The Oxford African American Studies Center provides students, teachers, and scholars with an authoritative and comprehensive source on the African American experience. The site is comprised of five major encyclopedias and content from eighteen additional reference sources from Oxford University Press, including more than 8,000 articles by top scholars in the field. The Oxford African American Studies Center combines the authority of carefully edited reference works with sophisticated technology to create the most comprehensive collection of scholarship available online to focus on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture.

Requires a JCLC card and residence in Birmingham, AL.

Guided Tour  Flash presentation.
Video Tutorial  Video tutorial by BPL on YouTube (length 6:45)

The U.S. Serial Set, an ongoing collection of U.S. Government publications compiled under the directive of Congress, captures every aspect of American life from the early 19th century onward, from farming, to westward expansion, scientific exploration, politics, international relations, business, and manufacturing. It includes Congressional reports and documents as well as executive agency and departmental reports ordered to be printed by Congress.

Requires a JCLC card and residence in Birmingham, AL.

The Alabama Episcopal Church Registers database lists confirmations, baptisms, marriages and burials for more than 14,000 people in sixteen Alabama parishes for the period of the 1830s to the 1970s

Publicly Available.

The award-winning The CQ Researcher explores a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science and technology. There are 44 reports produced each year including four expanded reports.

Requires a JCLC card and residence in Birmingham, AL.

This database includes inventors who lived in Alabama at the time they received their patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The Government Documents Department of the Birmingham Public Library has compiled these records and will add to and update them as information becomes available.

Publicly Available.

Search the Birmingham News Archives from 1993 - today. Find full-text articles on local news, issues, events, people and much more from current and archived issues of the Birmingham News. Updated daily, it includes obituaries, editorials, announcements, sports, real estate and other sections. Read the paper in the original PDF or find content that was only published on the web. Available from inside the library or from home.

Requires a JCLC card and residence in Birmingham, AL.

The Obituary Index : Birmingham Area Newspapers database is an ongoing project of the Government Documents Department of the Birmingham Public Library. Obituaries from four Birmingham area newspapers are included: the Birmingham News, the Birmingham World, the Methodist Christian Advocate, and the Shelby County Reporter.

Publicly Available.

Digital versions of large-scale maps of Alabama towns and cities. Fire insurance maps with data on structures in use at the time the map was made. Includes information such as the outline of each building, the size, shape and construction materials, heights, and function of structures, location of windows and doors. Street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries, building use, and house and block numbers.

Requires a JCLC card and residence in Birmingham, AL.