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Online Resources
The Nicholson Memorial Library System is pleased to offer library patrons home and office access to selected online resources and services. Most are subscription-only resources funded through the city or state. The information found on a database is usually of higher quality and typically cannot be found on the open web.
Click on the resource of your choice and, when prompted, enter your Nicholson Memorial Library System card number and PIN to get started. If you encounter any problems in accessing these resources, send an email or call your library at (972) 205-2500.
Online Resource Tutorials
The Garland Libraries offer video tutorials on how to use many of our online resources. Learn how to use Value Line, Mango Languages, Testing and Education Reference Center, Chilton Auto Repair and many more. Also included are tutorials on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Forms, Google Photos, Google Sheets, Google Slides and Goodreads.
- Live coaching to achieve your academic and career goals, available 7 days a week from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. for all Library card holders
- Homework Resources, Online Tutoring
- The premier Reference, Research, Marketing, Mailing Lists/Sales Leads, People Search, and Job-Search Database.
- Business and Legal, Finance and Investment
- Prepare for a career exam, explore occupations, and improve your workplace skills here.
- Education and Test Prep
- Repair, maintenance, service information and specification tables provide critical data on thousands of domestic and imported models of cars, trucks, vans and SUVs from 1940 onward.
- Do It Yourself
- Consumer Reports Online is the premiere resources for patrons seeking reviews, ratings, and information about consumer products.
- Do It Yourself
Directory of Open Access Journals
- Free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals aiming to cover all subjects and languages.
- Homework Resources
- Provides critical overviews of the most-studied plays of all time periods, nations, and cultures. Includes discussions of themes, characters, critical reception, dramatic devices and traditions as well as cultural and historical context.
- Literary Criticism
- Driving-tests.org includes free tests specifically based on Texas’s Department of Public Safety materials.
- Do It Yourself
ebrary Science and Technology ebooks
- ProQuest's ebrary offers authoritative ebooks in a wide range of subject areas, along with powerful tools to help you find, use, and manage the information you need.
- Homework Resources
- EBSCO Information Services provides full-text and secondary research databases, e-books and e-journals for students of all ages as well resources for public library patrons.
- Homework Resources
- Interfaz en español contraduccion de los articulos. Base de datos sobre muchos temas - incluye texto completo. Los articulos están traducidos por un programa de la computadora del inglés.
- Homework Resources, Recursos en Espanol
- These eBooks are from the TexShare collection and may be searched, viewed, and browsed online, but they may not be checked out and downloaded.
- Homework Resources
- Gale/Cengage Learning provides research resources in a variety of subject areas to serve the needs of students and academics.
- The interface allows you to search multiple Gale resources at once.
- Homework Resources
- Provides students with research resources on authors and literature.
- Literary Criticism
Gale Business: Entrepreneurship
- Provides resources for start-ups, small business owners, and entrepreneurs.
- Business and Legal Resources
Gale Business: Insights Global
- Provides news, articles, and research on global business.
- Business and Legal Resources
- Gale/Cengage Learning provides research resources in a variety of subject areas to serve the needs of a general audience.
- The interface allows you to search multiple Gale resources at once.
- Homework Resources
- Provides students with research resources on health and wellness issues.
- Health Resources
- Provides students with biographical resources.
- Homework Resources
- Provides research resources on a variety of topics geared toward college students.
- Homework Resources
- Provides research resources and homework help geared toward elementary school students.
- Homework Resources
Gale in Context: Environmental Studies
- Provides research resources and homework help on the topic of environmental studies and science.
- Homework Resources
- Provides general research resources geared toward high school students.
- Homework Resources
- Provides interactive science exhibits and videos for students.
- Homework Resources
- Gale/Cengage Learning provides engaging resources to serve the needs of students, researchers and the general public.
- The interface allows you to search multiple Gale resources at once.
- Homework Resources
- Gale has integrated Literature Resources from Gale and Literature Criticism Online into a single research environment. You can research authors and their works, literary movements and genres. Search across your library's Literature databases to find full text of literary works, journal articles, literature criticism, reviews, biographical information and overviews.
- Literary Criticism
- Gale™ takes literature, history and culture to the next level with the largest, most extensive compilation of literary commentary available: Gale Literature: Criticism. Imagine centuries of analysis - the scholarly and popular commentary from broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopedias, books and periodicals - delivered in an easy-to-use 24/7 online format that matches the exact look and feel of the print originals.
