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Reference Services

The Manchester Public Library has four full time professional librarians to assist patrons with reference and reader's advisory. In 2001 the library answered 2,890 reference/reader's advisory questions. The library maintains a reference collection of books, CD-ROM's and links to electronic databases.

Library staff will answer ready reference and reader's advisory questions by telephone (978-526-7711) and in person during library hours. You may e-mail us your question anytime. Library staff will respond via e-mail within 2-3 working days, as time allows. Reference questions requiring a detailed answer may require a visit to the library in person, or a detailed written response by mail.

If the Manchester Public Library does not own the needed reference material, we will consult the regional reference centers at Andover and at Boston.

Reference questions received in the mail will be answered as soon as possible.
Our Address: Manchester-by-the-Sea Public Library, 15 Union Street, Manchester, MA 01944

The library has limited resources for genealogical research. Please contact the Manchester Historical Society for in-depth assistance with genealogy. (978-526-7230)

All reference transactions are confidential.

Additional Reference services sponsored by MVLC and NMRLS.

Electronic Databases : subscription resources sponsored by your local library, the region, and state-wide library systems.

Your Manchester Library card is your passport to many subscription databases available through your home computer. Membership at your local library is the first step to accessing services provided by the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium (MVLC), the Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System (NMRLS), and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC).

Now you can find magazine articles, book reviews, company data, medical information, and more from the comfort of your home.

Hints: Remote User refers to logging on from home. Use your library card number, with no spaces, to log on. Your PIN is the last four digits of your phone number.

100 reference books available on-line, including citations. (Sponsored by Manchester Public Library)

Research Databases

The GreenFILE, a bibliographic database of information about environmental concerns, Global warming, energy conservation, natural resources, and pollution. GreenFILE covers content going back more than 35 years and contains bibliographic backfiles to volume one, issue one for Bioscience, Journal of Environmental Planning & Management , Journal of Ecology, and Conservation Biology and these backfiles are unique to GreenFILE. The database also contains bibliographic information for key non-scholarly titles such as: E -The Environmental Magazine, Natural Life, and Mother Earth News. The database contains nearly 300,000 records, full text for certain titles and searchable cited references for more than 200 titles as well. GreenFILE is The database includes information for individuals, such as installing solar panels and recycling; for corporations needing information on green agriculture, hybrid cars or waste management; as well as, environmental laws, regulations and studies. The goal is for GreenFILE to be a practical tool for everyday information and a resource for academic study and classroom activities.

Library, Information Science & Technology Abstract (LISTA) indexes more than 690 periodicals, plus books, research reports and proceedings. Subject coverage includes librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Coverage in the database extends back as far as the mid-1960s.

Teacher Reference Center (TRC) - This index of over 260 titles from the most popular teacher and administrator trade journals, periodicals, and books is now offered free via the EBSCOhost platform. This database provides coverage on key education topics such as Assessment, Continuing Education, Current Pedagogical Research, Curriculum Development, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Literacy Standards, Science & Mathematics, and more for K-12 Teachers & Librarians.

NoveList
NoveList is a fiction database that provides subject heading access, reviews, annotations, and much more for over 135,000 fiction titles. It also includes other content of interest to fiction readers, such as Author Read-alikes, What We're Reading, Book Discussion Guides, BookTalks, and Annotated Book Lists. For school media specialists and teachers there are Picture Book Extenders and articles on Teaching with Fiction.

History - It's Happening!
A free web site resource for middle and high school students to promote North America's vivid history, and help celebrate events such as Women's History Month, and Black History Month. This interactive site is a model for EBSCO database searches students can do on their own in the library.

Creative, eye-catching graphics and the figures of Mount Rushmore guide users to the site's content. Students can use the site to start research or just browse key primary source documents, videos, speeches, selected articles and web sites about notable men and women from Canada and the United States, and those who explored the continent.

Literary Reference Center (LRC) is a comprehensive literary reference database, which provides users with a broad spectrum of reference information from antiquity to the present day. LRC is a comprehensive database that combines information from over 1,000 books and monographs, major literary encyclopedias and reference works, hundreds of literary journals, and unique sources not available anywhere else. LRC contains detailed information on the most studied authors and their works and is an essential resource for public, academic and high school libraries.
Search by author, title, country, culture, genre, literary movement. Includes synopsis and reviews.

Massachusetts History Online The New York Times Online

NetLibrary is a collection of 3000 electronic books available over the Internet. First time users should register through the Manchester Public Library's link in order to have free access to the collection. Once you have a user-name and password, you can go to NetLibrary directly (www.netlibrary.com). NetLibrary is available from the library's Internet stations where you can view books on line, and from your home computer where you can download an electronic book to read off-line. Call the library at 978-526-7711 for further details. Subjects include:

	Business
	Buying & Selling a Home
	Careers
	Complete Idiots Guides
	Computer How To Books
	Consumer Health
	Consumer Law
	Psychology
	Self Help
	Sports-Coaching
	Study Guides
	Travel
	Web Development
	Nursing

Regional Reference Services

Reference Chat

Chat with a librarian online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 24/7 Reference is a new, experimental service that lets you ask questions and get answers, in real time, right on the Internet, from live reference staff at Memorial Hall Library in Andover and in libraries throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties, California.

Other Reference Websites

Massachusetts Special Collections-a directory of 600+ institutions, including academic, public, and special libraries, town halls, museums, and historic societies.

Mass General Hospital Treadwell Library

National Network of Libraries of Medicine - links to PubMed

Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries - Your Public Law Libraries

Our motto: "Information You Can Trust." The Librarians' Index to the Internet (LII) is a searchable, annotated subject directory of more than 8,600 Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries. LII is used by both librarians and the general public as a reliable and efficient guide to Internet resources.

Homework Center

The Manchester Public Library offers homework assistance Mondays through Thursdays, 3-5 PM, following the public school schedule. This service was started by a Library Services and Technology Act Grant.

Community File

The library maintains a paper and an electronic community file. A list of non-profit organizations for the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium region can be found on the library catalog (IPAC). Ask for assistance at the Reference Desk.

See Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce for a listing Recreational Sites

See Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce for a listing Business Sites

See Action, Inc., helping families on Cape Ann since 1965

Local History - Archives Room

The Library collects material on the Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea and the Cape Ann community.

The Archives Room was furnished by the Friends of the Library in 1966. Many out-of-print books on local history and fiction by local authors are shelved in the archives. All material is cataloged and available for in library use only. Please ask a librarian for assistance or call 978-526-7711.

Link to on-line images of historical Manchester-by-the-Sea

Link to on-line images of 1899 Atlas of Manchester-by-the-Sea