Biography

Online Databases

Biography In Context Search for people—both current and historic from all eras and fields of endeavor—based on name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender.  You will find biographies, full-text articles,  images and links to websites.

Popular Catalog Searches

U.S. Presidents || Entertainment || Large Print

What’s New On The Shelf

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Business & Consumer Resources

Online Databases

  • EBSCOHost Master File This comprehensive source includes full-text magazine and journal articles, many with images. A great place to find a specific article, start a research project or look for what’s new on a topic. Includes fulltext access to Consumer Reports.
  • InfoTrac® OneFile A one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics: business, computers, current events, economics, education, environmental issues, health care, hobbies, humanities, law, literature and art, politics, science, social science, sports, technology, and many general interest topics.
  • Business Source Premier This source contains full text from the world’s top management and marketing journals as well as as country economic reports from the EIU, Global Insight, ICON Group and CountryWatch and detailed company profiles for the world’s 10,000 largest companies.
  • Business and Company Resource Center
  • Business Economics and Theory
  • Small Business Collection
  • Vocations and Career Collection

Periodicals at the library

Banker & Tradesman
Barron’s
Boston Business Journal
Boston Consumer Checkbook
Business Week
Consumer Reports
Forbes
Fortune
Inc.
Kiplingers
Money
Success

Web Sites

  • Better Business Bureau – Provides online access to business and consumer alerts, consumer news, consumer complaint forms and more.
  • Central Register - The Central Register is the weekly source for information about state, county and municipal contracts being put out to bid for the design, construction and reconstruction of public facilities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
  • Consumer.gov – “A ‘one-stop’ link to a broad range of federal information resources available online.” Organized by topics such as food, health, and product safety.
  • Consumer Product Safety Commission – This independent Federal regulatory agency works to protect consumers and families from unsafe products.
  • Consumer World – “a public service, non-commercial guide with over 2000 of the most useful consumer resources.”
  • Goods and Services Bulletin – The Goods and Services Bulletin is a weekly publication containing solicitations for the procurement of commodities and services (which, generally, are unrelated to construction of public facilities).
  • Google Business News – “a computer-generated news site that aggregates headlines from more than 4,500 English-language news sources worldwide.”
  • Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries – This site provides a wealth of legal information. Among the highlights are Massachusetts laws by subject, how to find a lawyer, online Massachusetts forms and information on famous cases.
  • Middlesex Community College Law Center – Middlesex Community College Law Center is a non-profit organization which works in cooperation with the Attorney General’s Office and provides free mediation services to consumers and businesses in the Greater Lowell Area including  Reading.
  • Reuters – Business and finance news stories.
  • For more information try these links selected by the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE)
  • Business ResourcesConsumer ResourcesLegal Resources

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Food & Cooking

Catalog Searches

Baking || Christmas || Healthy || Italian || Slow Cooker ||   Southern || Weight Loss

Magazines at the Library

Bon Appetit
Cook’s Illustrated
Cooking Light
Eating Well
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Everyday Food
Food & Wine : the guide to good taste
Gourmet
Magazine of la Cucina Italiana
Real Simple
Vegetarian Times

Web Sites

  • Food and Nutrition Information Center — A collection of information from the United States Department of Agriculture
  • Zeer — This site displays the nutritional information for over 100,000 different kinds of prepared and packaged food from the grocery store. Members can join group discussions, rate and review products, create shopping lists and more.
  • Boston.com: Food –Recipes, articles, reviews and other food features from the Boston Globe
  • New York Times: Dining and Wine — Articles, reviews, recipes and features on food, nutrition, entertaining and more.
  • FoodNetwork — Recipes, articles, videos and other features
  • RecipeSource — This huge collection of recipes includes categories for different types of food, ethnic groups, and even special categories like baby food, dog treats, and crafts recipes.
  • GourmetSpot — A good starting point for information on cooking and fine dining
  • Epicurious Food — This site from CondeNet includes a huge, searchable collection of recipes from Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines.
  • Food from Family.com — Family.com’s Food page includes cookbooks to browse, a meal planner, and even a shopping list to take to the supermarket.
  • AllRecipes.com — This popular site has a large collection of recipes, articles and special features on food, cooking and entertaining
  • The Recipe Link — “Your guide to what’s cooking on the Net”– includes master index of over 6,000 food and cooking links.
  • Vegetarian Resource Group — Information and links to vegetarian resources on the World Wide Web.
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Health & Wellness

Catalog Searches

Nutrition || Cancer || ADHD || Exercise || Alternative Medicine

Online Databases

Magazines at the Library

Additude
Bicycling
Body + Soul
Cycle World
Health
Maximum Fitness
Men’s Health
Prevention
Runner’s World
Self
Vegetarian Times
Weight Watchers
Yoga Journal

Health Web Sites

  • Top 100 List: Health Websites You Can Trust -  Put out by the Medical Library Association’s Consumer and Patient Health Information Section, this list provides a  limited number of current high quality resources.
  • Health.com – This companion website to Health magazine features news, information about medical conditions, weight loss, nutrition and more.
  • Healthfinder.gov – A gateway site to finding reliable health information from a variety of government and nonprofit organizations.
  • National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine – NCCAM “is the Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on the diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine.”
  • Boston Magazine’s Top Doctors Boston Magazines annual Top Doctors list showcases nearly 600 of the Hub’s finest doctors across 55 specialties.
  • KidsHealth – “The most-visited site on the Web for information about health, behavior, and development from before birth through the teen years.”
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Hobbies & Crafts

