Subscription Databases and E-books
Book Review Digest Retrospective
Excerpts from and citations to reviews of adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction published from 1905 through 1982.
Daily Life Online: History, Culture, Folklore
Daily Life features resources on subjects including: art, food and drink, clothing, lifestyles, religion and belief, holidays, languages, worldview, crafts, festivals, music, dance, tales, myths, urban legends, proverbs, folk remedies, stories, domestic life, economic life, intellectual life, material life, political life, recreational life, and religious life.
Drama for Students
This title features analysis of the plays most frequently studied in literature classes. Each entry includes an introduction that provides an overview of the play; a brief biography of the playwright; a plot summary; a discussion of the play's principal themes; understandable essays on the play's construction; excerpted critical commentary; and much more.
Granger's World of Poetry
Use this database to access full text poems, citations, commentaries, biographies, bibliographies, and a glossary of poetry.
Literary Reference Center
Literary Reference Center provides users with a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. It is a full text database that combines information from major respected reference works, books, literary journals as well as original content from EBSCO Publishing. Literary Reference Center contains full text for more than 31,000 plot summaries, synopses and work overviews, nearly 100,000 articles/essays of literary criticism, more than 156,000 author biographies (including more than 22,000 in-depth bios), more than 450 literary journals, more than 626,000 book reviews, more than 68,000 classic and contemporary poems, more than 18,000 classic and contemporary short stories, more than 5,500 author interviews, more than 8,200 classic texts and more. In addition, Literary Reference Center includes Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature, Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature, Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature, Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Beacham's Research Guide to Biography and Criticism (six volumes), The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature, The Literary Encyclopedia, The Columbia Companion to the 20th Century American Short Story, all of MagillOnLiterature Plus, and more.
Literature Criticism Online
Literature Criticism Online includes two reference works: Contemporary Literary Criticism and Drama Criticism. Contemporary Literary Criticism provides critiques of key literary works as well as author biographies. Drama Criticism contains biographical information about playwrights and critical opinions of plays.
Novelist
A database of reading recommendations for adults and children including information about authors, book discussion guides and booktalks.
Novelist K-8
Reading suggestions and lists for children in grades K - 8 arranged by author, title, series and topics.
Novels for Students
Each volume provides discussions of the literary and historical background of 15 to 20 novels from various cultures and time periods. Includes concise synopses of plot, characters and themes, a brief author biography, discussion of the story's cultural and historical significance, and excerpted criticism. Each novel was chosen by an advisory panel of teachers and librarians.
Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature
This surveys the vibrant terrain of American literature in 350 essays from leading scholars, encompassing the range and depth of American literary history from the 1600s to the present day. The Encyclopedia includes essays on poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists, as well as major works and essays on literary movements, periods, and themes.
Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature
The Encyclopedia provides comprehensive coverage of literature from the Abbey Theatre to Israel Zangwill, covering the entire history of literature in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in the major literary languages (Anglo-Saxon, English, Welsh, Scots, Irish, and Latin).
Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature
Written by an international roster of more than 300 authors, the Encyclopedia comprehensively documents and interprets the books read by children throughout the world. With a global perspective that pays attention to significant international trends and the multicultural expansion of the field, it includes brief biographies of every major author and illustrator. Also included are feature essays on all genres of children's literature, individual works, and prominent trends and themes, as well as general essays on the traditions of children's literature in many countries throughout the world.
Play Index
Find citations to some 31,000 plays published individually or in collections from 1949 to the present. Search over 600 monologues. Find the perfect plays to match your production resources. A descriptive annotation summarizes the plot and indicates any musical requirements. Search for plays appropriate for preK-6, grades 7-12, and adult.
Poetry for Students
This volume is designed specifically to meet the curricular needs of high school and undergraduate college students studying poetry. A quick but information-rich reference source, the book provides analysis of approximately 20 poems that teachers and librarians have identified as frequently studied in literature courses.
Short Stories for Students
Contains concise synopses of the story's plot, characters and themes, along with a brief author biography, a discussion of the story's cultural and historical significance, and excerpted criticism geared specifically towards the high school student.
Short Story Index
Locate more than 96,000 stories, including the full text of more than 3,400 stories. Search by author, title, subject, keyword, date, literary technique, source, or any combination. Subject access includes theme, locale, narrative technique or device (such as surprise endings, dialect stories, parodies, story-within-a-story) and genre. Retrospective coverage back to 1984.
Something About the Author
Facts and pictures about children's book authors and illustrators

Websites Selected by Librarians
LitLinks
Includes the genres of fiction, poetry, essays, drama and critical theory with lists of authors and relevant annotated links to websites.
English Literature on the Web
This comprehensive literature site that includes both English and American literature links.
Voice of the Shuttle
Links to theory, author home pages, journals, and criticism for literature in English from Anglo-Saxon to contemporary literature.
Internet Public Library On-line Literary Criticism Collection
Contains over 1600 critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, title, and literary period.
Poetry Portal
A guide to Internet resources for the study and writing of poetry. This site includes links about poetry online, events, courses, styles, and publishing.
a.k.a. Also Known As
Helpful for identifying author pseudonyms, aliases, nicknames, working names, pen names, and legalized names.
Writer's Handbook
This site offers instructional materials related to writing, including grammar, style, and citing references in your paper. Sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Writing Center.
Study Guides
Links to selected sites from a local librarian.