Research Resources

4CLS provides access to a collection of high-quality, accurate, electronic resources.  Some of these databases are made possible through NOVELny, the New York Online Virtual Library, a public information network for New Yorkers.  These databases and websites are available to all New York State residents free of charge and no library card is required. Genealogy

  • Ancestry.com New York — Portions of Ancestry.com pertaining to New York are free to NY state residents.  The New York State Archives partnered with Ancestry to digitize some NY state records of interest to genealogists.  The resulting databases are free if you live in New York State.
  • Digital Archive of the Afton Free Library–This digital archive covers the southeast area of Chenango County for the years 1876-1957 and is provided by the Afton Free Library.  Publications include the Afton Enterprise, Afton Enterprise and Harpursville Budget, Afton Weekly Enterprise, Courier, Home Sentinel, The Afton Daily Enterprise, and the Weekly Press.
  • Digital Archives of George F. Johnson Memorial Library–This digital archives covers publications in the Endicott area for the years 1856-1951.  Publications include the Daily Bulletin, Endicott Bulletin, Endicott Daily Bulletin, Endicott-Johnson Workers Review, Endicott Times, Johnson City Endicott Record, News Dispatch, The Record, Union Endicott News, and The Union Weekly News.
  • Digital Archives of the Guernsey Memorial Library –This digital archive covers the Norwich area for the years 1816-1938, and 2015-2016.  Publications include the Anti Masonic Telegraph, Chenango Semi Weekly Telegraph, Chenango Telegraph, Chenango Telegraph and Chronicle, Chenango Union, Evening Sun, Morning Sun, Norwich Journal, and Norwich Sun.
  • Digital Archives of the Sherburne Public Library— This digital archive covers The Sherburne News in all its incarnations, including the Home News (1864-1865), Sherburne Home News (1865-1868), Sherburne News (1868-2017) and The Sherburne News (2018-2019)  In addition, it will soon include Sherburne and Sherburne-Earlville High School yearbooks from 1944-1979, with the eventual aim of including all years up until the present.
  • Digital Archives of the William B. Ogden Free Library–This digital archive covers publications in the Walton, NY area for the years 1856-2011, and is provided by the William B. Ogden Free Library.  Publications include the Walton Blade, Walton Chronicle, Walton Cyclone, Walton Journal and Walton Reporter.
  • Family Search–Records, resources, and services for genealogical research; especially good for state census data.
  • Fulton History–Access to more than 16 million pages of historical New York State newspapers as well as historical postcards.
  • NYS Historic Newspapers — This state wide project provides free online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York’s unique history.

Homework Help (Grade School and Middle School

  • Britannica Academic:  Includes Encyclopedia Britannica plus Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, magazines and periodicals, and many other research tools.
  • Britannica Escolar: Accurate and age-appropriate content in Spanish for native Spanish speakers, bilingual students and students learning Spanish.  Available at two levels—primary and secondary.
  • Britannica School:  A source for all grades (Pre-K-12) and all reading abilities.  Available at three levels–elementary, middle, and high.
  • Kids InfoBits–Contains over 100 age-appropriate magazines for grades K-5.  Also includes Merriam-Webster’s Elementary Dictionary, maps, flags, seals, charts, and graphs.

Homework Help (High School and Adult Learners)

  • Academic One File–Multimedia research information, with an emphasis on the hard sciences, engineering, and business, as well as agriculture, criminal justice, environmental studies, pop culture, psychology, war, and terrorism.
  • Driving-Test.org–Free DMV permit practice tests.  This resource will help you prepare for the theory portion of your permit test.
  • FreeTestPrep–Resources for preparing to take the ACT, SAT, and GED, including practice questions, flashcards, admissions essays, articles, and guides
  • Gannett Newsstand Complete–Over 85 Gannett newspapers, including 6 from New York State (the Ithaca Journal, Poughkeepsie Journal, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Journal News (White Plains), Press and Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton), and Star-Gazette (Elmira).
  • General One File–A comprehensive general-interest database with journal articles, as well as travel guides, transcripts from National Public Radio, and television video files.
  • Health Reference Center Academic–-A medical database with journal articles, reference books, pamphlets, and online videos covering medicine, health, and nursing topics.
  • InfoTrac Newsstand–Full-text newspapers, including the New York Times from 1995- and more than 1000 major US regional, national, and local newspapers (33 from New York State).
  • New York State Newspapers–A database of 33 major newspapers published in the State of New York: the Albany Times Union, New York Times, Newsday, Buffalo News, Post-Standard (Syracuse), Watertown Daily Times, Times Herald-Record (Middletown) and others.
  • Opposing Viewpoints in Context–More than 13,000 pro/con viewpoints on current issues.

Other Helpful Resources

  • Best Free Reference Web Sites–An index to the best websites for reference work from the Reference and Users Services Association, a division of the American Library Association
  • Business Insights Essentials—Company profiles, industry reports, and finance reports, plus more than 3900 business magazines and newspapers.
  • Digital Library of America–A portal to digital information from libraries, archives, and museums, with access by timeline, format, map, and topic.
  • HathiTrust–A online depository of digitized books and articles from some of the leading libraries in the world.