Homework Help
One-on-one homework help and tutoring
HelpNow! offers one-on-one homework help with expert tutors and a 24-hour writing lab to HCPL library card holders. Tutors are available Monday-Sunday 2:00 P.M.-11:55 Eastern Standard Time.
Ask questions and get help in finding information
Maryland AskUsNow! is a 24/7 live online interactive service for the residents and students of the state of Maryland. Questions from outside of the state that are about Maryland are also accepted. It uses the expertise of trained librarians to provide answers to questions, research guidance, and help navigating the Internet. All you have to do is log in with your question and you’ll be connected with a librarian who can help you. It's that easy!
Access educational videos and practice exercises
Khan Academy
With a library of over 2,400 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 125 practice exercises, we’re on a mission to help you learn whatever you want, whenever you want, at your own pace.
Online Encyclopedias and General Research
World Book
World Book Online is a premier online reference source. With thousands of articles, state-of-the-art multimedia, editor-reviews websites, periodical content, and more!
Discovering Collection
Aimed at middle school and high school students, Gale Discovering Collection has all of the award-winning resources that you’ve come to expect from Gale¨, including content based on national curriculum standards in major subject areas such as history, literature, science and social studies. It also comes with the ability to quickly and easily find relevant search results across all Gale online products in one seamless search.
Student Research Center
Student Research Center makes it easy for students to search by keyword or by topic to find the most useful search results. Results can be easily sorted by source typeÑmagazines, reference books, photos, flags, etc.
Student Resources in Context
Aimed at middle school and high school students, Gale Student Resources in Context includes content based on national curriculum standards in major subject areas such as history, literature, science and social studies.
Virtual Reference Library
Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. These reference materials once were accessible only in the library, but now you can access them online from the library or remotely 24/7.
Special Subject Online Resources
America the Beautiful Online
Find demographic information on states, capitals, and major cities, as well as complete and current geographical, historical, and cultural information about the United States and its territories.
Biography in Context
Find biographical information on more than 180,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines.
Grzimek’s Animal Life
An encyclopedia that covers more than 4,000 species, with information on evolution, habitat and behavior and includes photos, maps, videos and audio tracks. Also included is information on endangered species, biomes and prehistoric animals.
Lands and Peoples Online
Find an interactive and continually updated encyclopedia of geography, countries, cultures and current events for students in elementary and middle school.
Literature Resource Center
Find biographical information on authors and their work as well as literary criticism, and plot summaries The Literature Resource Center covers American, English, and world authors.
New Book of Popular Science Online
Find an online science encyclopedia for grade school and up. New Book of Popular Science includes science challenge games, science in the news, science experiments and much more.
Points of View Reference Center
The Points of View Reference Center aids older students in understanding the full scope of controversial subjects and is a guide to debate, developing arguments, writing position papers, and for developing critical thinking skills.
Science in Context
This database contains full text for nearly 640 science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, etc. covering the full range of science topics.
Science Reference Center
Science Reference Center is a comprehensive research database that provides easy access to a multitude of full text science-oriented content.
Entire list of premium online resources, arranged alphabetically
Online Research by Subject
Connect to special online reference and free websites selected by the library.
Animals & Plants & Biology-Life Sciences
Art & Music
Biography
Environment, Earth Science, & Space Science
Geography & Culture
Government
Health
History
Language Arts
Maryland
Math
Science Experiments & Physical Sciences
For more free resources, see Great Websites for Kids, a “mega-site” with hundreds of websites recommended by the American Library Association, Association for Library Service to Children.
Middle and High School students may also want to check out our online resource guides.
