The Jersey City Free Public Library offers a wide range of Digital Services, all available free with your Library Card. Don't have a Library Card? Click here to get one instantly!
Niche Academy is an online learning platform that gives Jersey City Public Library patrons their own online academy.
The platform includes ready-to-use tutorials for common library services like OverDrive, Flipster, and Hoopla to name a few. Get access to our learning tutorials now!
- Virtual Reference Service
Have a question? Just type in the chat box at the bottom of your screen to contact a member of our library staff, live on our Virtual Reference Service. Live chat is available during library hours, or you can leave a message and someone can get back to you. - While our facilities are temporarily closed as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus), we are offering live chat service. Monday to Thursday 10 am to 6 PM, Friday and Saturday 10 am to 4 pm, and Sunday 10 am to 2 pm.
- Virtual Programs
Can't get to the Library for Story Hour? Looking for something to do online while the Library is closed? Tune in for our Virtual Programs on Facebook Live at the times below! Coming soon: archived Virtual Programs on our YouTube channel.
*Available resources are accessible from home but may require temporary logins. Login credentials are specified below.
Books & Reading
- Gale Literature Resource Center
Gale's Literary Index is a master index to the major literature products published by Gale. It combines and cross-references over 165,000 author names, including pseudonyms and variant names, and listings for over 215,000 titles into one source. - hoopla
Access thousands of ebooks, comics, audiobooks, and music albums all available for mobile and desktop use. Digital content from Hollywood studios, major-label record companies, and publishers can be borrowed for instant streaming to smartphones, tablets, and computers, or for temporary downloading to smartphones and tablets. App available on Apple App or Google Play stores. - OverDrive
OverDrive is the leading digital reading platforms for libraries and OverDrive Education is the leading global digital reading platform for K-12, both offering the industry’s largest catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and streaming video. App available on Apple App or Google Play stores.- Learn and explore OverDrive with a tutorial from our Youth Services Librarian Kate Davis.
- NoveList
Use this electronic database of over 92,000 titles to discover new fiction and new authors. Enter a favorite author or title and get a thoughtful list of recommendations for your next read. Browse over 1,200 theme-oriented book lists, 160 award lists and 1,000 fiction-related websites.
- EBSCOhost
Full text of over 1,800 magazines and newspapers with MasterFILE Premier, Business Source, and Health Source Plus. A variety of other tools for research are also available. -
Foundation Directory Online
Welcome to Foundation Directory Online (FDO) Enterprise, the most exhaustive and up-to-date knowledge and insight platform to help streamline your organization’s funding and research needs. - Khan Academy
Access a library of over 2,600 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history, with practice exercises. Students can get extra help or work ahead in a wide range of subject areas. - Morningstar Investment Classroom *LOGIN REQUIRED
Financial education for everyone from the beginner to the expert investor from one of the most respected names in the investment world.- LOGIN requires first 5 digits of your library card.
- Please note: The Morningstar subscription only allows a limited number of concurrent users. Please log off by clicking on the End Session link to allow others access to the database.
- ReferenceUSA
Detailed, current directory information for millions of U.S. and Canadian businesses, with separate search modules for health care providers and new businesses. Perform detailed consumer research by with faceted White Pages searching and directories of new movers and new homeowners.
- NJ State Library: Get Help
The State Library keeps an updated and comprehensive list of resources for residents looking for help finding employment, housing, medical care and more. - JobNow
JobNow, powered by Brainfuse, provides live interactive online help combined with online resources to guide you through the necessary tasks to get a job, including online coaches to assist with resume building, job searches, and interview skills. The site also provides a writing lab, test prep for high school equivalency and citizenship tests, and skills assessments. - LearningExpressLibrary
LearningExpress Library features online tutorials, practice tests, and e-books to help patrons of all ages. It offers job search and workplace skills improvement, skill building in reading, writing, math, and basic science, career certification and licensure exam prep, college and grad school entrance test prep, GED® test prep, and more. - Udemy
Gale Presents: Udemy* offers more than 6,000 high-quality, on-demand video courses taught by world-class instructors across 75 categories for upskilling in the areas of business, technology, and design. You can also achieve personal success with courses on health and well-being, the arts, language learning, and more. - VetNow
VetNow supports your community’s veterans and their families by providing online benefits navigators, academic tutoring in English, math, and science, and exam prep, as well as career transition assistance such as resume building, interview skills, and career path guidance.
