eBooks, Audio, and Video

A music history database that highlights social and political songs by and about American indigenous, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers and cowboys.Included in the database are the songs of Civil Rights, political campaigns, Prohibition, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, anti-war protests, and more.

Searchable Associated Press content, including 4.6 million photographs (1826-present) as well as graphics, audio (1920-present), and articles (1997-present).

Streaming audio performances of more than 290 important dramatic works of the 19^th-21^st centuries, from the curated archive of the nation’s premiere radio theatre company.

Classical Music Library's growing collection of 50,000-plus tracks for listening and searching is supplemented by extensive reference materials and backed by a powerful suite of tools designed to support learning.

A music database that offers the streaming of music from all regions of the world. Includes popular music, film scores, and genres of all kinds.

Movies, TV shows, music, eBooks, and comics for online streaming or download to mobile devices, with no waiting lists. Borrow up to 10 items per calendar month.

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Starting October 10, 2018, audiobooks are no longer available through Hoopla Digital. Learn more about this change here.

Digitized texts, audio, video, software, and archived web pages, including books, manuscripts, and other written documents from the Boston Public Library.

The largest and most comprehensive collection of streaming jazz available online with thousands of jazz artists, ensembles, albums, and genres.

A database which provides audio and video in order to provide music teaching materials spanning all time periods and genres of music and dance.

Thousands of digital titles available for download directly to your computer or mobile device.

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Downloadable eBooks, audiobooks, and video for children, including Boston Public Schools summer reading lists.

Downloadable eBooks and audiobooks for teens, including Boston Public Schools summer reading lists.

Popular Music Library contains a wide range of popular music including thousands of tracks from genres including alternative, country, Christian, electronic, hip-hop, metal, punk, new age, R&B, reggae, rock, soundtracks and more.

A virtual encyclopedia of the world's musical and aural traditions. The collection provides an unprecedented variety of online resources that share diverse musical forms.

Recordings of lectures, presentations, and musical performances given at the Boston Public Library. Due to copyright restrictions, some recordings are only accessible in full at the Central Library in Copley Square, with 30-second samples available for remote listening.

Over 180,000 full-text searchable 18th century books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides, and more, primarily in English, covering all aspects of life and knowledge, including history, geography, arts and literature, law, science, medicine, and the social sciences.

Reproductions of manuscripts, letters, and diaries, handwritten drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, and similar materials. Catalog records can be searched, but the manuscripts themselves are not full-text searchable.

Primary sources relating to the arts in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, including playbills, scripts, operas, scores, letters, manuscripts, meeting minutes, and financial records.

Encyclopedias for children from Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Digitized photographs, manuscripts, books and other material of local and historical interest from the Boston Public Library and other libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies in Massachusetts.

Encyclopedias and other specialized reference sources covering the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences, including medicine, business, law, and more.

Contains the full searchable text and images of Grove Art Online, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms.

Resources in the broader Oxford Art Online may not be available.

Digitized books, government publications, and other documents from the collections of an international community of research libraries. All material is indexed and searchable, but access to full reproductions is limited to material not under copyright.

Movies, TV shows, music, eBooks, and comics for online streaming or download to mobile devices, with no waiting lists. Borrow up to 10 items per calendar month.

Watch our tutorial

Starting October 10, 2018, audiobooks are no longer available through Hoopla Digital. Learn more about this change here.

Digitized texts, audio, video, software, and archived web pages, including books, manuscripts, and other written documents from the Boston Public Library.

Poetry, short fiction, novels, and more than 450 plays by U.S. writers of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Central American, and South American heritage, including previously unpublished and rare materials.

244 plays by 48 North American Indian playwrights, accompanied by searchable information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. More than half of the plays are previously unpublished.

1,517 plays by 330 North American women playwrights, accompanied by searchable information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera. Over 30% of the plays are previously unpublished.

Over 100,000 eBooks available for borrowing and reading in-browser or on mobile devices using Adobe Digital Editions. Creation of a free account is required for borrowing.

Thousands of digital titles available for download directly to your computer or mobile device.

Watch our tutorial

Downloadable eBooks, audiobooks, and video for children, including Boston Public Schools summer reading lists.

Downloadable eBooks and audiobooks for teens, including Boston Public Schools summer reading lists.

Oxford Music Online is the world’s premier online music encyclopedia, offering comprehensive coverage of music, musicians, music-making, and music scholarship.

Over 20,000 Audiobooks for Adult, Children and Teens available to stream or download on mobile devices and full-color popular magazines in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese, available for online reading or download to mobile devices. Most magazines are available with no waiting lists, no checkouts, and no limits.

This service requires registration for an RBdigital account through their website. Click on the REGISTER link on the RBdigital site to get started.

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1,905 plays by 419 playwrights, accompanied by searchable information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. Includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera.

Searchable content from WGBH, WCVB, WHDH, and Cambridge Community Television. Coverage: 1960-1999.

Over 600 performances and over 600 documentaries, interviews, and instructional videos featuring the most influential performers and companies of the 20th century, including ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, experimental, and improvisational dance, as well as forerunners of the forms and the pioneers of modern concert dance.

Movies, TV shows, music, eBooks, and comics for online streaming or download to mobile devices, with no waiting lists. Borrow up to 10 items per calendar month.

Watch our tutorial

Starting October 10, 2018, audiobooks are no longer available through Hoopla Digital. Learn more about this change here.

Digitized texts, audio, video, software, and archived web pages, including books, manuscripts, and other written documents from the Boston Public Library.

A database which provides audio and video in order to provide music teaching materials spanning all time periods and genres of music and dance.

Over 200 performances selected for their importance to the operatic canon, as well as over 60 interviews and documentaries representing the world’s best performers, conductors, and opera houses.

Thousands of digital titles available for download directly to your computer or mobile device.

Watch our tutorial

Downloadable eBooks, audiobooks, and video for children, including Boston Public Schools summer reading lists.

These high-definition, surround-sound recordings of William Shakespeare's plays featuring the world's best Shakespearean actors bring performances filmed at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Stratford-upon-Avon theater to your computer screen.

Over 150 definitive dramatic performances and over 300 documentaries and interviews featuring directors, designers, writers, and performers. Videos include closed captioning and synchronized scrolling transcripts.