All Online Resources for Teens

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Comprehensive coverage of the African American experience from the early 18th century to the present day. Sourced from more than 19,000 American and global news sources, including over 400 current and historical Black publications. 

This primary source collection offers an expansive window into centuries of African American history, culture, and daily life—as well as the ways the dominant culture has portrayed and perceived people of African descent.

Provides full-text searching as well as access to content by Topic, Event, and Eras in African American History. Updated daily.

New collection from NewsBank.

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Through HelpNow, live real-time homework assistance is available from qualified tutors using state curriculum and standards.

24/7 assistance is available in English and Spanish for Language Arts and Mathematics. 

Every day between 10:00 am and 10:00 pm, assistance is available in core K-12 subjects in the following languages:

• English
• Spanish
• Mandarin
• Cantonese
• Vietnamese
• Tagalog

This service includes writing assistance, support for adult learners, and live chess tutoring. 

Intro Video

This program is supported with funds provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Librarian.

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Una enciclopedia en dos partes con portales para estudiantes de primaria y secundaria.

Acceso proporcionado por cortesía de la Biblioteca del Estado de California.

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A three-part multi-subject encyclopedia with portals for elementary, middle, and high school students.

Access provided courtesy of the California State Library. 

CA Driver Permit Practice Tests are free to access and require no registration. They include the following:

• 10 car practice tests
• 6 motorcycle practice tests
• 3 CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) practice tests
• 3 online driver’s manuals (car, motorcycle, CDL)
• An FAQ section with detailed answers to 100+ DMV-related questions

Need a Driver License Handbook? You can get them in different languages from CA.gov, opens a new window.

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Full-text for popular middle school magazines. Includes biographies and historical essays. Contains primary source documents, photos, maps, and flags. Designed to meet the unique needs of its users, Explora supports both student research and classroom instruction.

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Contains the full-text of high-quality articles, covering a wide-range of subjects for research papers, class projects, and homework. Includes biographies, primary sources, newspapers, reference books, and images.

Intro Video

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Your favorite magazines like Consumer Reports, The New Yorker, People, Popular Mechanics, Rolling Stone, Sunset, TIME, Wired and more are available on your computer or mobile device. Complete issues with full-color images and articles. No check-out required, just click and read.

Titles available on Flipster: Advocate, American Craft, Ask, The Atlantic, Best Colleges, Bicycling, Black Beauty & Hair, Black Enterprise, Black Girls Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bon Appetit, Book Links, Booklist, Bust, Casual Game Insider, Christian Science Monitor Weekly, Clean Eating, Consumer Reports, Consumer Reports Buying Guide, Consumer Reports on Health, DIVERSEability, Do It Yourself, Dwell, Entrepreneur, Essence, Food & Wine, Food Network Magazine, Forbes, Fortune, Gay Parent Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Health, HGTV Magazine, Hispanic Network Magazine, How it Works, InStyle, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Men's Health, Mountain Bike Action, Muse, The Nation, Native Max, New Moon Girls, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, Newsweek Global, Organic Gardener, People, People en Español, Poets & Writers, Popular Mechanics, Real Simple, Rolling Stone, School Library Journal, Science News, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens Workbook, Southern Living, Sunset, Teen Black Girls Magazine, TIME, Us Weekly,  The Week, and Wired.

• Need help getting started? Watch this tutorial video for help. 
• Flipster - Frequently Asked Questions

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Features online tutorials, practice tests, and eBooks to help students of all ages. Offers job search and workplace skills improvement, skill building in reading, writing, math, and basic science, career certification and licensure exam prep (including the California Basic Educational Skills Test [CBEST], California Subject Examinations for Teachers [CSET], California Real Estate Salesperson exam prep, ServSafe California Food Handler practice exams, and the California Police Officer Exam, college and grad school entrance test prep, GED test prep, and more. 

Go directly to one of the Centers within LearningExpress Library:

• Adult Core Skills
  Helps adults achieve their personal, education and career goals by offering resources to help them improve their basic skills in reading, writing, and math, and prepare for the U.S. citizenship exam.

• Career Preparation
  Are you preparing for a professional exam? Are you curious about a particular occupation or looking to improve your workplace skills? Choose the Career Preparation Center and begin your path to a bright future.

• College Admissions Test Preparation
  Getting into college is an important step to building a strong future. First, you must do well on your college admission tests and write a personal essay that highlights your special talents. Use this center to get the resources you need to achieve your college preparation goals.

• College Students
  Provides valuable resources that help college students strengthen their academic skills, prepare for placement tests, and get ready for graduate school entrance exams.

• Computer Skills
  Learn the basics of using a computer, navigating the internet, and using popular software programs from Microsoft and Adobe. Achieve basic to advanced skills in word processing, creating spreadsheets and databases, implementing design, and more.

• Grade 4-8 Educator Resources
  Elementary and middle school teachers: Supplement classroom instruction with curriculum-aligned materials in math, reading, writing, and social studies.

• High School Equivalency Center
  If you are preparing for the GED test, HiSET or TASC exams, the High School Equivalency Center's practice tests, interactive tutorials, and eBooks will help you reach your goal.

• High School Students 
  Find resources to help you build classroom and homework skills in math, English language arts, social studies, science, and technology.

• Job & Career Accelerator
  Explore detailed information on over 1,000 different occupations. Match your interests and skills with the career that's best for you. Search local and national job postings. Create professional resumes and cover letters. Practice and master interviewing skills. 

