Databases
MELSA purchases the following databases for our member libraries. Each library system will have additional informational databases purchased with other state and local funds. Please check your local library’s website to see a listing of all databases available for your use.
Contact your local library for information on how to access these resources.
ALLDATA (in library access only)
Automotive repair information for US and most imported cars and trucks.
Ancestry Library (in library access only)
From ProQuest, this comprehensive online source of information for conducting genealogical and local history research includes the digitized images of the U.S. Federal Census from 1790 to 1930, the American Genealogical Biographical Index, extensive indexed passenger lists, and much more.
Biography Resource Center + Complete Marquis Who's Who (available off site)
The Biography Resource Center is a comprehensive database of biographical information on more than one million people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. It combines approximately 250,000 biographies from respected Gale Group sources with nearly one million biographies from The Complete Marquis Who's Who®. The database also includes full-text articles from nearly 250 periodicals. Search for people based on one or more personal facts such as birth and death years and places, nationality, ethnicity, occupation or gender, or combine criteria to create a highly-targeted custom search path.
Business & Company Resource Center (available off site) Business, company, and industry information including news articles, profiles, rankings, histories, reports, and industry overviews.
Health & Wellness Resource Center (available off site) A new expanded version of Health Reference Center, this includes up-to-date health reference material as well as full-text magazines, journals and pamphlets from a wide variety of authoritative medical sources. (1980 - present)
Literature Resource Center (available off site)
Literature reference database that combines biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information to deliver a resource package on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism). It includes information from the following works: Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Contemporary Literary Criticism, Classical and Medieval Literature, Criticism, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Shakespeare Criticism, Drama Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Short Story Criticism, and Literature Criticism 1400-1800
NewsBank InfoWeb (in-library access only)
Provides full-text content of local and regional news from the Duluth News-Tribune (1995-present), St. Cloud Times (1999-present), St. Paul Pioneer Press (1988-present), and Star Tribune (1986-present).
Pioneer Press Archives (in library access only)
The archives of the St Paul Pioneer Press (1988-present).
Reference USA (available off site)
Database containing directory information for US public and private companies. Companies may be searched by size, location, type of business, etc. A typical entry includes the company address, phone number, annual sales, number of employees, chief executive, and line of business. Maps can be generated showing individual company locations. Also includes the Residential module which contains information on 102 million U.S. residents compiled from more than 3,900 White Page telephone directories.
Standard & Poor'sNet Advantage (in library access only)
Standard & Poor's Net Advantage combines eleven of popular investor information products on a single easy-to-use platform.
Star Tribune Online Archives (in library access only)
The archives of the Minneapolis Star Tribune Online (1986-present).
What Do I Read Next? (available off site)
Featuring more than 93,000 recommended titles, What Do I Read Next? Online cumulates entries from the popular print products What Do I Read Next?, What Do Young Adults Read Next?, What Do Children Read Next?, What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature, What Historical Novel Do I Read Next?, and What Inspirational Literature Do I Read Next? plus thousands of award winners, bestsellers, and librarian favorites.