Would you like to have instant access to over 4000 periodicals and 4600 books? If your writing involves any amount of research, your answer should be an enthusiastic yes. But then reality would set in and you would probably wonder, "How? My public library doesn't have that much. I can't afford the interlibrary loan fees or the expense of traveling where the information is." You can save yourself the expense of travel, because if your library is part of the Information Age, they have access of tons of information that's not on the shelves.

Does your library subscribe to any of the EBSCO databases? If it does, you have most of the information you need for conducting thorough research right at your fingertips. In October 2005 the Institute published my first article on the subject, "Rapid Research and the EBSCO Databases." Since then my home state of Mississippi has added several more databases and I thought a fresh article on the subject would be more than welcome. Following are summaries of most of the databases, those that I find helpful or that I can imagine other children's writers using.

Alt Health Watch - Suppose your main character has cancer. All traditional methods have failed. Your character (and her parents) wants to try alternative treatments. But where do you go for the research? Alt Health Watch has full-text articles from 180 magazines dealing with alternative health treatments.

Bibliography of Native North Americans -- Are you writing a historical novel that includes Native American characters? Need some primary source documents dating back to the 1600s and don't know where to start? Start here. This database covers all aspects of native culture, history, and life. Its 80,000 citations include books, essays, journals, and government documents dating back to the 1500s.

Book Collection: Nonfiction -- The content of this one is pretty obvious; it contains abstracts and full text for 3600 nonfiction books found in school and public libraries. An added, helpful feature is the ability to search books by chapter. Enter your search terms; if a chapter of a particular book matches the search term, only the chapter will appear; scrolling through the whole book is unnecessary. How can children's and YA writers use this? Well, one use is fairly obvious; use it in your to find books that your library may not have. But how about using to "check the competition?" If you're working on a book about the mammals of Australia, you may want to see what else is out there. If several books already exist with the focus and/or slant you're after, you can immediately refocus/reslant your book. It may also help in researching which publishers publish the type of book you're working on.

Computer Source -- contains full text for 300 publications and indexes and abstracts for an additional 450. Again, here is a source for background information in the area of computer science and technology. Since I'm not a computer geek (that's my husband's department), I would need to devour the information in this database if I were to use it. While I can use a computer for word processing, surfing, and the like, if my computer crashes or I have to do some sort of technical stuff to it, I'm lost. If I were to write anything involving the technical side of computers, I'd better start where I can find the most information in the shortest amount of time.

Consumer Health Complete -- If you read my previous article, you will see that I profiled a database entitled Health Source: Consumer Edition. This is essentially the same database. A complete revision, including being entirely full-text, led to the name change. Its use for writers is still the same: basic health information with titles not covered in Alt Health Watch.

EBSCO Animals -- contains basic information on hundreds of familiar animals.

Environment Complete -- Writing about the dangers of greenhouse gases? Looking for information on how oil spills harm wildlife? This database is the place to start. It contains the full texts of 400 journals such as Environment, Ecologist, and Conservation Biology, eighty monographs, and the full text conference papers of the North American Association of Environmental Education.

Garden, Landscape, and Horticulture Index -- Oh, how I wish I had had access to this database when I was researching hummingbird and butterfly gardening! This database contains full-text for 300 general interest magazines in the fields of gardening, landscaping, horticulture, bird watching, and related topics. It would have meant "one stop shopping" for my article on hummingbirds. It could mean the same for your article on how children can begin organic gardening in containers on top of their high-rise apartment building. Come to think of it, my husband could use this to find information for the mushroom gardening project that's about to overtake the kitchen counter.

General Science Collection -- This database includes full text for sixty titles such as Science News, Audubon, Nature, and Natural History. It would be a good index to use as part of a multiple database search for any science topic (MAS Ultra, MasterFile Complete, Gardening/Landscaping/Horticulture Index, and Environment Complete would most likely complete this multiple database search).

