Online Databases

  • The Library Media program provides resources and services to assist students and teachers in becoming critical thinkers in the pursuit and use of ideas and information. The databases listed below are available through MackinVIA and our public access catalog.

    MackinVIA provides quick, home-based access to our databases. From the ClassLink Page, select the MackinVIA icon for easy, no-login access to the school's database.

    ABC-CLIO - A series of seven databases that include news, feature stories, and daily activities that can be searched by text, reference categories, period, or region for middle and high school.

    BOOKLIST ONLINE - ALA book reviews for public libraries and school libraries.  Includes books to read for book clubs, etc.

    BRAINPOP - Offers curriculum-based movies and interactive features to be used in classrooms while studying health, reading, math, science, writing, and social studies.

    Britannica Databases:

    ANNALS OF AMERICAN HISTORY - Read the original words of more than 1500 authors who made and analyzed American history through their speeches, writings, memoirs, poems, and interviews.

    BRITANNICA ACADEMIC EDITION - Specifically designed for research, Britannica Academic has unique content and tools that make research easier and more productive.

    BRITANNICA BONJOUR - An extensive collection of Encyclopedia Britannica’s foreign language content, offering trustworthy information in French.

    BRITANNICA JAPAN - A resource for conducting thorough research for both native Japanese speakers and students learning Japanese.

    BRITANNICA SCHOOL - Contains encyclopedias and related materials for students of all levels. Users can also take advantage of a collection of educational exercises, activities, and study guides.

    BRITANNICA SPANISH REFERENCE CENTER -  This site offers resources in Spanish for all ages with two unique interfaces, each with its own comprehensive encyclopedia: Enciclopedia Moderna for high school age and up and Britannica Escolar Online.

    IMAGE QUEST - Contains approximately three million copyright-cleared images from all over the world.

    CAPSTONE - A collection of assorted electronic books.

    CENGAGE / GALE KIDS INFOBITS - Kids InfoBits is a content-rich, authoritative, easy-to-use resource featuring elementary-appropriate content covering a broad range of topics.

    CENGAGE/GALE RESOURCE CENTER (High School) - The Gale Cengage History, Literature, and Science products include full-text periodical articles, full-text content, multi-media clips, and authoritative websites.  New additions include Gale In Context for Middle Schools & High Schools, Gale OneFile, Educator's Reference Complete, Kids InfoBits, Books & Authors, and the Chilton Library.

    CENGAGE/GALE RESOURCE CENTER (Middle School) - The Gale Cengage History, Literature, and Science products include full-text periodical articles, full-text content, multi-media clips, and authoritative websites.  New additions include Gale In Context for Middle Schools & High Schools, Gale OneFile, Educator's Reference Complete, Kids InfoBits, Books & Authors, and the Chilton Library.

    EBSCOHOST - Includes newspaper, magazine, and journal articles for elementary, middle, and high schools as well as encyclopedias. The Professional Development Collection provides full-text educational journal articles. ERIC contains digests, citations, and abstracts from educational journals.  The History and Reference Centers provide extensive resources for secondary students.

    FACTCITE RESOURCES - FactCite now includes resources concerning American History, Biography for Beginners, Mythology, Science, Sports Champions, and the new product FactCite123.

    FINANCIAL LITERACY - Articles make economics and personal finance both readily comprehensible.  Videos and relevant photos enhance and extend learning. Financial tools and interactive calculators give teens hands-on practice in financial computation for real-world situations.

    GROLIER ONLINE -> SCHOLASTICGO - Renamed ScholsticGo, this link still contains information concerning animals as well as additional online encyclopedias - Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, The New Book of Knowledge, America the Beautiful, Lands and Peoples, Amazing Animals of the World, and The New Book of Popular Science..

    MACKINVIA - A collection of assorted electronic books and databases.  This e-portal provides streamlined access for home and school-based users.

    MAPS101: A web-based interactive database of lessons, geography tools, online learning games, dynamic interactive map modules, and over 4,000 viewable and printable history, thematic, reference, outline, current events, and animated maps.

    MERRIAM-WEBSTER UNABRIDGED ONLINE - A source of current information about the English language, Merriam-Webster Unabridged… America’s largest and most comprehensive dictionary.

    NOODLETOOLS - A web-based platform that has integrated tools that allow for taking notes, document archiving/annotation, citation, and collaborative research and writing.

    PEBBLE GO - Includes two science-related databases; PebbleGo Animals and PebbleGo Earth and Space. PebbleGo Animals is designed specifically for emerging readers and features more than 200 animal articles correlated to life science standards, animal audio, and video, carefully leveled text, educational games, and innovative read-aloud capabilities. PebbleGo Earth and Space includes concepts like weather, seasons, Earth science, and space – all with the built-in reading and research tools made popular with PebbleGo Animals. Leveled text, educational games, and videos support science concepts for your youngest researchers. PebbleGo Biographies is a new addition that features more than 100 unique biographies on famous figures in history in 12 easy-to-navigate categories, such as athletes, explorers, inventors, presidents, and first ladies.

    PROQUEST CULTUREGRAMS - Includes maps, statistics, a glossary, flags, images, a photo gallery, a recipe collection that features native recipes, and biographies of notable individuals.

    PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS - Offers full text and images from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Christian Science Monitor dating back to the 19th century.

    PROQUEST SIRS - Includes databases for elementary, middle, and high school students covering general topics, current events, government documents, arts, and humanities.

    SAILOR RESEARCH DATABASES - Maryland’s public libraries make a shared collection of Internet-based databases available through Sailor to ensure equal access to online research databases for all Maryland residents across the state. This common collection anchors the broader collections of online databases provided locally by the libraries.

    SCHOLASTICGO – A comprehensive database containing online encyclopedias such as - Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, The New Book of Knowledge, America the Beautiful, Lands and Peoples, Amazing Animals of the World, and The New Book of Popular Science.

    TRUEFLIX -  An online resource that helps students hone literacy skills, and build knowledge of subject-area content; focusing on engaging science and social studies content for students.

    UNITE FOR LITERACY - A collection of assorted electronic books.

    WORLD ALMANAC FOR KIDS ONLINE - World Almanac for Kids Online expands on the contents of the World Almanac for Kids print edition, along with other award-winning reference books from World Almanac, Chelsea House, and Facts on File. A natural complement to the curriculum, each subject area provides resources for homework, reports, and projects. Kids can explore grade-appropriate topics while developing online research skills with a trusted content source.

    WORLD BOOK - Features an English and Spanish encyclopedia, an atlas, a dictionary, and sections on current events, historical events, student homework assistance, and teacher resources.

    PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG - The integrated library system provides the school district with a Web-based catalog that will enable students and staff to access the collections from school or home. Online databases such as World Book, Grolier, etc. are available through the catalog. Databases that are unique to a school are available through that school's catalog page.