- Brainfuse - Help Now
Help Now offers a comprehensive suite of online academic services designed to support many learning needs and styles including live tutoring, skills building, foreign language lab, writing, lab, and a test center. Tutoring is available to learners of all ages. - Britannica Library
Britannica Library provides the trusted name and information people have come to expect from Encyclopedia Britannica. - Explora Primary
Support elementary and high school curriculum with high-quality content from popular sources, including full-text databases, ebooks, and digital magazines. - Explora Secondary
Explora Secondary is particularly useful for high school students learning to complete their own research. - Gale in Context: Elementary
Gale in Context: Elementary delivers trusted, age-appropriate digital content. Through newspaper and magazine articles, videos, images, and graphics, elementary students can learn about everything from animals and outer space to famous artists and favorite athletes. The database is visual and intuitive, and rewards students’ efforts by developing comprehension and research skills to prepare them for middle school—and a lifetime of learning. - Gale in Context: Middle School
As a middle schooler, research can be challenging, right? You’re not a research guru just yet, and online searches on their own can lead you to unreliable content. Thankfully, Gale in Context: Middle School integrates citable content from magazines, newspapers, videos, and primary sources into an easy-to-navigate database developed with you in mind. Dive into science, social studies, history, literature, and more from National Geographic, Scholastic, NPR, NASA, and other citable sources. - Gale in Context: High School
When you have a paper, project, or presentation to complete, the hardest part is figuring out where to start. Gale in Context: High School simplifies your search for information by bringing together hundreds of thousands of images, videos, and audio selections into one easy-to-use database. While online browsers can serve up unreliable or incomplete results, this database lets you explore vetted primary sources, biographies, critical essays, and other materials in many formats — giving you deeper context to high-interest topics. - Gale Literature Resource Center
Gale's Literary Index is a master index to the major literature products published by Gale. It combines and cross-references over 165,000 author names, including pseudonyms and variant names, and listings for over 215,000 titles into one source. -
Miss Humblebee's Academy
Miss Humblebee’s Academy is a fun, interactive, and award-winning, online kindergarten-readiness learning solution for children ages 3 to 6. With hundreds of lessons in Math, Science and Social Studies, Language and Literacy, Art, and Music, the curriculum increases in difficulty as the user progresses through the program. Miss Humblebee’s Academy can be accessed at the library, home, or on-the-go via smart phones, iPads, and tablets. -
Learning Express School Center provides academic support for Math and Language Arts for Elementary grades, Math, Language Arts, and Social Studies for Middle grades, and Math, Language Arts, Social Sciences, and Science and Technology for High School grades. The website features practice sets, as well as e-books and tutorials for some of the grade/subject areas.
- Novelist K-8
NoveList K-8 Plus is a trusted source of read-alike recommendations specifically for younger readers. It helps kids find books that are just right for their reading level and interests. Parents, teachers, and librarians can also find tools to teach with books and engage young readers. -
Points of View Reference Center is an interface intended for public, academic, and high school libraries. Points of View is designed to assist researchers in understanding the full scope of controversial subjects. High school and undergraduate students can use Points of View as a guide to debating, developing arguments, writing position papers, and developing critical thinking skills. Each Points of View Essay includes a series of questions and additional material to generate further thought. Also included are thousands of supporting articles from the world’s top political and societal publications.
- Tutor.com
Get a tutor 24/7 in 40+ subjects including Math, Science, Social Sciences, and English. We help thousands of students get better grades every day.
- Flipster
Access digital magazines using Flipster. Flipster is a next-generation digital magazine service that allows people to browse the latest issues of high quality digital versions of popular magazines, courtesy of the library. App available on Apple App or Google Play stores. - hoopla
hoopla is a groundbreaking digital media service offered by your local public library that allows you to borrow movies, music, audiobooks, ebooks, comics and TV shows to enjoy on your computer, tablet, or phone – and even your TV! App available on Apple App or Google Play stores. - Kanopy
In addition to a wide selection of feature films, Kanopy provides access to the Great Courses and dozens of other educational and instructional videos. App available on Apple App or Google Play stores. - OverDrive
OverDrive is the leading digital reading platforms for libraries and OverDrive Education is the leading global digital reading platform for K-12, both offering the industry’s largest catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and streaming video. App available on Apple App or Google Play stores.- Learn and explore OverDrive with a tutorial from our Youth Services Librarian Kate Davis.