History Reference Center - This is another database with obvious content, yet its source material is not so obvious. In addition to full text for sixty periodicals, it contains full text for 1000 reference books, encyclopedias, and general nonfiction, 58,000 documents, 43,000 biographies, 12,000 photos and maps, and over 80 hours of historically relevant videos. Unfortunately, it is not comprehensive in its primary sources. Source documents that are extremely specialized or localized may not be found. For example, a local historical "celebrity," so to speak, is a Chickasaw woman who won property rights for Mississippi women in the 1830s. I entered her name. She's not there. Neither is Mary Katherine Goddard, a woman I have been researching for over ten years.

Literary Reference Center -- Although designed primarily for students writing research papers on major authors, it does contain information on major children's authors. It would also be helpful if you were writing an article or children's book on Steven King, Charles Dickens, or some other author. Completely full-text, it contains 1000 books, monographs, and major reference sources, hundreds of literary journals, and other sources unique to the database.

MAS Online Plus -- Indexes 350 general interest publications with full-text of over 300.

Masterfile Premier -- Indexes over 2100 general interest publications with full text of over 650. Unlike the other indexes, which only go as far as 1990 with their citations, Masterfile Premier goes as far as 1975 with its full-text options. Use with Online Plus as the springboard for all of your basic research.

Middle Search -- Indexes over 150 magazines for middle school students and some adult magazines that middle school students read (such as National Geographic or Newsweek). Many also include full-text coverage. Each entry also has readability levels.

Newspaper Source -- Indexes several hundred national and regional newspapers, such as the New York Times and The Chicago Sun-Times, and has full-text of thirty national and over 200 regional newspapers. It also contains television and radio news transcripts. This is a good source for current events information that may not be found in weekly newsmagazines.

Primary Search - This indexes over 100 magazines and biographies and has full-text for sixty magazines intended for the primary grades. Each entry also has Lexile readability levels. Although intended to introduce younger students to the research process, we children's writers can use Primary Search to determine if an idea we have has been published elsewhere. Several years ago I wanted to write an article on butterfly gardening for Fun for Kidz. Entering this term on Primary Search showed me that just such an article had appeared in its sister publication several years earlier. I promptly changed my focus to hummingbirds and made a sale. Had I not done so, I may have had yet another of many rejections. Using this source was also a quick way of satisfying my curiosity about what a baby llama was called. Entering "llama" in the search box and checking the box for full-text only brought up an article in Ranger Rick that told me a baby llama was called a cria. Use the readability levels to get a feel for the magazines themselves or to get an idea for changing the readability level of an existing article.

Regional Business News - This one indexes seventy-five regional business journals, newspapers, and newswire reports. If you' re writing about money matters for children and teens, businesses young people can start or have started, or trying to explain an economic concept, this database may be worth a look.

Teacher Reference Center - Indexes 280 education journals and teaching idea magazines, such as NEA Today, Education Digest, and Instructor, offering more than 100 in full-text. Since many children's writers are also teachers, use this index not only for teaching ideas, but to see if your new method of teaching about the life cycle of frogs, for instance, has any market potential.

Topic Search - Are you writing about a hot topic, something that has more than one point of view that no one can agree upon? This database is for you. Its 4800 full text sources and 139,800 articles cover the most popular social, political, and economic issues for discussion in the classroom.

Vocational and Career Collection - This database contains full text for 350 trade publications. Designed primarily for students and career counselors, we children's writers could use it for background research for interviews. For example, you want to write a profile of a videogame designer, but need to know what the designer does, the recommended training, etc. so you can write the questions for the interview. Or you could be writing a novel or career overview nonfiction book about a fashion model. Again, you need background information.

Now that we've gotten the overview, how do we navigate the databases? Each library's system is different, based on the subscription and the library's operating system. Some libraries may require usernames and passwords; others will not. Some libraries with the online subscription will offer home access; some will not. Once you've gotten past the specifics of the way it is set up, searching is relatively simple. Just choose one or more databases to search and enter the keyword or phrase that best describes your topic. The best way to learn how to use them is to ask your librarian. If your library has a training course, take it. Otherwise, leave your children with a sitter, reserve a computer for the afternoon, keep the librarian in sight at all times, and start experimenting. Once you've gotten the hang of the system, you'll see why I call using it rapid research!