Student Services

Somerset County Public Schools and the Maryland MDk12 Digital Library provides the following online databases to the students and staff in our school system. These databases are available 24/7 through access from both school and home. Click on the link below from school and you will have immediate access to the information. Access from home requires a username and password which can be requested from your school media staff.

SIRS Discoverer - SIRS Discoverer® is an award-winning general reference database for students in grades 1 to 9. It includes full-text articles and images from over 1,600 domestic and international newspapers, magazines, and government documents.

SIRS Researcher - SIRS Researcher® is a general reference database containing thousands of full-text articles exploring social, scientific, health, historic, business, economic, political, and global issues. Articles and graphics are carefully selected from 1,600 domestic and international publications according to strict criteria with regard to content relevance, reliability, and age appropriateness. SIRS Researcher® is a highly-acclaimed general reference database containing thousands of full-text articles exploring social, scientific, health, historic, business, economic, political, and global issues. Articles and graphics are carefully selected from 1,600 domestic and international publications according to strict criteria with regard to content relevance, reliability, and age appropriateness.

CultureGrams - (For secondary schools) CultureGrams offers concise, reliable, and up-to-date information on the cultures of the world. We go beyond mere facts and figures to offer an insider's perspective on daily life and culture, including the history, customs, and lifestyles of the world's people. CultureGrams Online includes World Edition (182 country reports), Kids Edition (66 country reports), and States Edition (50 states and District of Columbia)--plus a photo and recipe collections, biographies of famous people, customizable and extremes data tables, maps, and more!

ProQuest Learning: Literature - (For secondary schools) A comprehensive resource including 3,000+ author biographies; 40 searchable full-text literature journals; full-text literary works; and other key criticism and reference sources.

Thompson Gale's Science Resource Center - (Secondary) This is an in depth, curriculum oriented science database that provides a one-stop resource for all science related research needs. This 24/7 resource reflects curriculum trends and focuses on key concepts taught in school classrooms.

Newspaper Archives - Newspaper ARCHIVE.com is giving public libraries and K-12 schools free access to tens of millions of newspaper pages in its historical newspaper database. This new program, called Access Newspaper ARCHIVE, will allow students and library patrons to view, save and print full-page newspapers from around the world dating from 1759 to 1977.

Groliers New Book of Knowledge - (Elementary) Reference and current events for elementary readers.