If you need information now, and you can’t make it into the library, you can still use the Huntley Library’s online resources to find what you need. With your Huntley Area Public Library card, you can login to these resources, anytime, anywhere! Click on the buttons below to get started…

Did you know? The library’s catalog is online! If you want to find out if we have the books, music, movies, magazines, or computer software you’re looking for, you can check our online catalog. You can also search the catalogs of other libraries in our library system – individually or all at the same time!

If you can’t find what you’re looking for in our library or library system, you can search the catalogs of libraries outside of our system using WorldCat. WorldCat is just one of the databases offered through FirstSearch (see below). In order to access WorldCat outside of the library, you will need to have a valid library card from the Huntley Area Public Library. Have your card handy, then call (or stop by) the library during business hours to get the login and password from the Information Desk (847-669-5386, ext. 21). Once you have the login and password access WorldCat by logging in to FirstSearch and select “WorldCat” as the topic/database you want to search.

A note about borrowing items in WorldCat:
If you find something in WorldCat that you’d like to borrow, contact Reference staff (it is helpful to have the title, author, ISBN or other information about the item – you can even print out the information directly from WorldCat and bring it to the Information Desk). Often, materials can be transferred from other libraries in Illinois to the Huntley Area Public Library through “interlibrary loan.” Sometimes the library even gets books from libraries in other states! Because items may be coming from far away, it can take a week or longer to have them transferred to the Huntley Library – if you are working on an assignment, plan accordingly, so that you have enough time to receive and use your items! You may borrow up to 10* items at a time through interlibrary loan. Call the library's Information Desk for more information.

*This number includes loan requests that are pending as well as items that are already checked out to you.

General encyclopedias are a good place to start looking for basic information about most topics. If you don’t know much about your research topic, you can quickly learn the facts from an encyclopedia. Then, you can then look for more in-depth information in other places.

In addition to encyclopedias, the library has a “reference” collection that includes books on all kinds of different subjects. These books often have more specific information about topics than you’ll find in general encyclopedias. The GVRL (Gale Virtual Reference Library) is a collection of 330 online reference books, and it includes books on a variety of subjects, such as art, business, education, environment, history, law, literature, medicine, religion, science, and social science. You can search in a particular book, or search the whole collection for information on your topic. This is actually much faster than looking through the physical reference collection in the library! To access Gale Virtual Reference Library from outside the library, enter your library card number at the login screen.

If you need current information, or if there are no books available on your topic, you can search for recent magazine or journal articles (you might need to include these anyway if your teacher or professor requires articles for an assignment). Use Masterfile Premier to search for articles by subject or keyword, or search a particular publication for information on your topic in hundreds of full-text magazines and journals. You can print or email any full-text article or list of citations. Masterfile Premier also includes abstracts – summaries – of articles. If the article you want to read is not available in full-text through Masterfile Premier, the library may be able to order it from another library through interlibrary loan. Contact the library's Information Desk to learn more. To access Masterfile Premier outside the library, enter your library card number at the login screen.

If you need scholarly articles*, you can search for them in FirstSearch. FirstSearch offers access to hundreds of scholarly publications through 14 different databases – including ERIC and MEDLINE (you can search up to 3 of these databases at a time), but it has fewer full-text articles than Masterfile Premier. To learn more about the different databases or to view a complete list, choose "List All" from the left-hand side of the FirstSearch home screen. As with Masterfile Premier, you can print or email any full-text article or list of citations. If the article you want to read is not available in full-text through FirstSearch, the library may be able to order it from another library through interlibrary loan. Call the library's Information Desk if you need assistance. In order to access FirstSearch outside of the library, you will need to have a valid library card from the Huntley Area Public Library. Have your card handy, then call (or stop by) the library during business hours to get the login and password from the Information Desk (847-669-5386, ext. 21).

*These are articles that are written by researchers or people working in the fields about which they are writing that are published in professional ‘journals’ and are reviewed by other researchers/professionals.

NewsBank is a resource that helps you find newspaper articles on your topic. By searching NewsBank, you can find articles published in local and regional newspapers as well as national papers, like the New York Times. To sign in to NewsBank from outside the library, you will need to enter the number (without any spaces) on the back of your library card at the login page.

Biography in Context has biographical information on over 320,000 famous (and infamous) people including celebrities, authors, historical, international, political, and scholarly persons. This is a great place to start looking for information for reports or papers. Articles come from digitized reference resources, and often list other sources (books, articles, websites) you can use to find more information about your person (or people).

If you need information about your ancestors and/or the places they came from, you can search for it on HeritageQuest. HeritageQuest allows you to access census data, Revolutionary War records, digitized genealogy books, PERSI (Periodical Source Index – a subject index for genealogy and local history periodicals past and present), and other resources. To access HeritageQuest outside the library you will need to have a valid library card from the Huntley Area Public Library. Have your card handy, then call (or stop by) the library during business hours to get the login and password from the Information Desk (847-669-5386, ext. 21).

This popular genealogy research tool includes census data, military records, court, land and probate records, vital and church records, directories, ship passenger lists and more! There are more than 1.5 billion names, over 4,000 databases, and its collections continue to expand. Ancestry (Library Edition) can only be used at the library.

You can find full-text obituaries of relatives, ancestors, or other people, using America’s Obituaries and Death Notices. Search by name, date range, location, or text (location, activities, memberships, and more). To access this resource outside the library, enter the number (without any spaces) on the back of your library card at the login page.

For local history research you can search the Illinois Digital Archives, which is a repository of digitized resources from communities throughout Illinois. Collections are contributed by libraries, historical societies, museums, and other cultural venues in Illinois. For information specific to Huntley, you can access the Huntley Farmside, a local newspaper collection (added by the Huntley Area Public Library), which dates back to 1960.