Virtual Libraries
by Marsha Fuller, Regional Public Relations Coordinator
for the Western Maryland Regional Library

Libraries aren’t just about books anymore. With public libraries across the country providing free online subscription databases, the public now has access to reliable information - anytime, anywhere. With all the information on the Internet, why do libraries pay subscription fees for professionally maintained databases? The reason is that there are no regulations regarding what is published on the Internet - false and inaccurate information abounds - however, using only your library card number for access, you can find:

• Full-text articles from national newspapers, magazines, TV, and public radio news
• Auto repair manuals with automobile wiring diagrams, repair procedures, and service bulletins 
• Literature - reader’s advisory, biographies, bibliographies, and literary criticism
  Antiques Reference – information and prices on antiques, artwork, and family treasures
• Academic/Career/ Vocational Test Preparation – information for job seekers, college and scholarship information, practice tests and skill-building courses for academic or licensing tests, such as SAT, ASVAB, GED, and Civil Service
• Business - designed to provide entrepreneurs with how-to information for their own business, such as sample business plans
• General reference – almanacs and encyclopedias
• Health – disease terms, medications, treatments, and alternative treatments
  Law – legal forms, law encyclopedia
• Reference USA – 99 million residential households, 14 million businesses, and 675,000 doctors and 180,000 dentists
• Investing - investment and financial information such as Mergent OnlineTM
• Science – updated weekly, showing important developments in biology, chemistry, the environment, space, physics, and technology
• Genealogy – HeritageQuestTM, AncestryTM, Sanborn Maps®, (census, family history books, historical maps, etc.)

For those interested in genealogy, www.whilbr.org provides a free website which features images of original source documents from Western Maryland. Such collections as the:

• Hagerstown City Directory 1893 - name and address of residents
• Illustrated Atlas of Washington County 1877 - shows the landowners of many parcels of land in the county
• Washington County 1803-1804 tax records – residents, land tracts, acreage owned, and numbers of horses, cows, sheep and hogs, stills and coaches Washington County Court Records1778-1793 and Washington County Jury List, 1877 - names of many of the county's inhabitants
• Confederate Soldiers Killed at Antietam - names, regiments, and gravesites of those who fell after Maryland Civil War battles