This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Patch Blog: Monrovia Library's Invisible Collection

Monrovia Library's collection goes just beyond books and magazines. In fact, you can access more information than the library itself can hold from the comfort of your own home.

Sometimes getting to the library isn’t always as easy at it should be.

Between working full-time, going to school full-time, and negotiating a busy social calender of two children, it can be tough to make it into the library during their arcane schedule (Mon-Wed: 10am-8pm, Thurs-Sat: 12pm-5pm).

However, your library card isn’t only good during opening hours. On the contrary. Your library card gives you access to a variety of resources available 24/7.

These resources take the shape of databases that mere mortals simply cannot access with any old Internet connection. These are subscription based databases and services that contain information and search tools that would make your Google search fall flat on its face.

Find out what's happening in Monroviawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That is because these databases are a part of what is known as the Invisible Web (aka Deep Web, Deepnet or Undernet). That is, the part of the Internet that your regular old search engine (Google, Yahoo!, AOL, etc.) cannot touch. Think of it like being able to go to the supermarket versus those who can get into Costco. It’s not that hard to get in, but it does cost and the offerings can be unlike anything you can find anywhere else.

By visiting the Monrovia Public Library website, library card in hand, scroll down to the bottom of the page. There you will find about a dozen resources. Two of my favorites include:

- Encyclopædia Britannica Public Library Edition. While Wikipedia is a great research tool and has settled more than a few bets, students and teachers would often times do better not to rely on it as an authoritative source for information.

Find out what's happening in Monroviawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Britannica has been in the encyclopedia business for almost 250 years. Their World Atlas, Gateway to the Classics, World Data Analyst and Biographies represent a body of information that dwarfs even their print edition. For anyone who loves flipping through encyclopedias, the Encyclopædia Britannica Public Library Edition will give you more to chew on than you thought possible.


- Chilton. The popular do-It-Yourself automotive repair guides for almost every year, make and model of car around are available for free when you log in through the MPL website. I not only learned how to properly replace my wife’s headlight for her Honda Pilot, but I was also able to see that paying a professional to replace her cabin air-filter was worth the money. I never was much of a gear-head.

Monrovia Library also hosts access to a number of other invaluable databases, including all of the back issues of Monrovia Weekly, Hoover’s, which is a business profile database. as well as the Gold edition of Gale Reference Center.

Granted, Monrovia Public Library’s offerings of databases is small compared to other libraries. Los Angeles Public Library hosts several dozen. However, the more people start to using these resources, the more Monrovia Public Library would likely be inclined to expand their offerings. So, the next time you find that the library is closed, curl up with your library card and check out some of the invisible collection.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?