- Literary Criticism
Gale Literature Scribner Writer Series
- Includes biographical and critical essays on the lives and works of more than 1,400 authors.
- Literary Criticism
Gale Literature Twayne's Author Series
- Contains text of Twayne's Literary Masters books on individual US, world, or English authors.
- Literary Criticism
https://ezproxy.nmls.lib.tx.us/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/displayallbooksforsubject?subject=literature&usergroupname=txshrpub100148&inps=true&prodid=gvrl Gale Literature e-Books
- Writers and their works from around the world. Includes all the For Students reference books plus American, British, African, European and Latin writers. Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias, specialized reference tools and informational resources that all ages can benefit from using. These reference materials once were accessible only in the library, but now you can access them online from the library or remotely from home or school 24/7.
- Literary Criticism
Gale Virtual Reference Tutorial
Gale OneFile Educator's Reference Complete
- Provides full text for titles in the ERIC database and covers multiple levels of education from preschool to college and every educational specialty https://library.garlandtx.gov/3439/education-test-prep
- Education and Test Prep
http://ezproxy.nmls.lib.tx.us/login?url=https://link.gale.com/apps/hrca?u=txshrpub100148 Gale OneFile Health and Medicine
- Multi-source database that provides access to the full text of nursing and allied health journals, plus a wide variety of personal health information sources. Integrates the full text and images of respected nursing, allied health and medical journals; consumer health magazines; newsletters; pamphlets; newspaper articles; topical interviews; and reference books.
- Health Resources
https://library.garlandtx.gov/3569/health-resources
Gale OneFile Nusing and Allied Health
- Provide access to authoritative content including full-text titles cited in CINAHL supporting specialized care, treatment, and patient management.
- Health Resources
Gale OneFile Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine
- Provides access to academic journals and magazines covering the fields of physical therapy, physical fitness, and sports medicine.
- Health Resources
- Provides access to authoritative periodical content supporting research in all fields of psychology.
- Health Resources
- Provides access to age appropriate, authoritative content geared toward middle school and high school students.
- Homework Resources
Gale OneFile Informe Academico
- Contains quality general reference resources for Spanish-speaking patrons.
- Recursos en Espanol
- Contains full-text news articles from 2,300 local, regional, and national newspapers.
- Newspapers and Magazines
Gale Presents: National Geographic Kids
- Contains full-text issues of National Geographic Kids in additional to information texts and features.
- Homework Resources
Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep
- (Formerly Testing & Education Reference Center) Prepare for standardized tests with eBooks, online courses, and full-length practice tests for GED, SAT, ACT, AP, PSAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, TOEFL, U.S. citizenship, and more in Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep.
- Education and Test Prep
Gale Presents: Udemy
Udemy offers thousands of high-quality, on-demand video courses taught by world-class instructors across 75 categories for upskilling in the areas of business, technology, and design. You can also achieve personal success with courses on health and well-being, the arts, language learning, and more.
Udemy’s platform offers the highest-quality content for the most in-demand skills. Users can select the instructor and content that best addresses their skills need and learning preferences and filter search results on course features, level, duration, topic, and ratings. Smart recommendations based on the learner’s previous in-app activities offer a personalized learning experience with suggested courses relevant to their interests.
Users can learn anywhere and anytime.
With an app for iOS and Android, users can download courses to watch offline, listen to courses with podcast-style audio, and watch courses using Chromecast or Apple TV.
Get the app: https://bnc.lt/get-ufb-app
Gale Virtual Reference Library
- Gale Virtual Reference Library, AKA Gale eBooks, is a database of encyclopedias, specialized reference tools and informational resources that all ages can benefit from using. These reference materials once were accessible only in the library, but now you can access them online from the library or remotely from home or school 24/7.
- Homework Resources
Gale Virtual Reference Tutorial
- Focuses on the relationship between human beings and the environment. Offers a unique perspective on the positive and negative ways humans affect the ecology. Includes scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports
- Homework Resources
- Online encyclopedia of Texas history, geography, and culture
- Genealogy and History
Health Reference Center Academic
- Multi-source database that provides access to the full text of nursing and allied health journals, plus a wide variety of personal health information sources. Integrates the full text and images of respected nursing, allied health and medical journals; consumer health magazines; newsletters; pamphlets; newspaper articles; topical interviews; and reference books.
