Always open, always available and keyword searchable, you can now use these popular reference titles anytime from your home computer:

The Encyclopedia of Science: This encyclopedia covers major areas of science including: biology, genetics, microbiology, astronomy, chemistry, physics, engineering, technology, geology, weather, archaeology, psychology, mathematics and medicine and provides readers with a wide range of up-to-date, relevant and accurate information.

Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia: This 16-volume second edition is the first complete revision in 30 years of the premiere encyclopedia on animals of the world. Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia includes the entire range of animal life from one-cell to complex organisms. Chapters on order, class or family use a common structure of sections to describe ecology, evolution, structure and function, life histories and reproduction, behavior, biogeography, migration and conservation.

UXL American Decades: Each decade of the 20th century is full of features including 600 black-and-white photographs and illustrations, a general index and "Words to Know" and "Further Reading" sections. Chapters begin with a chronology of world events and an overview of the decade.

Chapters include: Topics in the News, Headline Makers and Further Reading. Within each topic, alphabetically arranged entries discuss historically important events, definitions of difficult concepts or terms and other interesting trivia and sideline stories.

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The Encyclopedia of World Biography: Covering nearly 7,000 notable figures from many cultures and time periods, this resource is readable, lively and informative.

The alphabetically arranged entries contain brief summary paragraphs, longer essays about the subjects’ lives and work, short lists for further reading and, in most cases, black-and-white portraits.

The Encyclopedia of Religion: This excellent source is an introduction to important ideas, practices, and persons in the religious experience of humankind from the Paleolithic past to the present. Over 2500 articles are included as well as color illustrations and biographical entries. This encyclopedia is designed to provide a generation of users with valuable summaries and analyses of the best of current scholarship in the field of religion.

To use any of these reference sources, log on to www.jcls.org, click on "Research and Databases," then click on "eBooks."

Meghan O’Flaherty is headquarters library manager for Jackson County Library Services.