- Learn and explore OverDrive with a tutorial from our Youth Services Librarian Kate Davis.
- PressReader
Don’t miss a beat – get access to today’s newspapers and magazines from over 100 countries in over 60 languages. App available on Apple App or Google Play stores.
Use One Search instead of the open web, and you’ll find thousands of magazine and journal articles, primary sources, educational videos, encyclopedia articles, eBooks and more in just seconds. Need help? Check out this guide.
- Computer Skills Center
Learn the fundamentals of your computer, the Internet, and popular software applications with these easy-to-follow multimedia tutorials—and take advantage of all that today’s technology has to offer. - Explora Primary
Support elementary and high school curriculum with high-quality content from popular sources, including full-text databases, ebooks, and digital magazines. - Explora Secondary
Explora Secondary is particularly useful for high school students learning to complete their own research. - JerseyClicks
New Jersey's statewide portal for high-quality full-text databases covering subjects such as health, history, business, education, science, current events, literature, and popular fiction. Includes Reference Latina, a Spanish-language full-text database. - JobNow
JobNow, powered by Brainfuse, provides live interactive online help combined with online resources to guide you through the necessary tasks to get a job, including online coaches to assist with resume building, job searches, and interview skills. The site also provides a writing lab, test prep for high school equivalency and citizenship tests, and skills assessments. - Kanopy
In addition to a wide selection of feature films, Kanopy provides access to the Great Courses and dozens of other educational and instructional videos. App available on Apple App or Google Play stores. - Khan Academy
Access a library of over 2,600 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history, with practice exercises. Students can get extra help or work ahead in a wide range of subject areas. - Udemy
Gale Presents: Udemy* offers more than 6,000 high-quality, on-demand video courses taught by world-class instructors across 75 categories for upskilling in the areas of business, technology, and design. You can also achieve personal success with courses on health and well-being, the arts, language learning, and more. - Rosetta Stone
Whether you are looking to learn a brand-new language, further your ESL learning, or brush up on rusty skills, you’ll find what you need with this proven immersion method. - Social Explorer
Social Explorer is a powerful tool to access and work with current and historic demographic data. Use Social Explorer to visually explore demographic information, from census and economic data to election and religion data, and more. Users can visually explore change over time and understand the patterns behind the raw numbers. - VetNow
VetNow supports your community’s veterans and their families by providing online benefits navigators, academic tutoring in English, math, and science, and exam prep, as well as career transition assistance such as resume building, interview skills, and career path guidance.
Encyclopedia & Primary Resources
- African American Historical Serials Collection
An archive of periodicals that document the history of African American religious life and culture between 1829 and 1922. It includes newspapers and magazines, plus reports and annuals. - Archives of Sexuality and Gender
The Archives of Sexuality and Gender program provides a robust and significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. With material dating back to the sixteenth century, researchers and scholars can examine how sexual norms have changed over time, health and hygiene, changing gender roles, LGBTQ culture, social movements and activism, and many other interesting topical areas. - Archives Unbound – African American Collection
An interdisciplinary academic collection devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of Black Americans covering the tumultuous period from1900 to present day. From U.S. nation-building in Liberia to Freedom Riders and from Rastafaria to FBI surveillance, researchers can explore a breadth of experiences. -
Archives Unbound – Holocaust Collection
Deep and broad in its coverage, this collection incorporates anti-Semitic propaganda, correspondence from prisoners, documents from resistance groups, bank records from Nazi financiers, eyewitness accounts from concentration camps, and much more. - Atla Historical Monograph Collection
An archive of religious and theological literature from the late 13th century to 1922. The collection covers diverse religious topics and includes many volumes in Aramaic, Arabic, Greek and Hebrew. - Britannica Library
Britannica Library provides the trusted name and information people have come to expect from Encyclopedia Britannica. - Civil War Primary Source Documents
An archive of unique manuscripts chronicling the American Civil War as it was experienced. It covers all aspects of the war, including reactions and impressions from the home front. -
Gateway to North America: The People, Places, & Organizations of 19th Century New York
An archive chronicling the people and organizations of New York City during the 19th century. It is a unique collection of historical directories, member lists, travel guides and other rich sources. -
Indigenous Peoples of North America
