Research

Access World News

Explore and stay informed on local (Smithfield Times, Tidewater News, Virginian Pilot, and Richmond Times Dispatch), national and international topics, people and events in areas such as business, health, education, jobs and careers, political and social issues and more. Features a wide variety of credible, vetted news sources from around the world to around the corner. Also available remotely 24/7 on any device (library card required for remote access)

Black Life in America

Explore the experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media.

Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports enables consumers to make better purchasing decisions on the products they are shopping for. Provides ratings and reviews and buying advice for thousands of products and services from appliances to cars. 

Daily Press

Explore Newport News history through local news, events, and people with Daily Press Collection. Search current and archived issues with full-color newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online. Also available remotely 24/7 on any device.

Explora Public Libraries

  • EBSCO’s Explora is a user-friendly search tool that supports both research and instruction. Explora searches across the following resources.
    • MasterFILE Complete – A comprehensive collection of full-text general interest articles from periodicals, newspapers, and books. This authoritative general information database is the best place to start your research project.
    • Read It! – Research while practicing reading skills. Read It! helps students who have a basic foundation in English grammar and reading but need level-appropriate reading material. Read It! is also a great tool for English Language Learners.

Explora Secondary Schools

Explora supports both student research and classroom instruction with age-appropriate content for middle and high school learners with an easy-to-use interface and great accessibility tools, including translation and text to sound.

Gale in Context: Elementary

Gale In Context: Elementary is the perfect educational product for today’s young learners. It is a content-rich, authoritative, easy-to-use digital resource featuring age-appropriate, reliable, curriculum-related content covering a broad range of educational topics. Ideal for Kindergarten through Grade 5. You will be prompted for your BRL library card number if using this database outside of one of our libraries.

Genealogy Research

Explore your roots with our genealogy research resources

Legal Forms

Find downloadable, fillable forms for basic legal transactions, current to Virginia code covering basic legal needs--wills, power of attorney, landlord/tenant, and lots more. Includes a comprehensive section of templates for small businesses including: invoices, leases, sales agreements, contracts, and more. Public users should consult an attorney in their state for serious legal matters.

Local Newspapers

  • Smithfield Times (1928-2013)
    The same issues are available on microfilm, ask a librarian today!
  • Sussex Surry Dispatch  (1913-2011) are available on microfilm, ask a librarian today!
  • Tidewater News (2014-present) (library card required for remote access)
    Issues as far back as 1917 are available on microfilm, ask a librarian today!

Salem Press Reference Books

Make your school research easy with electronic versions of our Salem Press reference materials. Included in the collection are books on history, science, health, and careers, and more. Hard copies of these same materials are available in the library for check out.

Topic Search

Teachers, librarians and student researchers can use this database to explore current events, social, political and economic issues, scientific discoveries and other popular topics frequently discussed in the classroom. Content includes nearly 100,000 full-text articles from diverse sources as well as biographies, book reviews, government information, public opinion polls, and international newspapers.