For Educators

The Maricopa County Library District is there not only for the needs of your students, but the needs of your classroom lessons! We have a wide range of resources that are perfect for research projects, term papers, and more. From databases to eBooks to traditional print materials, the Library is here to provide your students the tools they need to succeed. Let us introduce you to some of our services!

AEPA Test Study Guides
We are often asked for the study guides for the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessment test, or the AEPA. We don't have print versions of the guides, however you can find these guides online.

Databases

When you send your students to the library, you ask them to use multiple resources to obtain the best information for the project. You'll ask for magazines, journals, newspapers, and so on in order to foster good research methods and provide a sweeping range of sources. Our Libraries have access to tens of thousands of magazines and newspapers. We can put articles from professional journals into the hands of your class. Yet none of our libraries has a large archive of physical journals, newspapers, or magazines. We can do all of this through databases.

A database is an online resource, but it is not a traditional website. Do your students need an article from a National Geographic magazine that's a couple of years old? We have that! We don't have the magazine, but we have access to the full content of the magazine through our databases. Do you require an article from a journal for a research paper? How about a fantastic article on microscopy from the Annals of Science? In a few seconds we can print that out and hand it to your students. These are the actual articles and papers from magazines and journals. So keep in mind, even though we printed the article from a computer, it's the original work from the periodical.

Check out our various databases and see what a variety of sources we can give to you and your students!

Downloadable Content – eBooks, Magazines, and Audio

Our libraries only have so much room. Just like databases allow us the opportunity to give your students access to tens of thousands of journals, Downloadable Content affords us the ability to provide even more books, magazines, and audio materials than we could ever store inside a branch library. We provide tens of thousands of electronic books and magazines through our downloadable content resources. Say your student needs a book on Ancient Greece, but all of the books on that topic are checked out.

No problem! We have books about Ancient Greece available through our Freading service that are always available! These are books like you would find on the shelves, just in a digital format. Maybe they need a magazine for a current events topic? We have almost 400 current magazine available to download and read through our Zinio service! Beyond that we offer reference works through Gale Virtual Reference and information about far away places with Gale Travel Guides. These are real books and real magazines, they just come from our digital services rather than off of a shelf.

Limits on materials

The Good News: We allow library cardholders to check out up to fifty items at one time. This does not include any digital materials which have their own limits. So your students can come in and get as much as they want on any subject that they want!

The Bad News: One student can come in and drain the entire branch of all the materials relevant to your classroom assignment.

Do you have an upcoming assignment that will require a trip to the local library? Excellent! Give us a call and we can help you make sure that we will have the materials available for all of your students! Some branches have larger collections than others and we can call in items from those branches to enhance our supply of materials for your students. It's also a good idea to remind your students that taking all of the materials for a given subject will leave another student at a loss when they get to the library. We always do our best to get the materials your students will need, but sometimes we'll need to call them in from other branches at their request. We have libraries all over Maricopa County from Aguila to Gila Bend and from Surprise to Queen Creek. It can take a few days to get books from one branch to another, so a little planning and coordination with your local branch can help your students get the things they need as quickly as possible!

Need to contact us? See below!

Contact us for more information!

Need to check on the availability of materials or to verify a source within our databases? Would you like to set up a tour? Perhaps you need assistance with our collection and how to utilize it to suit the needs of your assignments? Or maybe you have a general question?

We are here for you and for your students! You can call us at 602-652-3000 and ask to speak to a librarian at your local branch, or contact us online! We'll be happy to help you and your students achieve a successful assignment and foster lifelong learning!