Literacy is fundamental to success
Our literacy programs and resources for youth and adults help individuals with the basic reading and writing and/or spoken English skills they need to reach work, family and personal goals. Here we're highlighting a variety of resources related to literacy of all ages. You may want to check out our pages specifically for Children, Teens, English as a Second Language and Adult Learners.
Blogs
Benefits of Reading
by Emily Williams, Teen Services Manager, Outreach and Engagement Services
Reading is good for you. But why? Let’s dive into all the reasons why reading is important and contributes to a healthy lifestyle. Most of us recognize that reading helps us learn and grow,...
5 Reasons We Can’t Get Enough of Tochi Onyebuchi’s Books
When we booked our author for February 2021’s Author Visit, you’d have thought Metro Library System was about to welcome the Dalai Lama, the full cast of “Schitt’s Creek” or the teacher who created Bernie Sanders’ recycled wool mitten...
Databases
Book Collection Nonfiction: Elementary School
Contains abstracts and searchable full text of nonfiction books about animals, weather, holidays, adventure, sports, Native Americans, United States, Canada, biographies, nature, civics and more.
Book Collection Nonfiction: High School
Contains abstracts and the full text of nonfiction books about careers, health, life skills, ethnicity, disabilities, adventure, sports, technology, biographies, history, science, women, civics and more.
Book Collection Nonfiction: Middle School
Contains abstracts and the full text of nonfiction books about careers, health, life skills, ethnicity, disabilities, adventure, sports, technology, biographies, history, science, women, civics and more.
Booklist Online
Contains over 100,000 reviews of books and digital media for librarians, book groups and book lovers.
Books in Print
Books in Print lists the bibliographic information (title, author, pages, volumes, editions, year of publication, etc.) for millions of titles that are out-of-print, in-print or forthcoming.
Britannica Library Children
A kid-friendly version of Encyclopedia Britannica designed to help K-5 students with homework assignments, school projects, and research reports.
Britannica Library Young Adults
A version of Encyclopedia Britannica that is designed to help students in grades 6-8 with homework assignments, school projects, and research reports.
Britannica Online Reference Center
A version of Encyclopedia Britannica that is designed for older students and adults.
Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts
This database indexes hundreds of journals that cover librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management, and more. Coverage extends back to the mid-1960s.
Literary Reference Center Plus
Search thousands of literary criticisms, author biographies, full text classics, stories, and poetry.
NoveList K-8 Plus
Provides suggested reads across many genres (for ages 0-Teen) based on previous reads or based on a title, author or series. It also contains a breakdown of Dewey Decimal sections, Grab and Go Book Lists for K-8 students that suggests books to read about a particular topic (e.g. bullying, World War I) and book discussion guides to use with a book group.
NoveList Plus
Provides suggested reads or listens across many genres (and for all ages) based on previous books read or listened to or based on title, author, series, or narrator.
Poetry & Short Story Reference Center
Provides a historically rich collection of full-text classic and contemporary poems, as well as short stories, biographies and authoritative essays on poetic forms, movements, techniques and more; includes contemporary content from the finest publishers.
WorldCat
This is a catalog of books and other materials held in libraries around the world. If we don't own a title that you want, you can use WorldCat to find a library that owns the title in order to place an interlibrary loan request.
Collections
Grass Roots Press - Hoopla
Grass Roots Press is a niche publisher, specializing in resources for adults with limited literacy skills. They have an international reputation for publishing high-quality materials for adult basic education and English language learners. This collection can be accessed through Metro's subscription to Hoopla digital. It can be found independently by searching for "Grass Roots Press" in the publisher field using the Advanced Search function.