Catalog Searches

Knitting patterns || Antiques and collectibles || Crafts || Woodwork

Magazines at the Library

American Craft
American Patchwork and Quilting
Antiques
Antiques and Collecting
Antiques Roadshow
Bead and Button
Coinage
Crafts n Things
Doll Reader
Family Handyman
Fine Woodworking
Interweave Knits
Knit1
Make
Model Railroader
Scott Stamp Monthly
Threads
Piecework
Woodworker’s Journal
Workbench

Web Sites

  • Knitting Pattern Central – Free knitting patterns directory.
  • KnittingHelp.com – “Learn how to knit with free knitting videos.”
  • Quilting – This site, from About.com, features patterns, tips and techniques, forums, and more.
  • WoodNet.net – This companion site to the magazines Woodsmith, ShopNotes and Workbench, features forums, patterns, tips and more.
  • Threads – This companion site to the magazine Threads is a good resource for news, patterns, tips and techniques.
  • AllCrafts – Crafting patterns, ideas, tips and techniques for a variety of different crafts, from basketry to woodworking and everything in between.
  • All Guage Page – Model railroading information.
  • American Numismatic Association – “a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect money and related items.”
  • Kovels.com – Provides prices on over 700,000 antiques, as well as other reference information such as a directory of appraisers.
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Home & Garden

Catalog Searches

Kitchens || Baths || Home Decorating || Home Buying || Gardening || Lawn Care Read on …

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Job Resources

** Job Search Skills Series

Wherever you are on your job search path, we welcome you to join our Job Search Skills Series.  Each month we’ll focus on a different topic and allow ample time for questions and group participation.  Series programs take place on the  first Wednesday of the month at 7:00 p.m.  in the Meeting Room

Books at Reading Public Library

Find Jobs || Changing Careers ||  Resumes || Cover Letters || Job Interviews

Online Library Resources

  • Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance Vol 1 covers industry overviews. Vols. 2-5 cover individual job descriptions. This set covers more than 750 jobs in 90 industries, giving a general description of the job or career field, the personal and professional requirements, salary statistics, work environment, future outlook for the field, and sources for more information. This set is also available in print at the Library.
  • Business Source Premier This source contains full text from the world’s top management and marketing journals as well as as country economic reports from the EIU, Global Insight, ICON Group and CountryWatch and detailed company profiles for the world’s 10,000 largest companies.
  • General BusinessFile ASAP Use this database to research all business and management topics. Includes directory listings for over 150,000 companies as well as investment analysts’ reports on major companies and industries. Go directly to “Advanced search” to locate investment reports by ticker symbol.
  • Business and Company Resource Center
  • Boston Public Library Business Databases Get a BPL eCard.

More Web Sites

    Massachusetts Resources

  • Massachusetts JobQuest – A service of the Massachusetts Division of Employment and Training, in cooperation with the United States Department of Labor, this site carries searchable listings for a wide variety of jobs, with links to the other America’s Job Bank sites in other states.
  • Boston Job Bank – A resume and job listings service for Greater Boston.
  • Boston.com Monster – The Boston Globe jobs section offers a way to search for jobs, find job hunting advice and read up on employment and industry news.
  • JobFind – The Boston Herald’s JobFind service includes job postings, corporate profiles and a resume listing service.
  • Operation A.B.L.E. The Mission of Operation A.B.L.E. of Greater Boston, Inc., 501(c)3 organization, is to provide employment and training opportunities to mature workers 45 and older from economically, racially and occupationally diverse backgrounds.

    Interview Preparation

  • Guide to Job Interviewing Resources – Links to sample questions, tutorials and more.
  • About.com guide – Articles, questions and answers.
  • Check industry associations for job specific interview questions. See below for interview preparation company research.

Periodicals at the library

Banker & Tradesman
Barron’s
Boston Business Journal
Boston Consumer Checkbook
Business Week
Consumer Reports
Forbes
Fortune
Inc.
Kiplingers
Money
Success
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Languages

Mango Languages

Mango Languages is a self-paced online language learning system teaching conversation skills in over 20 languages including English as a Second Language (ESL).

Mango uses real-life situations and actual  conversations to help you learn words and phrases useful in practical situations.  You learn more than words in a new language; you learn to communicate.

Catalog Searches

ESOL || Chinese Collection || Hindi Collection|| Learn Spanish || Learn Italian || Learn French

Web Sites

  • Babel Fish Translation – Enter a URL or a short pieces of text, choose your languages and the Assistant will provide a basic translation.
  • Ethnologue – This web site is based on the reference book Ethnologue: Languages of the World and provides access to a major database of the world’s languages, including alternate names, geographic information, where spoken, etc.
  • iLoveLanguages – A comprehensive catalog of internet resources related to the study and teaching of languages

English

  • OWL Handouts – A large collection of webpages on different troublesome aspects of English grammar, spelling and punctuation
  • Common errors in English – Paul Brians, an English professor at Washington State University, maintains this guide to proper usage
  • Guide to Grammar and Writing – Provides sentence, paragraph or essay level help, and includes interactive quizzes and a question-and-answer service
  • Activities for ESL Students – Quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles contributed by teachers

American Sign Language

Arabic

Chinese

Dutch

Esperanto

French

Gaelic

German

Greek

Italian

Japanese

Portuguese

Russian

Spanish

Welsh

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