Enabling exploration of the political, social, and cultural history of native peoples from the sixteenth century well into the twentieth century, Indigenous Peoples of North America illustrates the fabric of the North American story with unprecedented depth and breadth. Comprehensive yet personal, the collection covers the history of American Indian tribes and supporting organizations, meeting a need for historical researchers. Indigenous Peoples of North America provides a robust, diverse, and appealing search experience and enable intelligent inquiry into the culture and heritage of indigenous people. -
Making of Modern Law: American Civil Liberties Union Papers
The records of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on free speech, citizenship, race, discrimination, immigration, labor, radicalism, the Civil Rights Movement, and related topics support the study of American legal history. - Nineteenth Century Collections Online
A ground-breaking resource for nineteenth century studies, Nineteenth Century Collections Online is a multi-year global digitization and publishing program focused on primary source collections of the "long" nineteenth century. - Political Extremism and Radicalism
Explore diverse content covering fringe political movements, including campaign materials, periodicals, propaganda, and more. - Religions of America
Discover the history and unique character of religious movements that originated in the United States and Canada. - Revolutionary War Era Orderly Book from the New York Historical Society
A unique archive of Orderly Books from between 1748 and 1817. It includes thousands of pages of primary source material providing valuable information about soldiers' lives. -
Slavery and Anti-Slavery
The most ambitious project of its kind, the content of Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive is carefully reviewed by a renowned board of scholars and thematically arranged. It covers a wide spectrum of interests related to the history of slavery: legal issues; the Caribbean; children and women under slavery; modes of resistance; and much more. - Women's Studies Archive
Focusing on the nineteeth and twentieth centuries, Women's Studies Archive provides a history of the social, political, and professional aspects of women's lives and offers a look at the roles, experiences, and achievements of women in society.
- Rosetta Stone
Whether you are looking to learn a brand-new language, further your ESL learning, or brush up on rusty skills, you’ll find what you need with this proven immersion method.
- Westlaw
Westlaw is a legal database that includes secondary and primary legal sources. It contains statutes, codes, and case law. Includes the American Jurisprudence legal encyclopedia. Access is available to 5 simultaneous users only. If you are unable to access, capacity has been reached. Please wait a few minutes and try again.
Library & Informational Sciences
- JerseyClicks
New Jersey's statewide portal for high-quality full-text databases covering subjects such as health, history, business, education, science, current events, literature, and popular fiction. Includes Reference Latina, a Spanish-language full-text database. - EBSCOhost
Full text of over 1,800 magazines and newspapers with MasterFILE Premier, Business Source, and Health Source Plus. A variety of other tools for research are also available.
- Archives of Sexuality and Gender
The Archives of Sexuality and Gender program provides a robust and significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. With material dating back to the sixteenth century, researchers and scholars can examine how sexual norms have changed over time, health and hygiene, changing gender roles, LGBTQ culture, social movements and activism, and many other interesting topical areas. - LGBTQ e-Books from Gale
Gale has created a comprehensive eBook collection for diversity, equity and inclusion to help patrons explore stories, gain awareness, and celebrate individuality.- Access Code: jcfpl_log
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Use your Jersey City Free Public Library card to access one of the world's largest online document collections comprising millions of U.S. censuses, birth, death, marriage, military, immigration records and more. Online access available until the end of June 30, 2021.
- Fire Insurance Maps Online
Research the history of your house, your block or your neighborhood using historic maps from the mid-19th through mid-20th century. Search this collection of high-quality color scans of insurance atlases by address or map browse. We are happy that many of the historic atlases in the New Jersey Room collection that are inaccessible at present are now available for our patrons online here. - Hudson County High School Yearbook Indexes
As part of an ongoing project collecting all the yearbooks from Hudson County high schools, New Jersey Room staff are compiling indexes to help genealogy researchers find photos and information about earlier generations. Currently available indexes are for Jersey City High School (now Dickinson High School) from 1876-1900 and Hudson County private high schools (for example, Hasbrouck Institute, Bergen School, Stevens/Hoboken Academy) 1856-1986. - HeritageQuest Online
A comprehensive treasury of American genealogical sources—rich in unique primary sources, local and family histories, convenient research guides, interactive census maps, and more. - Jersey Journal and Star-Ledger Archives In addition to our extensive collection of local newspapers on microfilm, we now offer access to the digitized Jersey Journal (1867-present) and Star-Ledger (1989-present). Contact the New Jersey Room staff at 201-547-4503 or via our Virtual Reference Service (chat box at bottom right of this page) for help with your search.
