A favorite poem you remembered as a child but haven't heard it for years; the text of JFK's inaugural speech; a play about animals; these are all easily found using LitFinder, the largest and most accessible online collection of literature. International in scope, from Dante to Bronte, LitFinder covers all time periods and contains a wealth of primary literature including over 126,000 full-text poems, 850,000 poem citations and excerpts, over 10,000 stories, essays, and speeches, author biographies, and much more. A Thomson Gale product provided through BadgerLink , from the Wisconsin State Department of Public Instruction, LitFinder is available on any computer with Internet access.

To access LitFinder:

• Go to the library's web site at http://www.ecpubliclibrary.info
• Under Research choose General Research.
• Then, under General, click on Litfinder.

Search options in LitFinder include: Basic Search, Advanced Search, or you may browse in the five main modules: Poems, Stories, Essays, Plays, and Speeches.

Basic Search in LitFinder:

• The home page of the LitFinder database is also the Basic Search page. Basic Search will also appear at the top of your results page so you may perform a new search at any time.
• In the basic search window, enter any words or phrases you are searching for. By placing a check mark in front of "All", which is the default search, LitFinder will search in all of the modules: poems, stories, essays, plays and speeches. To narrow your search just choose one, or multiple modules, such as only searching in essays and speeches.
• Once you have entered your information and chosen your modules to search, simply click on the arrow search key.
• Your search results are ranked in relevance with those results most closely matching the terms you entered appearing at the top of the list.
• For example, if you entered "Eugene Field" and chose only to search in poems, this search results in 829 items matching your search.
• Any entry with an orange "T" in front of it signifies full text is available.
• When choosing the default search "All", the results lists from your search will show the most relevant works in all areas: Poems, Stories, Essays, Plays, Speeches, and in Glossary, Explanation, Exploring Poetry. Each area displays the total number of items found with author/ title links to each.

Advanced Search in LitFinder:

• Use the Advanced Search feature to narrow your search by searching in one of four main categories: Literature, Author, References, or All.
• Within each category you are able to narrow your search by certain key criteria.
• For example, in the Author category you may search by name; by type of work such as poems, stories, etc.; timeline from the present, by century, or by dynasty; by gender; and by religion.
• An advanced search in the Literature category allows searching within all of the modules by author, by title, by keyword, and by timeline.
• After entering either a key word, title, or author, the Reference search will search the published works in which the literature was located.
• The All records category allows you to search in one, two or three fields at a time combining the fields with the operator of your choice (and, or, but not).

After completing a basic search or an advanced search, Refine Results, located on the left-hand side of your results page lets you narrow your search even further. Different options will be displayed depending on your initial search such as Full Text, Subject, Nationality, Timeline, etc.

From LitFinder's home page you always have the option to browse, either through the different five main modules, or through categories which include by Genre, by Subject, Contemporary Work, or Kids' Korner. Links to Authors, Explanations of various literary works, Glossary of Terms, Exploring Poetry, and an Author of the Month are also featured on the LitFinder home page.