Databases

African Americans have been part of the landscape of Texas for as long as Europeans and their descendants. Spanning a period of more than five centuries, African American presence began in 1528 with the arrival of Estevanico, an African slave who accompanied the first Spanish exploration of the land in the southwestern part of the United States that eventually became Texas. While African Americans have been subjected to slavery, segregation, and discrimination during this long history, they have made significant contributions to the growth and development of Texas.

This online feature has more than 850 entries on African Americans in Texas, many of which appeared in the earlier versions of the Handbook, and approximately 300 new articles about all aspects of African American life and history in Texas. This Handbook is initiated to capture, to create greater awareness, and to increase research on the roles and contributions that Afro-Texans (individuals, groups, and organizations) have made to their neighborhoods, cities, state, and often the nation and beyond.

The Handbook of Tejano History, a publication of the Texas State Historical Association, contains more than 1,200 entries, including 300 new entries, detailing the critical influence of Tejanos on the Lone Star State. Released on March 29, 2016, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Tejano Monument unveiling on the Capitol grounds in Austin, the Handbook of Tejano History is the culmination of a two-year effort involving dozens of researchers, educators, students, and Texas history enthusiasts committed to capturing and sharing Tejano contributions to Texas life and culture.

The Handbook of Tejano History was made possible due to generous support from Tejano Monument, Inc., the Department of History at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Texas State Historical Association.

The Handbook of Texas Women project strives to expand on the Handbook of Texas by promoting a more inclusive and comprehensive history of Texas. Texas women make Texas history, and TSHA (Texas State Historical Association) wants to significantly recognize the various ways women have shaped the state’s history at home, across the state, nationally, and abroad.

The Handbook of Texas Women project is a statewide educational and content development campaign focused on Texas Women’s History by the TSHA for the Handbook of Texas. TSHA is establishing this project to capitalize on the unprecedented opportunities of the information age by updating existing Handbook of Texas entries on Texas women while adding new scholarship, all compiled and accessible for free through their digital portal.

Find up-to-date information on a range of health care topics. Best for students, researchers, and health care professionals.

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

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Resource for genealogy and family-history research. Includes online and film products dating back to the late 1700s, including digital, searchable images of U.S. federal census records, and the digitized version of the popular UMI Genealogy & Local History collection. 

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Search magazines, journals, newspapers, and reference on a range of topics. Best for middle- and high-school students.

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With LearningExpress Library's High School Equivalency Center, you'll find resources to help you build your reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, and math skills, as well as prepare for the GED^®, HiSET^® and TASC^® tests.

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

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Access to EBSCO's History Reference Center ended on Jan 31, 2024. Please see our Geography, History, & Social Sciences page for a complete list of our other history resources.

Search home improvement topics such as architectural techniques, tool and material selection, zoning requirements, and more.

Stream movies, music, and audiobooks or check out comics and eBooks from your computer or in an easy-to-use app on your mobile device. All selections are always available!

Plus, with just one borrow, you can get unlimited streaming access to one of multiple BingePass collections like hoopla Magazines, Curiosity Stream, Hellosaurus, The Great Courses, and more! https://www.hoopladigital.com/browse/binge

Find hoopla FAQs here: hoopla FAQ

Watch a short video tutorial on how to download eBooks/eAudiobooks on hoopla here and a short video tutorial on how to download and stream movies & TV shows on hoopla here. 

Search or browse text-only digital issues of the Houston Chronicle from 1985 to the present, or open the daily full-color image version of the Houston Chronicle from NewsBank.

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Select "View Resource" below and then click on today's date to see today's paper, available each morning. View the entire publication, including the Sunday "Career Search" page. Use the calendar to select from the archive of NewsBank's image version of Houston Chronicle issues dating back to October 24, 2017.

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Share your eBooks with new readers at library systems locally and potentially all across the U.S. and Canada with the Indie Author Project. 

This service is free for all authors, no matter how you have chosen to indie publish. The submission process takes about 5 minutes, and you are welcome to submit as many of your books as you would like. Before you submit, please make sure that your book is:
• A PDF or an ePUB file
• In the English language
• An original work to which you own the rights
Once submitted, your book will be passed through the review process, and you will be notified within 4–6 weeks if your book has been chosen as an Indie Author Project Selection.
All submissions, regardless of audience or genre, may be included in your local regions collection, if you so choose!

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Search across full-text Spanish- and Portuguese-language scholarly journals and magazines from and about Latin America.

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Protection of assets—physical or intellectual—is a concern for everyone from individual property owners to multinational corporations. The Gale OneFile: Insurance and Liability database connects researchers to hundreds of thousands of updated articles from leading journals, including: Business Insurance, Claims, Employee Benefit News, National Underwriter Life & Health, Pensions & Investments, Risk Management, and more. Exclusive features, including Topic Finder, InterLink, and a mobile-optimized interface, support and enhance the search experience.

Thousands of species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, and invertebrates are discussed as well as major biomes and habitats. Fact file boxes provide scientific classification and physical data.