- Health Resources
HelpNow - Live tutors for instant help with your homework!
- Live tutoring available 7 days a week from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. for all Library cardholders on a variety of subjects for all ages.
- Online Tutoring Resources
Brainfuse - Tutoria y Provechoso Recursos
- HeritageQuest Online is a comprehensive treasury of American genealogical sources—rich in unique primary sources, local and family histories, and finding aids. It delivers an essential collection of genealogical and historical sources—with coverage dating back to the 1700s—that can help people find their ancestors and discover a place’s past.
- Genealogy and History
HeritageQuest Online Video Tutorial
hoopla Digital is brought to you by Nicholson Memorial Library System. With your library card, you can borrow comics, music, movies, TV, and BingePasses for free - anytime, anywhere via hoopla’s mobile app or www.hoopladigital.com!
What do I need to sign up for hoopla?
To sign up, you'll need a valid Garland library card and your PIN, as well as a computer, smartphone or tablet. During registration, hoopla will ask you to enter an email address. This will be your username to log into our service. Now you are able to set a password for your account as well.
Are there any fees to use hoopla?
No, hoopla is a free service provided to library patrons by participating libraries.
What are borrows?
Borrows work like credits that allow you to enjoy content. Garland Library patrons are allotted 4 borrows each month. These borrows will reset every month and you can borrow more than one title at a time.
How long are titles available after borrowing?
Videos 2-3 Days
Music 7 Days
Comics 21 Days
What is a hoopla BingePass?
A hoopla BingePass makes it easy to stream collections of premium content with just one click. It’s the ultimate boredom buster — giving you unlimited access to stream interactive, educational, and engaging collections of content online. Whether you want to listen to a podcast, or dive into a new documentary, there’s a BingePass for you. Plus, it’s all for free with your public library membership. Once you make your selection, you will have access to your BingePass borrow for seven days. Some BingePass borrows let you explore content directly within a partner’s platform, while others give you access to whole collections right on hoopla.
What are Bonus Borrows?
For one month out of every quarter, Bonus Borrows content—which is free to your library and doesn’t count against patron borrow limits—is made available on hoopla. When Bonus Borrows are available, promotions and recommended titles for each format will appear on the home page. hoopla works closely with publishers to select titles for the program, with each BingePass period featuring fresh, quality content. When Bonus Borrows are not available, patrons can still take advantage of hoopla BingePass, which allows unlimited streaming of entire collections for seven days with just one borrow.
To provide the best experience your device will need to be running Android version 8.1 or higher, or for iOS, version 15 or higher. If you have an older OS, you will continue to be able to borrow and read content, but updating your device will ensure you receive best features, increasing stability and decrease issues.
- The LearningExpress Job & Career Accelerator gives job seekers of all ages, the most comprehensive collection of job and career resources anywhere—all in one place and always available online.
- Education and Test Prep Resources
JobNow - Live tutors for instant help with your job search!
- Career counseling, resume help, and interview help is available 7 days a week from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. for all Library card holders.
- Education and Test Prep Resources
- A diverse collection of eResources to help get that job, find a better job, or help you advance your skills. Resources include job search, resume tools, live tutoring, courses, test prep and carefully selected career and vocational eBooks.
- Education and Test Prep Resources
Kanopy streaming video offers instant 24/7 access to a wide selection of crowd-pleasing comedies, fun and entertaining documentaries, popular classic cinema, and family-friendly videos. Kanopy Kids streaming videos promote empathy, critical thinking, and help build STEM skills. Enjoy Kanopy’s carefully curated titles from Weston Woods, Sesame Street, Jim Henson Productions, Highlights for Children, Signed Stories, Vooks storybooks and more! All you need is your library card to view films on Kanopy!
Unlimited, all-you-can-watch access for Garland Library cardholders! Each card holder will need to use their individual email address. Users cannot have multiple cards under one email address.
- British Cinema & TV: A unique blend of intriguing mysteries, addictive dramas, and big-hearted comedies for Anglophiles who relish proper British movies and TV series.
- Favorites: Staff and patron picks featuring crowd pleasers and acclaimed actors. These dramas, comedies, thrillers, documentaries, and television series will please a range of audiences.
