Anyone who lives or works in Massachusetts can get a library card at the Boston Public Library. This means students, teachers, and librarians across the state have access to our databases! Check out some highlights below, and if you're looking for more, learn about additional research resources in this blog post.
Best for Test and Career Prep: LearningExpress Library
Available with your BPL Library Card | Accessibility Information
Pros:
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- Huge content library of study materials and test prep, including almost 800 practice tests
- Website is easy to navigate
- Works well on mobile
- Practice tests are instantly scored
Cons:
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- Some exams have more practice tests than others
- Sometimes freezes when pressing the back button
Those thick exam prep books always fly off the library shelves around test time, but you can still access study help. LearningExpress Library includes materials for many different tests, including the SAT, ACT, PSAT, AP, GED, and HiSET. Practice tests can be timed or untimed. All tests have detailed answer explanations.
For people looking for subject-based tutoring, LearningExpress has interactive tutorials to help improve your academic skills in math, science, English, and more. And for those thinking about future careers, LearningExpress has a Job and Career Accelerator. This includes help finding scholarships and schools, interview prep, and quizzes on the best careers for you. They even have a resume builder to help make that process easier.
Best for Background Research: Credo Reference
Available with your BPL Library Card | Accessibility Information
Pros:
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- Great for finding overviews and background information
- User-friendly searching
- Links to other databases for quick research
Cons:
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- Not as in-depth as academic or subject-specific databases
- Some subjects are covered better than others
I can't talk about Credo enough! Figuring out where to start can be one of the most difficult parts of a research project, and Credo makes this process simpler. It's like an academic version of Wikipedia. Credo compiles a bunch of encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference books together into easy-to-read topic entries. You can directly cite these articles or save them to Google Drive. Credo also streamlines the research process by linking to other databases like JSTOR, Gale OneFile, and Opposing Viewpoints.
There are a bunch of different ways to navigate this database, including keyword and advanced searches, browsing by topic, and searching within a specific reference book. My favorite is the mind map feature that makes visual connections between different topics. This can help expand background knowledge and even provide new topics to research.
Best for Academic Articles: JSTOR
Available with your BPL Library Card | Accessibility Information
Pros:
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- One-stop shopping for academic research
- Content available for many different fields of study
- Full runs of many academic journals
- Provides tools to help organize what you find
Cons:
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- Doesn't have content from the last 3-5 years
- College-level reading levels makes it a harder database to use
- Basic search often gives results that aren't relevant once you get past the first few results
- Subject-specific databases will have richer content
- Can't filter for only peer-reviewed articles (though most are peer-reviewed anyway)
- Some articles are easier to find on OmniFile Full Text Select
JSTOR has been a go-to stop for students and academics for 30 years. It includes full-text articles from hundreds of scholarly journals from the mid-1800s to (nearly) the present day. JSTOR features content from an impressive 75 different areas of study. They literally have you covered A through Z from archaeology to zoology. JSTOR also offers strong open-access and primary source materials. These include collections like "Eyes of the Nation: A Visual History of the United States" from the Library of Congress and "Hip Hop Party and Event Flyers" from Cornell University.
One of the best features about JSTOR is JSTOR Workspace. This tool helps you save, organize, and annotate what you find. For group projects, you can also share folders with others, download your work, or present what you found.
Since JSTOR doesn't have newer articles, it's not great for finding current information on fast-changing topics like medicine or computer science. If you want to do an academic deep-dive into a topic, there are some better databases out there (include a few listed below!).
For high schoolers who plan to attend college, this is a great way to get familiar with a database that's used at most universities. If you're having trouble navigating JSTOR, there are resources for that, too! Check out this BPL blog post on how to use it. JSTOR also has a research guide to walk you through logging in and a JSTOR blog post with more tips and tricks.
Best for English Lit Classes: Gale Literature Criticism
Available with your BPL Library Card | Accessibility Information
Pros:
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- Easy navigation through links to related topics
- In-depth coverage of many books that are often in high school English classes
Cons:
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- Much weaker on newer works
- Important to check the date of the critical analysis articles
This database offers literary analysis of works from ancient times to the present day. From the home page, you can browse by topic, specific book, or popular authors. This makes Literature Criticism easier to navigate than a lot of other Gale databases. The database provides links to related topics, articles, and book overviews. For example, a search for The House on Mango Street brings up a biography on Sandra Cisneros, an article on Mexican-American literature, an overview of the book's major themes, and the book's critical reception. While not the place to go for analysis of newer books, Gale Literature Criticism is a solid resource for working on many English class assignments.
Note: While this does have some Shakespeare analysis, be sure to look at New Oxford Shakespeare and the Royal Shakespeare Company Collection, too.
Best for Graphic Novel and Manga Fans: ComicsPlus
Available with your BPL Library Card | Accessibility Information
Pros:
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- Available online and as an app
- No holds or limits on the number of titles you can borrow
- Includes lots of different types of sequential art (comic books, manga, webcomics, graphic novels, and more)
- New titles added every Wednesday
Cons:
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- Separates the titles into "teen" for middle schoolers and "young adult" for high schoolers, which can be confusing for users
- Some of our e-comics will be available on other platforms instead, so you might have to jump to a different app like Libby to find a title you're looking for
- Limited content for Marvel and DC characters
As a big comics reader, ComicsPlus fills me with so much joy. But even if you aren't a sequential art nerd, there's something here for everyone. After all, there are over 20,000 titles! You can search by topic (like Action/Adventure, Webcomics, or Shonen manga), what's popular or newly added, and by publisher.
Once you've chosen the comic to read, you can switch between one or two-page view. There is a "Tri-Panel view" to automatically scroll up and down for a better viewing experience. Personally, I switch between tri-panel and two-page view to see the details and then the look of the whole spread. You can zoom in or out to get a better look, too. The app automatically saves your place to pick up where you left off. If you're overwhelmed by options (like me) you can save titles to read later in "My Shelf." This keeps track of what you're in the middle of reading and what you've completed. Whether you're more in the mood for They Called Us Enemy or Full Metal Alchemist, ComicsPlus is a truly fantastic resource.
For teachers and librarians, ComicsPlus has a Librarian Resource Center that includes a ton of promo material, book club ideas, lesson plans, and more.
Bonus Databases:
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (not the BPL) provides these databases. They will be available through at least July 1, 2026. All residents or students in Massachusetts can access these for free, too.
Encyclopedia Britannica: Library Edition
Available with a Massachusetts Library Card
The most popular encyclopedia in the world includes interactive articles and research tools. While there is no dedicated page for accessibility for this database, it has many accessibility features. These include a dyslexia-friendly font, changing the font size, and read alouds with highlighted text.
Gale Opposing Viewpoints
Available with a Massachusetts Library Card | Accessibility Information
An online database that explores different perspectives on important, hot-button topics.
Gale OneFile: High School Edition
Available with a Massachusetts Library Card | Accessibility Information
An academic database covering many different topics, specifically designed for high schoolers.
Gale OneFile Collections
Available with a Massachusetts Library Card | Accessibility Information
Topic-based database collections with academic, magazine, and news articles. There are many OneFiles available, including Diversity Studies, Economics and Theory, Environmental Studies and Policy, Psychology, and Pop Culture.
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