Search the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School Library's card catalog. Since it is now on line, the card part is a metaphor. The database is not updated every day so it's a better indication of the contents of the collection rather than what is checked in or out right now.
Search Engines Some of the better ones with a brief description of their features, tips, deep search engines and a link to a site with 2500 search engines.
Visuwords an online graphical dictionary and thesaurus. It doesn't look anything like a printed dictionary. Move the words around. Hold the curser over a word for its definition. NEW It does require that Flash is installed on your computer.
Answers.com gives answers to questions as opposed to links to sites as in other search engines. This is an excellent site for quickly getting answers to common questions.
Libraryspot An incredible metalist of Libraries, Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Maps, Phone Books, Reference Desks, Newspapers, Quotations, etc. This site is loaded with useful and interesting information, definitely worth seeing. Contains an excellent image section if you need a picture.
Google Scholar allows you to search for scholarly literature. Google says, "From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, pre-print repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations."
The Owl at Perdue University covers almost every aspect of research and writing. Clear, computer-friendly pages of both APA and MLA citation styles may be copied as well as tutorials, how to develop a thesis statement, outlining, note-taking, components of the research paper and more.
Wikipedia Free semi-authoritative user-contributed encyclopedia. Good for an overview if you don't know much about a particular subject. Since anyone can add or delete material from this site it would be wise to check another site as well for verification. Some colleges do not allow citations from this site to be used in research papers.
Internet Public Library has good material in the subject collections but I wouldn't use it to start searching for a term. It includes the Online Literary Criticism Collection and the Ready Reference Collection. It also lists sites that offer homework help.
MapLight.org "brings together campaign contributions and how legislators vote, providing an unprecedented window into the connections between money and politics.
MAPLight.org, a groundbreaking public database, illuminates the connection between campaign donations and legislative votes in unprecedented ways. Elected officials collect large sums of money to run their campaigns, and they often pay back campaign contributors with special access and favorable laws.
This common practice is contrary to the public interest, yet legal. MAPLight.org makes money/vote connections transparent, to help citizens hold their legislators accountable."
Newspapers and Magazines Online links to local papers, important national papers, current news searchers, lists of newspapers world wide and magazine databases.
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Sites of other useful reference material.
Some of the best educational oriented sites on the web. If you want to know anything about education, teaching resources or curriculum it's probably in one of the sites listed here.
includes a printable list of cable channels
Can't make your TV work? Want some Firefox, OpenOffice or First Class email tips? Or maybe use a PC disk on a Mac? It's here and more.
Is it real or is it a hoax? Some sites to keep you from looking foolish.
are generally available only in the MVRHS, however some allow Home Access to public library patrons in Massachusetts. 
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) According to The Times (of London), the Oxford English Dictionary is "the ultimate authority on the English language as well as a history of English speech and thought from its infancy to the present day". They also offer a free "Word of the Day" This site requires a username and password which you may obtain from a librarian. RSS feed
Grove Art Online An award-winning resource on every aspect of the visual arts from prehistory to the present day.
Grove Music Online Over 45,000 articles on people and places, instruments and techniques, genres and styles. Over 500 audio musical examples.
Archives USA directory of 5,400 manuscript repositories, indexes to over 109,000 special collections. ArchivesUSA® is a current directory of 5,581 repositories and 160,792 collections of primary source material across the United States. Using ArchivesUSA®, researchers are able to read descriptions of a repository's holdings to determine whether a collection contains material useful to their work as well as find the information they need to contact the repository directly.
Digital Collection from MBLC, a small but growing collection of pamphlets, maps and 
photographs related to a particular local area. "The documentary heritage of Massachusetts is essentially intact from its founding, and much rich information and documentation exists. Throughout the Commonwealth, repositories house irreplaceable collections of books and private and public documents that serve as a rich resource for researchers involved in local, state, regional, national, and international studies. Library staffs in public and academic libraries and in other repositories have long collected materials that document their immediate and adjoining locales as well as focusing on specific collecting areas. Although much of this material is monographs and pamphlets, a significant portion is manuscript material (personal and organizational papers), photographs, posters, ticket stubs, broadsides, etc. Many of these collections (are) physically sound and have been organized with a finding aid but need greater accessibility for patron use." The collection includes the Boston Athenaeum's African Americana Project and the Boston Public Library's Sports Temples of Boston.
Ebsco Literary Reference Center "The Literary Reference Center (LRC) is a highly graphical interface intended for public, academic and high school libraries. The primary goal of LRC is to assist high school and undergraduate English and Humanities students with homework and research assignments of a literary nature." One of their sections is Citation Help which covers the styles of the Modern Language Association (MLA), the Chicago Manual of Style and the American Psychological Association (APA).
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Electric Library search by source type: Newspapers (e.g. NY Times & WSJ all articles since 1984), Magazines, Books, Maps, Pictures, Audio/Video and TV & Radio Transcripts (most news shows from ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, NPR, etc.). Especially good for pictures. It also has all the state and national curriculum standards You can also search by grade reading level.
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Infotrac: list of all collections from Thompson Gale is a collection of databases that cover a wide variety of sources. Click the link above for a list of all the databases available or click the individual links below to search a more limited selection. The first entry, Virtual Reference Library (under History), contains the ever-popular Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages.
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- Gale Virtual Reference Library Over 20 full-text reference books covering the arts, biography, business, environment, history, literature, medicine, multicultural studies, geography, and science.
- Infotrac OneFile periodical resource for any subject. Coverage goes back to 1980 with over 9,200 titles
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- Biography Resource Center biographies, articles, includes Who's Who. Over one million entries.
- Contemporary Literary Criticism critical essays on contemporary authors
- Massachusetts History Online contains full-text articles gathered from almost 50 sources that directly relate to MA history.
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- Academic OneFile contains 8,000 academic journals, mainly in full-text, includes The New York Times full text 1995 - present
- Expanded Academic Database full-text information on Astronomy, Religion, Law, History, Psychology, Humanities, Current Events, Sociology, Communications and the General Sciences.
- General Reference Center a general interest database for full text search of magazines, reference books and newspapers for information on current events, popular culture, the arts and sciences, sports, etc.
- Educator's Reference Collection 450 full-text journals for educators, administrators and librarians.
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- Health Reference Center searchable database of health information for nursing & allied health students as well as consumer health research.
- General Business File company analysis and broker reports
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- Student Edition topics most researched by high school students
- Junior Edition for junior high and middle school
- Kid's Infobits for primary school students
For Magazines, Electric Library Magazines has 1500 diverse magazines available and Newsbank Magazines has current and back issues of 27 popular magazines including Time, Newsweek, SI, & Forbes.
Massachusetts Special Collections an index to 650 repositories throughout the state. Includes the Boston Public Library and Harvard University. Books, private and public documents, town records, genealogical information.
Net Library thousands of electronic books from the Boston Public Library and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. With over 3,000 titles ranging from Huckleberry Finn to self-help books and the Complete Idiot's Guide series you should be able to find something to read.
Newsbank complete full text content of the Cape Cod Times.
Newsbank Magazines Recent and past articles from 27 of America's top magazines. Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Life, Sports Illustrated, Popular Science, Essence, Money, Entertainment Weekly, People, Teen People, US News & World Report, Parenting and more. Most are 2000 to present but Time, Newsweek, Fortune and Money go back to the early 1990s. Also includes a link to Massachusetts State Educational Standards. The Electric Library has even more (1500) magazines
Online Massachusetts Library Catalogs 60 libraries and counting including the state colleges.
Proquest Access to Massachusetts newspapers ( Not all papers, it doesn't include the MV Times or Vineyard Gazette ) (ELibrary has the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal)
The Berkshire Eagle; Pittsfield, Mass. Full Text: 2005 - current
Boston Globe; Boston, Mass. Full Text: 1987 - current
Boston Globe (pre-1997 Fulltext); Boston, Mass. Full Text: 1980 - 1996
Boston Herald; Boston, Mass. Full Text: 1991 - current
BusinessWest; Chicopee Full Text: 1992 - current
Gazette; Haverhill, Mass. Full Text: 1992 - 1997, some exceptions
Massachusetts Newsstand
New England Business; Dublin
North Adams Transcript; North Adams, Mass. Full Text: 2005 - current
The Patriot Ledger; Quincy, Mass. Full Text: 1991 - current
Plymouth County Business Review; Pembroke Full Text: 1991 - current
The Providence Journal; Providence, R.I. Full Text: 1983 - current
The Providence Sunday Journal; Providence, R.I. Full Text: 1998 - 1999
Sentinel & Enterprise; Fitchburg, Mass. Full Text: 2005 - current
Standard Times; New Bedford, Mass. Full Text: 1992 - 1997
The Sun; Lowell, Mass. Full Text: 2004 - current
Telegram & Gazette; Worcester, Mass. Full Text: 1989 - current
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On and off the Vineyard
Interesting sites on the lighter side
updated 12/27/2007
