Research tools | a - z

Find information, prepare for tests, build job skills, launch your business, and more with our variety of research resources.

ABCMOUSE

Early learning games for math, phonics, science, and more for children ages 2-8. 

Note: Only available on children’s computers in the all library locations.

ANCESTRY LIBRARY EDITION

Ancestry Library Edition contains collections with unparalleled coverage of the United States and the United Kingdom. Note: This is only available on computers at a Library location.

ATLANTIC MONTHLY

Discover the full text of The Atlantic Monthly magazine through our Ebsco subscription service.

CANDID FOUNDATION DIRECTORY PROFESSIONAL

A searchable directory of grantmakers, grants, and grant recipients by subjects and locations that can help nonprofits and government organizations find potential funding sources. Note: Only available on computers at Central Library.

CANDID GRANTS TO INDIVIDUALS

A searchable directory of funding, grants, and scholarships offered to students, artists, researchers, and other individual grantseekers. Note: Only available on computers at Central Library

CANDID GUIDESTAR PRO

GuideStar is Candid’s premier nonprofit research tool with the most complete, up-to-date nonprofit data available. Note: Only available on computers at Central Library.

CHILTON LIBRARY AUTO REPAIR

Find do-it-yourself repair and maintenance information for most domestic and imported vehicles. 

CRAFT & HOBBY

Access in-depth online instructional videos and classes in 22 different creative categories, including fabric crafts, cooking, woodworking, and more, including videos from Craftsy. 

CONSUMER REPORTS

Discover the full text of the popular Consumer Reports magazine through our Ebsco subscription service.

COSTAR

CoStar is the industry leader in commercial real estate information, analytics and news.

DATA AXLE REFERENCE SOLUTIONS

Reference Solutions has vital information on every business & consumer in the United States & Canada, helping researchers find valuable sales leads, conduct market research or competitive analysis, and do effective marketing and outreach.

DIGITAL PHOTO ARCHIVE

Explore Spokane’s history through historic images of the homes, buildings, streets, Indigenous Peoples, and activities in and around the region in the Inland Northwest Special Collection.

EBSCO BUSINESS SOURCE COMPLETE

Full-text journals for business, including marketing, management, accounting, and economics, as well as detailed information on public and private companies.

EBSCO ETHNIC DIVERSITY SOURCE

This full-text database is a dedicated resource covering the culture, traditions, social treatment and lived experiences of different ethnic groups in America.

EBSCO EXPLORA MAGAZINES

A collection of the most popular full-text magazines, journals, and other highly-regarded sources from the world’s leading publishers.

EBSCO EXPLORA PRIMARY

Designed for elementary school students, Primary Search is a full-text database providing popular children’s magazines, easy-to-read encyclopedic entries and a vast image collection.

EBSCO LEARNING EXPRESS

Find job search and workplace skills improvement; reading, writing, math, and basic science skill building; career certification and license exam prep; high school equivalency, college, and grad school entrance test prep. 

EBSCO NOVELIST K-8 PLUS

Find fiction and nonfiction books and audiobooks by title, plot, keyword, or author for beginning readers up to teens.

EBSCO NOVELIST PLUS

Find fiction and nonfiction books and audiobooks by title, plot, keyword, or author, including “best of” lists, similar authors, and book discussion guides.

FAMILYSEARCH

Access FamilySearch genealogical resources. You will not need your library card to login, but you will need to create your own personal FamilySearch account to access the database. Note: Only available on computers at any Library location.

GALE BUSINESS: DEMOGRAPHICS NOW

Searchable demographics and consumer and business statistics, with directory information and easy business startup reports.

GALE BUSINESS: ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Quickly access articles from a database of scholarly journals and other trusted periodicals. Best for academic research.

GALE BUSINESS: INSIGHTS

Research global companies and industries with in-depth analysis through current news, statistical data, and comprehensive reports.

GALE: EBOOKS

Explore this database of encyclopedias and reference sources within the Gale eBooks platform. For multidisciplinary research.

GALE EBOOKS: TEEN HEALTH, FINANCE, & SOCIAL ISSUES

Searchable eBooks for teens that provide introductory information and support resources on health, finance, personal growth, and important social issues.

GALE GENERAL ONEFILE

Access general interest magazines and key serials in a single resource. Best for general research.

GALE HEALTH & WELLNESS

Search a full range of health-related issues, from current disease and disorder information to alternative medical practices.

GALE IN CONTEXT: COLLEGE

An engaging online experience for those seeking contextual information on a wide array of subjects.

GALE IN CONTEXT: ELEMENTARY

Introduce elementary students to database searching with resources featuring age-appropriate, curriculum-related content.

GALE IN CONTEXT: GLOBAL ISSUES

Discover international viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global issues, topics, and current events.

GALE IN CONTEXT: HIGH SCHOOL

Explore thousands of topics across subjects including literature, science, history, and social issues using different sources.

GALE IN CONTEXT: MIDDLE SCHOOL

Explore the most-studied topics including cultures, government, people, history, literature, and more.

GALE IN CONTEXT: OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS

Find articles, topic overviews, statistics, and primary documents that show pro and con arguments for controversial topics.

GALE IN CONTEXT: SCIENCE

Find articles, images, videos, and experiments on a variety of scientific topics.

 

GALE LITERATURE: LITERARY SOURCES

Primary literary sources, critical articles, literary and cultural analysis, and biographies of world writers from all time periods. 

GALE LITERATURE: LITFINDER

Find full-text literary works, including poems, short stories, novels, essays, speeches, and plays. 

