Student Resources

Access Ancestry.com (In-library Access Only)

Discover your family's story. Research your genealogy through censuses, vital records, immigration records, family histories, military records, court and legal documents, directories, photos, maps, and more. Genealogical information and records from North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and more.

In-library access only. 

Access Anne T. Kent California Room Digital Archive

Explore local history materials from the Anne T. Kent California Room collection, including photographs, oral histories and articles from historic Marin County newspapers. 

More information about the Anne T. Kent California Room.

Access Book Connections

A collection of instructional materials about children’s and young adult books and authors, including booklists, meet-the-author videos, and many other author and book resources.

Access provided courtesy of the California State Library.

Access Britannica Escolar

Escolar is the leading knowledge-building resource that is universally trusted for accurate and age-appropriate content in Spanish.

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access Britannica School Edition

Britannica School is the go-to site for learning more about any subject—for all grades and all reading abilities—offering thousands of up-to-date, curated, and curriculum-relevant articles, images, videos, audio clips, primary sources, maps, research tools, recommended Web sites, and three separate databases—Elementary, Middle, or High.

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access California Digital Newspaper Collection

Access full image scans of selected historical California newspapers from 1846 to the present, including the first California newspaper, the Californian, and the first daily California newspaper, the Daily Alta California.

Marin County newspapers available on the CDNC include:

• Marin Journal (San Rafael, 1861-1922), opens a new window
• Marin County Tocsin (San Rafael, 1861-1918), opens a new window
• Mill Valley Independent (1908-1910), opens a new window
• Mill Valley Record (1907-1963), opens a new window
• San Anselmo Herald (San Anselmo, 1912-1946), opens a new window
• Sausalito Marin Scope (Sausalito, 1971-2019), opens a new window
• Sausalito News (Sausalito, 1885-1966), opens a new window
• Tamalpais News (1919-2020), opens a new window

See a full list of digitized newspapers, opens a new window available on the CDNC

Visit our High School Diplomas Online page

Marin County Free Library now offers adults the opportunity to earn an accredited high school diploma and a career certificate through Career Online High School.

The Library is offering a limited number of free scholarships to qualified adults.

Learn more about the program on our High School Diplomas Online page.

Coursera offers free online courses, many of them led by top colleges or companies like Google. Learners can access all course materials, gain skills to advance or switch careers, and earn certificates of completion or degrees.

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Note: Access to Coursera ended on September 14, 2024. This is because the California State Library, which provides this resource to public libraries, has ended its partnership with Coursera. 

Access CultureGrams

Concise cultural information on countries around the world. (Grades 3-12)

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access Gale In Context: Environmental Studies

Understand environmental issues that affect people globally through topic overviews, journals, news, and multimedia content.

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access Gale Interactive: Science

Manipulate 3D interactive models to visualize and understand concepts in biology, chemistry, earth, and space science.

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access Gale Presents: National Geographic Kids

Explore amazing adventures in science, nature, culture, archaeology, and space. Best for children aged 6–14.

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access HelpNow! Homework Help

Get live online homework help 24/7 from an expert tutor in math, reading and writing (language arts). For all other subjects, tutors are available from 10 am to 10 pm. Bilingual tutors in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog, and Vietnamese are available for students of all ages. Includes a writing lab, test center, live skill building, foreign language lab and adult learning center. Also offers live assistance for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access Kanopy

Watch streaming movies from Kanopy, featuring classic and world cinema, indie films and top documentaries. The Great Courses, opens a new window are also available on Kanopy. 

Check out Kanopy Kids, opens a new window for movies, TV and learning videos for kids.

Availability: Depending on your residence address, you may need to access Kanopy using the link from a different library, or your library may not have access. Learn more.

This suite of highly-acclaimed eLearning solutions provides interactive tutorials, practice tests, e-books, flashcards and articles for academic skill-building, standardized test preparation, career development and more. Designed to help students and professionals achieve their educational and career goals.

Note: Access to LearningExpress ended on September 30, 2024. This is because the California State Library, which provides this resource to public libraries, has ended its partnership with LearningExpress. 

Achieve personal and professional goals with online learning courses that cover business, software, photography, design, marketing, technology and creative skills in videos taught by experts. Classes available for beginners, intermediate and advanced users.

Availability: Depending on your residence address, you may need to access LinkedIn Learning using the link from a different library. Learn more.

Note: Access to LinkedIn Learning ended on September 30, 2024. This is because the California State Library, which provides this resource to public libraries, has ended its partnership with LinkedIn Learning. 

Access Mango Languages

Online language learning program in a variety of languages, focusing on everyday conversational skills. Also includes English as a second language (ESL).

Northstar Digital Literacy defines basic skills needed to perform tasks on computers and online. Northstar was developed in response to the needs of job seekers who may lack the digital literacy skills needed to seek, obtain, and retain employment, as well as to perform other tasks in daily life.

Note: Access to Northstar Digital Literacy ended on September 30, 2024. This is because the California State Library, which provides this resource to public libraries, has ended its partnership with Northstar Digital Literacy. 

Access O’Reilly Learning

Online books and videos on technology, digital media, and business. Free access to 35K+ books, 30K+ hours of video, curated learning paths, case studies, interactive tutorials, audio books, and O’Reilly conference videos!

Access ProQuest Academic

Combination of several databases with over 20,000 publications that range from scholarly journals to popular magazines.  Databases include the Coronavirus Research Database, eBook Central, eLibrary, Global Newsstream, LA Times, Publicly Available Content Database, SIRS Discoverer and SIRS Issues Researcher.

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access Reference eLibrary

General reference collection of periodical and digital media content with editorial guidance for novice researchers. Includes newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, books, videos and audios, dissertations and theses, reports, blogs, and much more. (Grades 6+)

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access School & Educators Complete

Collection of over 12,000 eBooks supporting multiple subject areas (English Language Arts, Science, Math, Social Studies, Health, Physical Education, Information Literacy and Technology). (Grades 9+, possibly some content for Middle School, also includes professional development content for faculty)

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access SIRS Discoverer

Selected content for beginning researchers, especially elementary and middle school students and educators. (Grades 3-9)

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

Access SIRS Issue Researcher

Curriculum-aligned database of content organized by complex issues, ideally for middle and high school students and educators. (Grades 6+)

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.