Now @ MPL...

Did you know that you can get the latest information on stocks right from home? Value Line, a popular online database for investors, is now available remotely through the Milwaukee Public Library's Website. All City of Milwaukee residents with valid library cards can use this great resource.

To access this database from your home computer:

Go to the Milwaukee Public Library's home page.
Select "Research Resources," then "All Library Databases".
Scroll through the alphabetical list until you reach Value Line.
Click on the Value Line link.
Enter your library card number and PIN, and you're in!

Having trouble? Check out some database troubleshooting tips.

Project Shipshape is the newest destination for Great Lakes ship information. Supported by grants from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program as well as local funding, the Shipshape database is the result of a collaboration between the Milwaukee Public Library and the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.

Shipshape contains information on over 10,000 vessels that have sailed the Great Lakes. It is a great source of information on the ships themselves, as well as names of builders, owners, and captains. Additionally, complete files on each vessel, including articles from books and magazines, nautical charts, photographs and vessel flags are available in the Central Library’s Frank P. Zeidler Humanities Room.

World Book Kids is the latest addition to the database collection at MPL. It is the online version of the popular encyclopedia that is designed especially for children. World Book Kids features simple navigation, easy-to-read content, and bright colors and graphics. Divided into broad topical categories, thousands of articles are enhanced by colorful illustrations, photographs, diagrams, and interactive maps. Four categories of fun activities (Think It!, Be It!, Make It!, and Teach It!) provide great ideas for parents and teachers. You can log on to World Book Kids in any City of Milwaukee library, as well as from your home computer using your library card.

If you've ever wondered about the history behind your home, you may want to attend the Milwaukee Public Library's House History program. This extremely popular program will be running again Saturday, April 19, from 9:30 a.m.-11:25 a.m.

( The T.A. Chapman Residence used to be at 1038 N. Cass St.)

This program is an introduction to the Central Library's resources that are extremely useful for determining the history of a house or property. Resources that will be explored are the Milwaukee city directories, the fire insurance atlases, the tax rolls, and much more.

The program is especially helpful for residents of the City of Milwaukee, as the resources focus on the city. Residents of Milwaukee area suburbs will find less information than those in the city.

Advance registration is required. To register, call the Frank P. Zeidler Humanities Department at (414) 286-3061.

Whether you're writing a history paper, or trying to do some genealogy work, the database 19th Century Newspapers may be just the tool you need. This database covers millions of articles from all over the United States for the 19th century.

This is an especially valuable source for Wisconsin and Milwaukee information. The database has articles from many different Wisconsin and Milwaukee newspapers including not only the Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Sentinel, but also the Northwestern Recorder, the Wisconsin Temperance Journal, Yenowine's Illustrated News, and many more.

The database allows for searches to be narrowed down by newspaper, by date, or by states.

This powerful search tool can be accessed from home by City of Milwaukee library cardholders.

Did you know that you have access to the BadgerLink Databases through the library? The Wisconsin State Department of Instruction provides access to several high quality databases through libraries and schools. One place you can find Badgerlink is from the category of Library Databases found in the Research Resources Page on the MPL home page.
Now there are webcasts available on how to use BadgerLink Resources for Kids, Ethnic Information Resources in BadgerLink, Humanities Resources in BadgerLink and Newspaper Resources in BadgerLink. Listen and view these webcasts for a good introduction to learning using these databases. Take your research to the next level and don't forget to call, visit or e-mail the library for more information and search tips.

View the BadgerLink Webcasts

There are many phone directories available on the Internet. A couple of sources that the librarians at Ready Reference find particularly helpful are Whitepages.com and ReferenceUSA.

Not only does Whitepages.com have a powerful search feature for finding individuals, but I find its most valuable aspect is its Reverse Lookup feature. If you are interested in finding out someone's information based on a phone number, this is a great tool. What makes this particularly valuable is the feature that will tell you if the number you have entered is unlisted, or a cell phone.

While Whitepages.com is great for finding residential information, MPL subscribes to a great database for looking up preliminary business information.

ReferenceUSA is a database that allows you to look up both residential and business information. It is especially helpful for business information. You can sign on to it from MPL's website under Research Resources, and then by clincking on Featured Databases. You do need to have a current library card to access ReferenceUSA remotely, and it's also available within all City of Milwaukee libraries.

Did you know that with your Milwaukee Public Library card you can download audiobooks, music titles, and videos? You can do it all through OverDrive media service. OverDrive lets you browse thousands of titles, check out the ones you want, then download them to your computer or transfer them to your portable listening device. At the end of the loan period, titles will expire and be automatically 'returned' to the OverDrive library. To get started you will need a valid library card, access to the Internet, and free software for the computer and/or device on which you wish to use the material. For more information and to download the free software, go to the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium's OverDrive Digital Download Center.

The Milwaukee Public Library is pleased to offer a subscription to an old favorite in a new guise. The Encyclopaedia Britannica is now available online through MPL's website. With many features including English and Spanish dictionaries, a world atlas, the year in review, color photos and charts, full citation information, and much more, this powerful reference tool is now available at your fingertips.

It is available both in City of Milwaukee libraries and remotely to City of Milwaukee residents. As always, with our database subscriptions that can be accessed from home, you can sign into it with a valid library card from your home computer.

To access the encyclopedia on MPL's Web site, go to the "Research Resources" link, and then select "All Library Databases". From there, just scroll down to Encyclopaedia Britannica Online to open it up.

New Databases @ Your Library

Need authoritative information? Try a database! The Milwaukee Public Library has a wide assortment of new databases (Database List)twenty in all, starting today because the State of Wisconsin has contracted with database vendor EBSCO as part of the new version of BadgerLink . Some of these great new databases include the Auto Repair Reference Center , suggestions for readers from NoveList , and, perfect for this holiday weekend, the History Reference Center. If you want to look over the complete list of new databases, go to the Library Databases category and look for the yellow NEW sunburst.

Patrons often call the reference desk to find out if a celebrity is alive or deceased. People also regularly search for obituaries and death notices for friends and loved ones. There are several databases which can help tremendously when searching for this type of information. The Dead People Server is a good choice for birthdates, death dates, and cause of death of famous people. Find A Grave allows users to search 21 million grave records and to find information on more than 250,000 cemeteries. In addition, The Who's Alive and Who's Dead site helps you keep track of who's living and who's deceased. Celebrities are grouped by TV show, film, band and sport.

America's Obituaries & Death Notices contains over 180 U.S. newspapers, most of which date back to the late 1990's and includes everything from front page news articles to paid death announcements. This is a paid database and can be accessed remotely by City of Milwaukee residents. Residents of surrounding communities are welcome to visit and Milwaukee Public Libraries in person to search this database.

For additional databases and links on the subject of People, check out the People Category from the Recommended Links section of the Milwaukee Public Library home page.

October 8, 2009