- Social Explorer
Social Explorer is a powerful tool to access and work with current and historic demographic data. Use Social Explorer to visually explore demographic information, from census and economic data to election and religion data, and more. Users can visually explore change over time and understand the patterns behind the raw numbers.
Magazines, Journals & Newspapers
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African American Historical Serials Collection
An archive of periodicals that document the history of African American religious life and culture between 1829 and 1922. It includes newspapers and magazines, plus reports and annuals. -
Art Magazine Collection Archives
Art Magazine Collection Archive presents a collection of three leading art magazines — Magazine Antiques, ArtNews and Art in America — covering contemporary art, visual art, fine arts and more. -
Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection Series 1
An archive of publications focused exclusively on U.S. Hispanic history, literature and culture from colonial times until 1960. Content is indexed and searchable in Spanish and English. -
Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection Series 2
An archive of rare manuscripts, books and newspapers focused on Hispanic American civil rights, religion and women’s rights from the 18th through the 20th century. - EBSCOhost
Full text of over 1,800 magazines and newspapers with MasterFILE Premier, Business Source, and Health Source Plus. A variety of other tools for research are also available. - Ebony Magazine Archive
Ebony Magazine Archive covers civil rights, education, entrepreneurship and other social topics with an African-American focus. It includes more than 800 issues providing a broad view of African-American culture from its first issue in 1945 through 2014. - Flipster
Access digital magazines using Flipster. Flipster is a next-generation digital magazine service that allows people to browse the latest issues of high quality digital versions of popular magazines, courtesy of the library. App available on Apple App or Google Play stores. - Gale Health and Wellness
Gale Health and Wellness offers access to thousands of full-text medical journals, magazines, reference works, multimedia, and more. - Jersey Journal and Star-Ledger Archives
In addition to our extensive collection of local newspapers on microfilm, we now offer access to the digitized Jersey Journal (1867-present) and Star-Ledger (1989-present). Contact the New Jersey Room staff at 201-547-4503 or via our Virtual Reference Service (chat box at bottom right of this page) for help with your search. - Liberty Magazine Historical Archive, 1924-1950
Discover moods, attitudes, lifestyles, fads, and fortunes of middle-class America from 1924 through 1950. - National Review Archive
National Review Archive offers complete indexing, abstracting and full text for the magazine dating back to the first issue in 1955. National Review has been an important American journal of opinion and has consistently provided readers with well-reasoned editorial commentary on critical issues. - Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
Gale's Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers -- a full-text searchable, facsimile-image database -- provides an as-it-happened window on events, culture, and daily life in nineteenth-century America that is of interest to both professional and general researchers. The collection features publications of all kinds, from the political party newspapers at the beginning of the nineteenth century to the mammoth dailies that shaped the nation at the century's end. - PressReader
Don’t miss a beat – get access to today’s newspapers and magazines from over 100 countries in over 60 languages. App available on Apple App or Google Play stores. - Sports Illustrated Magazine Archive
Sports Illustrated Magazine Archive presents an extensive collection of the popular sports magazine dating from its very first issue in August 1954 through December 2000, presented in a comprehensive cover-to-cover format. - Time Magazine Archive
The Time Magazine Archive presents an extensive collection of the prominent weekly news magazine dating back to its first issue in March 1923 through December 2000, presented in a comprehensive cover-to-cover format.
- hoopla
Access thousands of ebooks, comics, audiobooks, and music albums all available for mobile and desktop use. Digital content from Hollywood studios, major-label record companies, and publishers can be borrowed for instant streaming to smartphones, tablets, and computers, or for temporary downloading to smartphones and tablets. App available on Apple App or Google Play stores.
- Gale In Context: Environmental Studies
Gale In Context: Environmental Studies focuses on the study of sustainability and the environment. Both interactive and current, the database allows users to navigate issue, organization and country portals. - Gale Health and Wellness
Gale Health and Wellness offers access to thousands of full-text medical journals, magazines, reference works, multimedia, and more. - JerseyClicks
New Jersey's statewide portal for high-quality full-text databases covering subjects such as health, history, business, education, science, current events, literature, and popular fiction. Includes Reference Latina, a Spanish-language full-text database. - MedlinePlus
Information from the National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest medical library. Everything you need to know about diseases, conditions, and wellness issues in language you can understand. Learn about the latest treatments, look up information on a drug or supplement, find out the meanings of words, or view medical videos or illustrations. - PubMed Central
A digital archive of life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), developed and managed by NIH's National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in the National Library of Medicine (NLM).