GALE PRESENTS: UDEMY

Learn and improve skills across business, tech, design, and more. Includes 6,000+ on-demand video courses in multiple languages.

GALE WASHINGTON LEGAL FORMS LIBRARY

Find Washington State, business, personal, real estate, and general legal forms that are free to fill out, save, and print.

HOOPLA: EBOOKS & MORE

Stream up to eight eBooks, audiobooks, movies, shows, and more per month instantly. Download the hoopla app to stream on your device. Check out a Binge Pass for 7-day unlimited access by using only one streaming credit here.

IBISWORLD

700+ detailed market and industry reports for the United States including SWOT analyses, financial ratios, and more. Note: Only available on computers at Central Library.

KANOPY: FILMS

Stream eight videos a month from any computer, smart TV, or mobile device with 30,000 titles to choose from, or stream titles from our unlimited viewing packages without using credits. Supported by the Friends of the Library.

LEGAL GPS

Legal GPS is a gamified platform that helps new and existing businesses “do legal” without having to hire a lawyer.

LIBBY/OVERDRIVE: EBOOKS & AUDIOBOOKS

Find the Library’s collection of eBooks and audiobooks for all ages using OverDrive or the Libby app. Discover popular titles, new books, diverse collections, and more.

LIBBY/OVERDRIVE: MAGAZINES

Read the Library’s collection of digital magazines for all ages using OverDrive or the Libby app. Choose from popular magazines like Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Highlights, Minecraft World, and many more.

LINKEDIN LEARNING

Choose from thousands of online courses to learn in-demand skills from real-world industry experts. Get started for free with your library card.

LIVEPLAN

LivePlan simplifies business planning, budgeting, forecasting, and performance tracking for small businesses and startups. Just fill in the answers presented and LivePlan does the heavy lifting for you.

LOTE4KIDS

LOTE4Kids is a selection of digital books in world languages, created for children to enjoy books and learn language through storytelling.

NEWSPAPERS.COM

Search full text and images of a wide variety of historic Washington and Idaho newspapers, along with newspapers in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming.

NORTHSTAR DIGITAL LITERACY

Learn digital literacy skills to navigate the internet and computer tech with ease.

PITCHBOOK

Research and analyze companies, deals, funds, investors and service providers across the entire private investment lifecycle.

PROCITIZEN

Take an online course to help prepare for the U.S Citizenship Naturalization Test.

PRONUNCIATOR LANGUAGE LEARNING

Learn over 150 languages, including English for foreign language speakers, with special courses for children and health care workers.

PROQUEST ABI/INFORM TRADE & INDUSTRY

In-depth coverage of companies, products, executives, trends, and other business research topics.

PROQUEST CULTUREGRAMS

Explore cultural and geographic fact sheets on countries, states, and Canadian provinces. 

PROQUEST eLIBRARY

A magazine and newspaper database with images, audiovisual materials, and television news transcripts.

PROQUEST HEALTH DATABASE

Designed to give you introductory information support groups on topics that may be important to you covering health, finance, and personal growth.

PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS: WASHINGTON COLLECTION

Search full-image digital versions of Spokane’s newspapers, including The Spokesman-Review from 1883 to the present and The Spokane Chronicle from 1890-1992.

PROQUEST HISTORY STUDY CENTER

A curated collection of full-text journals and popular magazines on a wide range of global historical topics and themes. 

PROQUEST LEARNING: LITERATURE

Texts and information students need for advancing their study of English literature.

PROQUEST RESEARCH LIBRARY

Provides one-stop access to thousands of full-text periodicals from one of the broadest and most inclusive general reference databases available.

PROQUEST SIRS DISCOVERER

Get answers on a variety of topics such as animals, countries, social issues, or famous people with topic overviews and eBooks for elementary and middle school students.

PROQUEST U.S. NEWSSTREAM

Search the most recent U.S. news content, as well as archives which stretch back into the 1980s, including the Spokane Journal of Business, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.

RMA STATEMENT STUDIES

Access to financial benchmarking figures including standards for balance sheet and income statement line items, as well as numerous industry average ratios.

STATISTA

Statistics and market reports on over 80,000 topics arranged by business market sector. Note: Only available on computers at Central Library.

THE PALACE PROJECT

Palace allows you to access ebooks and audiobooks not available elsewhere. Additionally, enjoy thousands of free titles on the Palace Bookshelf which are yours to keep for as long as you’d like. Download the Palace app for Android or Apple iOS today! 

TUMBLEBOOKS: CHILDREN'S EBOOKS

TumbleBook Library includes children’s fiction, non-fiction, and foreign language titles, math stories, read-alongs, videos, TumbleTV (pre-set playlists of a sequence of books), puzzles, and games.

VALUE LINE LIBRARY RESEARCH CENTER

Value Line’s comprehensive research center not only evaluates U.S. stocks, this expanded version also features mutual funds, options, and weekly investment and economic reports.

WORLD BOOK KIDS

With thousands of articles, multimedia content, and a collection of biographies, World Book Kids is designed to encourage young learners to be curious.

WORLD BOOK EARLY LEARNING

The perfect tool for preschool and beginner readers to explore independently or learn with an adult. 

WORLD BOOK STUDENT

Access The World Book Encyclopedia along with daily current events, tools for educators, and dedicated resource guides for students. 

WORLD BOOK TIMELINES

Explore the history of the world through World Book’s Timelines, including creating your own personalized timeline.