Introduction

One of the most difficult things about college  is the  endless stream of research papers that must be written, each semester, perhaps three or more 10 to 15 page research papers a month, each  requiring five to ten authoritative sources. To find authoritative sources, such as peer reviewed journals and books, students once spent countless hours in the school’s library conducting a physical search of hundreds of books and publications. While a physical search of a university or public library may help you locate good information, it is not the best way to tackle the problem.

In the past several years, Internet-based libraries have dramatically improved the ease of user access to information, they have increased their research features, and they have increased the number of publications that are available to view online. With these advancements, conducting research for school, work, or for fun now can be done by utilizing one or more of the vast number of online libraries that are now available to the general public. To understand how valuable these online libraries are, and how they can help you with your research needs, this article will examine two types of online libraries: free public access online libraries and fee-based access online libraries. The online libraries featured in this article are not your only options, but they have been presented to give you an idea of what is available, and where you can start your search for reference materials.