- Easy Watching: Crowd-pleasing comedies, fun and entertaining documentaries, popular classic cinema, and family-friendly films. These stories will entertain and charm.
- Diversity: A broad range of popular and compelling films and documentaries that focus on diverse stories and storytellers. These powerful titles broaden viewpoints and help enrich understanding.
- Kanopy Kids: Over 2,000 titles for kids and families, ranging from beloved characters like Paddington Bear, Madeline, Blippi, Sesame Street and PBS Kids, to read-along story books by Vooks, Highlights, and Signed Stories. Kanopy Kids is the safe, educational, and parent-trusted streaming platform with children at the center.
With Kanopy, users can enjoy films on all their favorite devices—from desktop computers to mobile devices and Smart TVs, including Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, and more.
Kanopy Website Features https://help.kanopy.com/en-us/4168.htm
TV & Mobile Apps https://help.kanopy.com/en-us/categories/mobile-tv-apps.htm
Kanopy Help https://help.kanopy.com/en-us/home.htm
What are "play credits"? Kanopy offers several different subscription models for libraries and you may see reference to play credits in the help menus. We did not subscribe to the model that uses those. The packages we subscribed to have unlimited viewing by our cardholders.
- LearningExpress Library features nearly 1,000 online tutorials, practice tests, and eBooks to help patrons of all ages. It offers job search and workplace skills improvement, skill building in reading, writing, math, and basic science, career certification and licensure exam prep, college and grad school entrance test prep, GED® test prep, and more.
- Online Tutoring
- Downloadable Texas and U.S. legal forms
- Business and Legal Resources
Gale Legal Forms Video Tutorial
- Sign up to get email or text message alerts when your items are due and when your holds are ready for pick up.
- Ability to manage multiple cards from any participating library in one account.
- Imagine centuries of analysis - the scholarly and popular commentary from broadsheets, pamphlets, encyclopedias, books and periodicals - delivered in an easy-to-use 24/7 online format that matches the exact look and feel of the print originals.
- Literary Criticism
- Unlimited access to over 3,000 titles, including top titles like US Weekly, National Geographic, Good Housekeeping, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Cook's Illustrated, and more.
- Digital magazines have no wait lists or holds and do not count towards your 10 checkout limit.
- The magazines can best be accessed through the Libby app or Libby app in a browser. Readers can browse lists of magazines within the app and search to find available titles.
- Newspaper and Magazines
- PhD-created and linguist-approved software teaches real conversations in over 70 languages and makes it fun. You will build language proficiency and cultural understanding around real-world communication skills that you'll actually need. With Mango, you'll learn vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and culture all in one integrated experience.
- Online Tutoring
Morningstar Investment Research Center
- Morningstar Investment Research Center is an easy to navigate database that is designed to help library patrons reach their investment goals. It’s the one-stop tool for collecting financial information, getting reliable portfolio analysis, learning about investment options, and getting the most up-to-date financial news commentary.
- Business and Legal, Finance and Investment
Morningstar Investment Reports Video Tutorial
- NoveList Plus is a database of fiction and nonfiction titles, authors, and series plus additional content that provides readers with the best possible information to help connect to books and audiobooks. NoveList Plus also offers a wide range of content created by librarians and expert educational specialists to expand information for fiction readers.
- Literary Criticism
- Easily accessible and content-rich discussions of the literary and historical background of works from various cultures and time periods.
- Literary Criticism
Opposing Viewpoints in Context
- Opposing Viewpoints In Context features continuously updated viewpoints, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience. This cross-curricular research database supports science, social studies, current events, and language arts classes. Informed, differing views help learners develop critical-thinking skills and draw their own conclusions.
- Homework Resources
OverDrive Digital Library
Downloadable audiobooks, eBooks, magazines and streaming videos for Garland Library cardholders
- Listen to MP3 audiobooks
- Read eBook, PDF, Kindle and/or graphic novels
- Read magazines
- Watch streaming videos
- Audiobooks and eBooks can be used on a PC, Mac, tablet or smartphone
- Videos can be watched in the Libby app or in your browser
- Libby app is available for iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile
Libby - the OverDrive app!
