Visit the Jewish Public Library's Online Catalogue

• Type in the last name of the author, followed by first name or initial (e.g. Steel D, Brown Dan)
• Type in the title of the book (do not include "The", "A", or "An" if it is at the beginning of the title)
• When browsing for a subject, type the subject term as it appears in the list of Library of Congress Subject Headings.

The catalogue's Advanced Search feature works the same way, but will search for keywords in the author's name, the title, the subject, or anywhere. Use this search if you only know a few words of the title, part of the author's name and the publisher, etc.

You can also truncate searches by using an "*" (e.g. Canad* will get results in Canada, Canadian, Canadians, Canadien, Canadiens, Canadiana.)

Click here to access the catalogue

The Drouin Collection

In the early 1940s, genealogist and notary Gabriel Drouin microfilmed the registers kept by Quebec religious denominations for births, deaths, and marriages. The Montreal/Quebec Jewish Vital Records database of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal (JGSM) represents the Jewish portion of Drouin's project, coupled with over 10,000 entries from the 1917 to 1954 records of Rabbi J.L. Colton (mohel) and those of Rabbi Nathan Mendelson.

Fees for a search of the records (once names have been identified) are $10 for Jewish Public Library members and $20 for non-members.

Please call us at 514-345-2627 #3001
or email: reference@jplmontreal.org

To use any of the following databases, you must be a member of the Jewish Public Library. Please contact the circulation desk at circ@jplmontreal.org (or call 345-2627 #3003) to create your JPL patron password. If you have any questions about the databases, please contact the Reference Desk at reference@jplmontreal.org (or call 345-2627 #3001)

Canadian Business & Current Affairs™ (CBCA)

The nation's largest and most comprehensive bibliographic full-text reference and current events database. Available through the ProQuest® Web interface, CBCA Complete combines full text and indexed content from all four CBCA database subsets (Business, Current Events, Education, and Reference). Subject coverage is comprehensive and information is available from the broadest range of Canadian sources anywhere. With over 4.5 million records and more than 1,600 titles, CBCA Complete is ideal for anyone interested in current events, business, science, the arts, and academic information as produced in Canada.

Click here to log into the CBCA™ database

Canadian Newsstand™

This full text database includes the complete available electronic backfile for most newspapers, providing full access to the articles, columns, editorials, and features. Some backfiles date as far back as the 1980s. Canadian Newsstand content is updated daily so researchers always have timely access to new information.

Click here to log into the Canadian Newsstand™ database

Index to Jewish Periodicals

A comprehensive, annually published guide to articles, book reviews, feature stories, and other contents in English, appearing in more than 190 periodicals devoted to Jewish affairs. Most references are not found in the standard periodical literature guides available in many libraries.

Click here to log into the Index to Jewish Periodicals

Encyclopedia Judaica

More than 45 years in the making, the Encyclopaedia Judaica became the landmark reference work on

Judaism upon publication in 1972. The U.S-Israeli publishing collaboration that produced the original now has released an updated, expanded second edition. The new 22-volume set presents the latest

scholarship on historic topics as well as extensive new treatments of contemporary Jewish life, including added emphasis of the role of women and explorations of the full global scope of the Diaspora.

Included are more than 21,000 signed entries on Jewish life, culture, history and religion, written by Israeli, American and European subject specialists. Nearly half of these entries have been updated from

the first edition, and 2,600 are new – the Holocaust segment alone contains more than 50 new articles.

Click here to log into Encyclopedia Judaica

Encyclopedia of Judaism

The Encyclopedia of Judaism contains 115 cross-referenced essays that complement each other but can be read independently. Viewed as a whole, they provide systematic coverage of all aspects of Judaism: The religion and its history, literature, beliefs past and present, observances, practices, worldviews,

and place in the context of society and culture. The Encyclopedia draws on the understanding of 55 scholars selected to provide a broad and varied viewpoint characterized by objectivity and academic authority. Here the history of Judaism is laid out both by chronological periods and geographic regions. Nearly 4,000 years of Judaism are fully covered, from ancient Israelite scripture and the Dead

Sea Scrolls to topics of special contemporary interest including medical ethics, women and Judaism, Zionism and more. In short, The Encyclopedia of Judaism is a definitive work on what is a living religion, and not just an historical tradition or ethnic culture.

Click here to log into the Encyclopedia of Judiasm

Encyclopedia of American Jewish History

In essays and short entries written by 125 of the world's leading scholars of American Jewish history and culture, this encyclopedia explores both religious and secular aspects of American Jewish life. It examines the European background and immigration of American Jews and their impact on the professions and academic disciplines, mass culture and the arts, literature and theater, and labor and radical movements. It explores Zionism, antisemitism, responses to the Holocaust, the branches of Judaism, and Jews' relations with other groups, including Christians, Muslims, and African Americans. The encyclopedia covers the Jewish press and education, Jewish organizations, and Jews' participation in America's wars. In two comprehensive volumes, Encyclopedia of American Jewish History makes 350 years of American Jewish experience accessible to scholars, all levels of students, and the reading public.

Click here to log into the Encyclopedia of American Jewish History

Biographical Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa

Specifically designed to offer insight into the people and culture of the Middle East, the Biographical Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa explores the lives of the most influential figures in the region who came to prominence during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Offering signed biographies on more than 300 notable individuals from the region — from Mauritania in the west

to Afghanistan in the east and with an emphasis on contemporary figures — the encyclopedia reveals the true human vibrancy of one of the oldest, most fascinating, yet least understood regions of the world.

Click here to log into the Biographical Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa