These resources contain the contents of thousands of reference books. Search the contents of these encyclopedias, dictionaries, and specialized resources to find the facts on any topic of interest.
Denotes resources suitable for students in elementary and middle grades
Web resource 
Available with Skokie Public Library card 
Available in Library only
General Sites
Britannica Online
Retrieve content from Encyclopædia Britannica and Britannica Concise Encyclopedia as well as media, websites, and videos. Magazine articles are also available.
Current Biography Illustrated
Current Biography Illustrated provides access to over twenty thousand biographical profiles of celebrities, politicians, business people, writers, actors, sports figures, artists, scientists, and many other notable figures and newsmakers from the 1940's to the present. The biographies, compiled from Current Biographies magazine, average 2,500 words each.
Gale Directory Library
Gale Directory Library provides access to the full content of 15 reference directories. Find information on business and media entities including consultants, distributors, tradeshows, brands, market share, and more.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of more than two hundred full text reference sources for research. Areas covered include Arts, Biography, Business, History, Literature, Medicine, and more. At one time, these reference materials were accessible only in print form from within the Library, but are now available online.
Skokie Public Library's guide to this database
Oxford English Dictionary
Online
An historical dictionary of English, covering the language from the earliest
times to the present day; shows not only the current meanings of words, but
also traces their development through time.
Skokie Public Library's guide to this database
Visual Thesaurus from Thinkmap
Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus which creates word maps that show the various meanings of a word and branch to related words. Its innovative display and thought-provoking articles encourage exploration and learning and helps users to understand language in a new way.
World Book Online
The online version of the popular encyclopedia, good for students but also
valuable as a general guide to all fields of learning. The articles
provide cross-references and links to maps, charts, audio and visual clips,
animations, Bubble Views (360-degree virtual tours), websites, magazine and
newspaper articles, or other World Book articles and sections of articles
related to the article topic.
Skokie Public Library's guide to this database
