Research Help
Our reference librarians are available to assist you in person, over the phone (201) 939-8600 ext. 7, or by email ruthref@bccls.org.
Check out these resources that are available at the library and from your work, school, or home computers with Internet access:
Library Catalog
Materials available in the catalog include books, videos, DVDs, CDs, audio books, software, and more. The online catalog will show availability and library locations. You may search by author, title, or keyword. You may request materials from other BCCLS libraries through the website using your library card.
Databases
MAGAZINES: Full-text articles are available from over 1,000 magazines and may be accessed and printed at home or at the library.
NEWSPAPERS: Full-text articles are available from many newspapers including The New York Times, The Star-Ledger, the Bergen Record, and The Wall Street Journal.
Note: The Historical New York Times archive (1851 – 2004) features a digitized version of the
newspaper which must be searched separately from the other databases. Choose "ProQuest" from
the main menu, click on "Databases Selected," click on "clear all databases" and then scroll down
to the bottom to select ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2004).
More Databases: JerseyClicks
JerseyClicks is New Jersey's statewide portal that features federated searching of the statewide full-text databases offered by the New Jersey State Library, the New Jersey Network, and funds from the Library Services and Technology Act.
Genealogy Databases
The Library now offers you access to Ancestry and Heritage Quest Databases.
NEW: TheStreet.com Ratings
The Library now offers you access to TheStreet.com. This ratings tool is an independent and unbiased source of accurate ratings to help consumers make sound, informed financial decisions. TheStreet.com rating products are designed to direct consumers and business professionals toward safe investment and insurance options.
Every quarter, TheStreet.com evaluates the financial strength of more than 13,000 institutions, including life, health, and annuity insurers, property and casualty insurers, HMOs, Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, banks, and savings and loans. In addition, it tracks the risk-adjusted performance of over 16,000 mutual funds and more than 6,000 stocks.
A Rutherford Public Library card is required to use TheStreet.com ratings from your home, work, or school computer.
USE THIS LINK to access TheStreet.com without a library card if you are inside the Rutherford Public Library.
Q andA NJ
Got questions keeping you up at night? Q and A NJ is designed to provide fast answers to your questions, 24 hours a day, using information found on the Internet and in proprietary databases funded by libraries. In most cases, Q and A NJ Librarians will provide an answer online in 15 minutes or less! If your question involves lengthy research, the librarians at Q and A NJ will get you started and/or provide a referral for you or your question.
JerseyCat
JerseyCat is New Jersey's statewide virtual catalog and interlibrary loan system. It is provided to all libraries within the State of New Jersey by the New Jersey State Library and the Regional Library Coopertives. There is no charge to the local library for the service. It provides all New Jersey residents and library staff with real-time searching capabilities for New Jersey's Z39.50 compliant library catalogs. It also includes a union catalog of holdings from the small to medium libraries that are under 100,00 volumes. Periodical titles can be searched for in the NJ Union List of Serials. It also provides New Jersey residents and library staff with an interlibrary loan system that they can use from their home, school, or office via the World Wide Web.
NJ Digital Highway
The New Jersey Digital Highway is your "one stop shop" for New Jersey history and culture, from the collections of NJ libraries, museums, archives and historical societies.
New Jersey Knowledge Initiative
The Knowledge Initiative (KI) provides New Jersey’s entrepreneurs, small business owners, researchers and students with access to information resources for the 21st Century through statewide web access to high-end Science, Technology, Medical and Business Databases. As of Feb. 28, 2008, the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative was shutdown
due to funding cuts. The Governor's budget for FY09 does currently call
for a $2 million allotment for NJKI to start July 1, 2008.
WEB RESOURCES
Internet Public Library
The IPL is a virtual library on your desktop created and managed by librarians dedicated to serving the public by "finding, evaluating, selecting, organizing, describing, and creating quality information resources." A first-class site.
Refdesk.com
Exceedingly comprehensive and easy to use, this catalog of Web resources has it all.
Bartelby.com
Bartleby combines encyclopedias, thesauri, quotations, and English usage guides for one stop searching.
The BCCLS website provides a portal to a broad selection of information available on the Internet.