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Celebrate Lexington, Kentucky’s 250th anniversary this April with a full month dedicated to the history and heritage of music, poetry, and literature in and around Lexington with events hosted by the Lexington Public Library, the City of Lexington, 21c Museum and Hotel, the Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning, Institute 193, and the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center.
Read articles from magazines and journals, learn a new language, or locate a newspaper article. These resources can't be found with a search engine but are available for free with your library card.
Learning doesn’t stop at the end of the school day. The Lexington Public Library is here to support your education at every level, from birth through college, with skill-building tools, live tutoring, standardized test prep, after-school programs, and more.
This is your gateway to our most popular resources. Search for books and eBooks, access tools for research and learning, and discover our unique collection of genealogy and local history materials.
Meet with a librarian for one-on-one consultation. Please submit the Book a Librarian Appointment Request Form or call 859-231-5500 during business hours to schedule an appointment. Appointments are scheduled Monday-Friday during Library business hours and typically last 30 to 45 minutes.
Join us for a walking tour of Downtown Lexington’s African American Heritage Sites. The full tour is available as a single MP3, or you can download individual tracks. For the single MP3, music will play between the stops. You can pause the track while you walk between stops.
This tour covers a walking distance of 1.7 miles.
The music clips used in this tour are from “Walking Barefoot on Grass” by Kai Engel, and are used with a CCBY license. It is available here: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/
Are you a student who needs help with research or a teacher who needs something extra for classroom instruction? Explora is for you, with easy to browse categories organized by popular topics and a simple search that delivers quick and relevant results. Provided by the Kentucky Virtual Library.
Stories of Lexington's history told through the Kentucky Room archives.
All databases are available from this page.
Search and read articles from Consumer Reports in the EBSCO database. Provided by the Kentucky Virtual Library.
Learn more about health and wellness topics, from mainstream medicine to complementary, holistic, and integrated medicine. Information provided in this database should not be viewed as a means for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Provided by the Kentucky Virtual Library.
With your free library card, gain access to a diverse collection of print books, ebooks, audiobooks, online classes and databases, and more. You can apply for a traditional, wallet-sized card and key chain tag or a digital library card to add to your smartphone’s digital wallet (iOS and Android compatible).
Learn more about Fayette County and our rich history with the Kentucky Room's Digital Archives. Search photo collections, historical newspapers and publications, and community collections with a simple search. New material is continually being scanned and added.
Need an article from an academic journal? Search EBSCO for articles covering a wide range of the arts, the humanities, and the sciences. Available on your computer or mobile device. Provided by the Kentucky Virtual Library.
Search for obituaries and death notices from newspapers around the country.
Lexington Herald-Leader full text article search beginning from April 25, 1983.
Read books and listen to audiobooks on your computer or mobile device.
TeachingBooks is a collection of resources about children's and young adult books, including author and illustrator interviews, video book trailers, audio book readings, book discussion guides, and much more. Provided by the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.
U.S. news sources at the local, state, regional and national levels. Features hundreds of newspapers in their original printed format with pictures, including Chicago Sun-Times, Columbus Dispatch, Denver Post, Houston Chronicle, Miami Herald, New York Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA Today, and many more.
Start your genealogy search with billions of records including census data, vital records, directories, photos and more. Available only to customers inside Lexington Public Library locations. Provided by the Kentucky Virtual Library.
Search, view, and download digitized historical Lexington, KY Newspapers covering the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Content from over 80 Kentucky newspapers and news sources, including the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Read the latest issues of your favorite magazines on your computer or mobile device.