Meet Libby
Libby Instructions (313 KB)
Libby app in a browser
Instructions for downloading outside the app:
Downloading audio books to your computer (PDF 238 KB)
Downloading to Kindle or Kindle App (PDF 96 KB)
OverDrive Help & Support links:
OverDrive Help - Search for answers and/or watch how-to videos
Libby Help - Learn about Libby and how it works
Device Resource Center - A snapshot of how popular devices can be used with OverDrive
OverDrive status - A site for determining if OverDrive is experiencing performance issues
Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep
- Prepare for standardized tests with eBooks, online courses, and full-length practice tests for GED, SAT, ACT, AP, PSAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, TOEFL, U.S. citizenship, and more. Research undergraduate and graduate programs, finding tuition assistance, and exploring and preparing for careers whether you’re entering the workforce for the first time or searching for new opportunities.
- Education and Test Prep
- A quick but information-rich reference source, each volume of Poetry for Students provides analysis of approximately 15-16 poems that teachers and librarians have identified as the most frequently studied in literature courses.
- Literary Criticism
PressReader Newspapers and Magazines
- Access thousands of newspapers every day, along with 90 days of back issues from national, provincial, and global leading publications. Check out and access all the newspapers in an easy-to-read page view or text view format. Search articles and publications and set preferences for your daily newspapers. Dallas Morning News is available.
- Newspapers and Magazines
- A comprehensive, cross-curricular database featuring current, relevant, organized, and easy-to-read information for the middle school audience.
- Homework Resources
- Quickfact manuals and Photofact® manuals containing reliable, consistent repair data, schematics and other service guidelines. The gold standard in the repair industry for TVs, VCRs, Radios, etc.
- Do It Yourself
- Gale's Science in Context is an engaging online experience for those seeking contextual information on hundreds of today's most significant science topics.
- Homework Resources
- ProQuest's SciTech Premium Collection includes the Natural Science Collection and the Technology Collection and provides full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications, and more.
- Homework Resources
- Each biannual volume presents vital information on approximately 20 of the most-studied short stories at the high school and early-college levels.
- Literary Criticism
Something About the Author Online
- An award-winning reference series started in 1971, Something About the Author examines the lives and works of authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults. It includes not only well-known writers and artists but also less prominent individuals whose works are just coming to be recognized and is often the only readily available source on emerging authors and illustrators.
- Literary Criticism
- TeachingBooks.net is an easy-to-use website that adds a multimedia dimension to the reading experiences of children’s and young adult books. It includes thousands of resources about fiction and nonfiction books used in the K–12 environment, with every resource selected to encourage the integration of multimedia author and book materials into reading and library activities. It is everything but the book!
- Education and Test Prep
- Index of over 260 titles from the most popular teacher and administrator trade journals, periodicals, and books
- Education and Test Prep
- Provide digital access to more than 660,000 large-scale maps of over 12,000 American towns and cities.
- Homework Resources
- Many of the major themes of 20th century writing -- nationality, politics, war, sexuality, religion and gender -- can be understood anew through this vast and representative collection. The Imagists, Beat Poets, Harlem Renaissance, Black Mountain and Deep Image schools are all featured
- Literary Criticism
- Universal Class brings libraries lifelong learning courses in over 30 subject areas, many of which offer continuing education units (CEUs). More than 500 courses are available, and all are designed and led by professional instructors to build deeper understanding and mastery of subject matter. Universal Class includes videos, assignments, quizzes, tests, and options for social media interaction with other learners. Patrons may take multiple classes and learn at their own pace.
- Online Tutoring
- Accurate and insightful investment research on companies, industries, markets and economies for beginning investors and veterans alike.
- Finance and Investment
Value Line Research Center Tutorial
- VetNow supports your community’s veterans and their families with navigating the VA bureaucracy, providing academic tutoring, and employment transition assistance.
- Online Tutoring
- Wowbrary is an e-newsletter that showcases the Garland Library’s newest books, DVDs, audiobook CDs and online magazines in a very user-friendly weekly email. Each title includes cover images, descriptions, previews, user reviews, ratings, and sales ranks gathered from publishers, libraries, Baker & Taylor, Amazon, and Goodreads.
- Sign up for Wowbrary
- Read the current newsletter
- The world's most comprehensive bibliography, with more than 86 million bibliographic records and nearly 1.2 billion holdings representing the collections of more than 10,000 libraries, over 400 languages, and all types of materials ranging from stone tablets to electronic books.