The Free Library at Your Fingertipsor

How to Access Millions of Resources that Can Help You Find Data, Conduct Policy Research,

and Get All your Questions Answered

October 11, 2012

How to Access Library ResourcesOur staff is trained to find answers

to your questions and needs, whether in person or online.

The Free Library at Your Fingertips

Our Staff

• Parkway Central alone has over 60 professionally trained librarians—all with Masters Degrees in Library Science.

• We have decades of experience delivering reference services.

• We have specialists in subjects from A to Z.

Connect with Us In Person

Parkway Central 1901 Vine Street

There are 54 branches citywide, including three larger regional libraries and the Library for the Blind and

Physically Handicapped.

Connect with Us In PersonParkway Central 1901 Vine Street

Connect with Us Online

www.freelibrary.org

Connect with Us Online

www.freelibrary.org

Connect with Us Online

Trained staff will reply to your email inquiries.

Connect with Us 24/7

Librarians across the state, throughout the US and overseas are available to answer questions 24 hours a day.

If your question is not Philadelphia-specific, you will be connected with an expert from around the globe.

Connect with Us 24/7

Connect with Us on Your Cell

Texting is great for asking quick, simple questions that can be answered in short responses.

Add the Free Library to your address book right now!

Text Us

• Start a new text message to 66746• Type askfree• Now save 66746 to your contacts as askfree

More Treasures Revealed

• Podcasts: Subscribe via iTunes or RSS feed to hear great author events.

• Digital Collections: We have over 20,000 digitized images.

Electronic Resources100+ databases at the click of a mouse

The Free Library at Your Fingertips

Featured Resources

What if you could…• Create a demographic report to show age,

gender, race, home ownership rate, or economic information?

Access Business Decision from the database link on

our home page!

Featured Resources

What if you could…• Create a list of all restaurants in the city or a

given zip code? All the manufacturers? All the businesses with over 50 employees? All the new businesses started in the past 6 months?

Access ReferenceUSA from the database link on our

home page!

Featured Resources

What if you could…• Quickly synthesize complex and controversial topics

by bringing together news, opinion, multimedia, and analysis in one easy search?

Access Opposing Viewpoints in Context from the

database link on our home page!

By Patrick Basham: Cato Institute, Democracy Institute

By Lenny Berstein, fitness columnist Washington Post

By Dominic Lawson, journalist, the Independent and the Sunday Times

Featured Resources

What if you could…• Delve more deeply into your research?

Access General Reference Center Gold from the

database link on our home page!

legislation

Map Collection

Looking back to move forward

The Free Library at Your Fingertips

1921

1931

1888

1917

2006

More sinking homes?

1910

1894

1889

2005

1950

THE FOUNDATION CENTER

Strengthens the social sector by advancingknowledge about philanthropy in the U.S. and

around the world.

The Free Library at Your Fingertips

REGIONAL FOUNDATION CENTER

• Created in the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Social Science & History Department in 1974.

• One of 450 Foundation Center Cooperating Collections in the U.S.

• Designated as a “Super Center,” RFC is the largest Cooperating Collection in Pennsylvania.

MISSION OF THE REGIONAL FOUNDATION CENTER

Informs the nonprofit community and the general public through their services, their staff,

and their resources.

FREE SERVICES• Research assistance by professional librarians• Free database searches on foundations and

their grants• Training Tuesday events – free access• 7-Day Loan books

RFC PRINT RESOURCES30 Subscriptions to Serial Publications:

Chronicle of Philanthropy, Nonprofit Times, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Nonprofit World, Grass Roots Fundraising Journal, Successful Fundraising, Trusts & Estates

800 Reference Books• 600 available for in-library research use.• 200 copies of high-demand, 7-Day Loan titles

GRANTS/FUNDRAISING DATABASES• Foundation Directory Online, Professional• Grants to Individuals Online• GrantSelect• GuideStar Premium• Pennsylvania Foundations Online• Philanthropy In/Sight• WealthEngine

FOUNDATION DIRECTORY ONLINEProvides access to 80,000 grantmakers and over half a million grants.

Results: 19; Grantmaker County: Philadelphia; Fields of Interest: youth, services; Geographic Focus: Pennsylvania

PHILANTHROPY IN/SIGHTAn interactive mapping tool combining data on grantmakers andtheir grants with Google maps to reveal patterns of giving andfunding relationships.

Subjects: Children/youth; Grant Years: 2012; Grantmakers: 17;Recipients: 64; Grants: 76

PENNSYLVANIA FOUNDATIONS ONLINE

Zip: 19103; Major Interest Codes: 12 (Child & Family Welfare) and13 (Youth); Assets from: $1 to $199,000

RFC INFORUMThe Inforum is RFC’s electronic newsletter

alerting patrons to trainings, resources, and notable social sector news.

Government PublicationsResearching “obesity and sugary drinks”

The Free Library at Your Fingertips

Archive It• Started in May 2010• Phila.gov• + 47 other sites• Crawl every two

months

Newspaper Databases

Summing Up• City Government and Cultural Institutions – Archive-It• Local and State Issues – Newspaper Databases• Background on Issues – CQ Researcher• Federal – ProQuest Congressional (available at any FLP

branch)

Thank you for joining us!

Q&A

The Free Library at Your Fingertips