• Recursos Para Hispanohablantes
  Herramientas de aprendizaje, carrera, y ciudadanía en español. Este centro ofrece a los adultos que están muy ocupados los recursos para mejorar sus habilidades básicas, ganar sus credenciales de GED o ser ciudadano estadounidense.

Getting started video

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

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A comprehensive database that provides the most relevant information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and time-frames. Content includes plot summaries, essays of literary criticism, author biographies, book reviews, classic and contemporary poems and short stories, and author interviews.

Coverage List

Literary Reference Center Plus Help

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In this resource you will find the National Geographic Kids magazine 2009-present (three-month embargo); more than 500 National Geographic Kids books; 900 kid-friendly, downloadable images; and more than 200 videos. It offers endless opportunities for kids to explore amazing adventures in science, nature, culture, archaeology, and space. Best for children aged 6–14.

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Access to this resource is made possible by the California State Library.

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Explore and stay informed on local, national, and international topics, people and events in areas such as business, health, education, jobs and careers, political and social issues, and more.

Read full-page, full-color versions of hundreds of national, international, and California newspapers with NewsBank's Image editions. Search for a specific title and select the "Image" format when available.

• East Bay Times daily image edition from 12/18/18 - present.
• San Francisco Chronicle Collection - Search current and archived issues with full-color newspaper pages, full-text articles, and content only published online. The daily image edition is available from 2017 - present. 

Contra Costa Times is available from 6/1/95 - 4/4/16. Obituary articles are included, but obituary notices are not.

Black Life in America - The experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media, 1704 to today. Discover hard-to-find articles from historical and current sources with information on people, issues, and events that shaped and continue to influence conversations about race, equity and diversity.

Hispanic Life in America - This collection is sourced from more than 17,000 American and global news sources, including over 700 Spanish-language or bilingual publications. The time period Hispanic Life in America covers is from the early 18^th century to today. 

View tutorial

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Choose the best titles for your reading list! Find "read-alikes," reviews of both fiction and nonfiction titles, plot summaries, book discussion guides, recommendations, articles, and more. Includes selections for kids, teens, and adults. 

Get started with a quick lesson

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Downloadable eBooks and eAudiobooks, just for teens! Every book lover is sure to find an enjoyable title, available for download to the device of their choice, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can check out up to 6 Overdrive titles for 7, 14, or 21 days; it's your choice at the time of checkout. You can have up to 10 holds. 

OverDrive also offers a Help section to answer your questions. Contact Front Line Tech Support for further questions. 

The Libby, by OverDrive app is available for Android and iOS devices. 

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Provides students with a series of essays that present multiple sides of a current issue. Hundreds of topics, each with an overview, point, counterpoint, and critical thinking guide.

This website contains primary-source documents focused on six different phases of Black Freedom:

• Slavery and the Abolitionist Movement (1790-1860)
• The Civil War and the Reconstruction Era (1861-1877)
• Jim Crow Era from 1878 to the Great Depression (1878-1932)
• The New Deal and World War II (1933-1945)
• The Civil Rights and Black Power Movements (1946-1975)
• The Contemporary Era (1976-2000)

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Provides brief reports on countries. Learn about the land, history, people, customs, lifestyle, society, and government. Find recipes by country, printable flags and maps, and audios of national anthems.

The Kids Edition features reports on the U.S. states and country reports written for elementary students with easy-to-understand information and fun facts. 

Training Video

Access to this resource is made possible by the California State Library.

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General reference collection of periodical and digital media content with editorial guidance for novice researchers. Includes newspapers (Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times), magazines, scholarly journals, books, videos and audios, dissertations and theses, reports and more. 

eLibrary Help

Access to this resource is made possible by the California State Library.

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Provides video instruction on the important concepts in information literacy. Develop your research skills with these tutorial videos:

• How to find information
• How to evaluate information
• How to use information

Grades 9+

Watch an overview on Research Companion

Access to this resource is made possible by the California State Library.

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A general reference database for upper elementary and middle school learners, researchers and educators covering curriculum areas such as reading, language arts, current events, science, social studies, history, health and technology. Includes age-appropriate newspaper, magazine, book and website content. Grades 3-9

SIRS Discoverer Help

Access to this resource is made possible by the California State Library.

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Delivers the pros and cons on social issues with relevant, credible information. Analyses and opinions are hand selected from thousands of national and international sources such as newspaper and magazine articles, videos, charts, maps, statistics, primary sources and government documents. Grades 6-12

SIRS Issues Researcher Help

Access to this resource is made possible by the California State Library.

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Includes 30 languages and offers over 50 hours of foundational immersion instruction at every language level. Learning is structured around core lessons to build reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills and focuses on activities to refine grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. 

If you are new to Rosetta Stone, watch this video.

On your computer:

1. 1. From our homepage, click on “Digital Resources” on the top navigation bar. 
   2. Under Learning, click on ‘Rosetta Stone.”
   3. Click on the link into “Rosetta Stone Library Solution,” create a free Rosetta Stone account, and select a language you would like to learn.

On mobile device: 

1. Download the Rosetta Stone app:
   Apple
   Android
2. DO NOT launch the app. Instead:
3. Open your browser on your mobile device and follow steps listed above under "On your computer."
4. After you Sign in and click on “Launch Rosetta Stone Foundations,” the app should launch automatically.

If you experience trouble setting up Rosetta Stone, please contact their customer support team by emailing support@rosettastone.com or by completing this form.