathways, develop technical mastery, and build critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed to succeed.
Magazines & Newspapers
Flipster: Access over 100 titles anywhere you are with an active Chester County Library System card. Simple and convenient to use, especially when on-the-go and traveling! Some titles include: HGTV Magazine, Rolling Stone, Clean Eating, Real Simple, and House Beautiful.
New York Times: Includes articles from the New York Times from 1981 to the present, and an archive from 1851-1922. To access within a library, create a free account on nytimes.com and log in with your email address and password. Use the link above when in the library or using the library’s wifi network. Use the Remote Access link below if you are not on the library wifi.
ONEFILE: High School Edition (POWER) Library: Secondary school students will have access to age-appropriate content from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and engaging multi-media covering a wide range of subjects, from science, history, and literature to political science, sports, and environmental studies.
ONEFILE: News (POWER Library): Browse and read full-text newspapers from more than 2,300 major U.S. regional, national, and local newspapers, plus leading titles from around the world, or search articles instantly by title, headline, date, author, newspaper section, or other fields. InfoTrac Newsstand also includes thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts, and transcripts.
Philadelphia Inquirer Current & Historical: Scanned copies of the complete issues from 1829-1922 and January 2018 to current, including advertisements, classified, obituaries, etc. Search entire issue or current page; export features include citation format, print, e-mail, and download. Full text of articles from 1981-current.