The librarians in our John D. Ong are co-pilots of our curriculum, offering instructional sessions and top-level support with our students’ research projects. For longer projects, our students are assigned to work one-on-one with an instructional librarian, who will mentor them on how to locate, evaluate and utilize the resources available to them.
Thanks to our librarians, our students gain the necessary research skills and digital literacy so that they can locate, evaluate and effectively use information. In this digital era, knowledge is infinite, and we teach our students to do more than properly attribute and source — we teach them to be responsible custodians of information, empowering them for academic success.
Catalogs, Databases & Resources
Locate materials owned by the Ong Library through our online catalog. The WRA Catalog contains records for books, eBooks, audio books, films, and music CDs. Access to other library catalogs include: Hudson Library and Historical Society and other local public libraries.
Articles - Journals & Magazines
- Academic Search Premier
- EBSCOhost All Research Databases
- Explora for High School
- JSTOR - Scholarly Journal Archive
Articles - Newspapers
- New York Times - Current (1981 - Present Day)
- NewsBank – Access World News
- NewsBank – America’s Historical Newspapers
- Access Tip: Click Change Databases (upper left) and select America’s Historical Newspapers.
Audiobooks
Citation Resources
Current Events Resources
Digital Video Resources
E-book Resources
Encyclopedias
English Resources
- Literary Reference Center
- Literature Online: American & English Literature
- Oxford English Dictionary
- Very Short Introductions Online
Faculty Professional Resources
Faculty & Staff - Family Resources
Fine Arts Resources
Foreign Language Resources
Health Resources
History Resources
- U.S. History in Context
- Very Short Introductions Online
- World History in Context
- FactCite – Milestone Documents
- NewsBank – America’s Historical Newspapers
- Access Tip: Click Change Databases (upper left) and select America’s Historical Newspapers.
Reference Resources
Research Tools
Science Resources
Academic Search Premier
A multi-discipline database that has access to newspaper, magazine and journal articles.
Banco De Contenido aulaPlaneta
Spanish-language database with access to articles, images, videos, animations, sounds and interactive media.
Digital Theater Plus
This database offers live performances that are accompanied by a range of invaluable educational resources for illustration, explanation and critical reflection.
Digital Video Collection
This database of educational videos includes such subject areas as 19th and 20th century U.S. history turning points, astrology, biology and a wealth of other topics.
EBSCOhost All Research Databases
Provides access to over 20 databases offering periodical abstracts and full-text articles.
EBSCOhost Professional Teaching Collection
Highly specialized collection of education journals, including more than 350 peer-reviewed titles, and educational reports.
Ebook Central
This is an eBook database that covers all academic subject areas. The collection currently includes more than 80,000 titles.
Explora for High School
Discover full-text articles from thousands of magazines, journals and newspapers.
FactCite – Milestone Documents
Access to over 1,500 primary sources from U.S. and world history, each supported by scholarly analysis, glossaries, and study tools to help students explore key historical events and ideas.
Gale Ebooks
This is a database of ebooks - encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources - for multidisciplinary research.
GreenFILE
Collection of scholarly, government and general interest titles cover global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling and more. Full text for more than 13,000 Open Access items.
Health Information Collection
Articles from journals, magazines, pamphlets, and reference books covering all areas of health and wellness for consumers and medical professionals.
JSTOR - Scholarly Journal Archive
This database contains extensive back issues of core journals in the humanities, social sciences and sciences. The journals have been digitized, starting with the very first issues, many of which reach back to the 1800s.
L'Encyclopedie Decouverte (French)
Online French language encyclopedia.
Literary Reference Center
Provides a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes.
Literature Online
Full-text, searchable works available online to supplement your library's print collections. Poetry, drama and fiction are included.
New York Times - Current
Access to the New York Times online newspaper from 1981 - Present
NewsBank – Access World News
Provides full-text articles from thousands of news sources worldwide, offering diverse perspectives on current and historical events.
NewsBank – America’s Historical Newspapers
(Access Tip: Click Change Databases (upper left) and select America’s Historical Newspapers.)
Full-text access to U.S. newspapers from 1690 through the early 20th century, offering insights into historical events and everyday life.
NoodleTools
Powerful note-taking software that promotes critical thinking and creativity combined with the most comprehensive and accurate MLA- and APA-style bibliography composer on the Web.
Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary is the best source to consult for meaning, pronunciation and etymology of over half a million words in the English language.
Oxford Reference
This is an ebook database containing specialized encyclopedias, almanacs and reference resources for general research.
Oxford Research
Access to full-text academic encyclopedia articles from subject-based encyclopedias covering a range of topics from science and the humanities.
Points of View Reference Center
Presents articles supporting multiple sides of current issues from which users can develop persuasive arguments and essays while developing their analytical thinking skills.
Science Online
Thousands of essays on major topics and issues in science, math and technology, along with illustrations, experiments, activities and biographies.
Science in Context
Provides a one-stop resource for all science-related research needs. From earth science and life science, to space, technology, mathematics and science history and biography.
Science Reference Center
Easy access to a multitude of full-text, science-oriented content. Science Reference Center contains full text for hundreds of science encyclopedias, reference books, and periodicals.
Sora (OverDrive)
This collection provides access to popular fiction and nonfiction ebooks as well as audiobooks.
U.S. History in Context
Provides a complete overview of U.S. history and covers the most-studied events, issues and current information.
Very Short Introductions Online (VSIO)
Full-text academic introductions to and historical overviews of topics in the arts & humanities, dictionaries & reference, law, medicine & health, science & mathematics, and social sciences.
World Book - Advanced
A powerful reference tool that includes encyclopedia, multimedia, e-book and primary source databases, fully integrated in a single search.
World History in Context
Features extensive coverage of the 20th century, including the Ancient Mediterranean, Ancient Near East and Asia as well as the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the modern Middle East and Latin America.
Student Publications
- BUFO — BUFO is Reserve's premier fictional magazine! As a part of BUFO, students get to assist in the creation of this highly anticipated publication, as well as other writing initiatives from special themed writing and art contests to creative writing events!
- Viewpoints — Viewpoints is BUFO's nonfiction companion — a student-run scholarly journal that publishes works of nonfiction, from poems to essays to commentary, written by and for Western Reserve Academy students, faculty and staff.
- The Reserve Record — The Reserve Record is the longest continuously-running newspaper in historic Hudson, Ohio! The Reserve Record staff publishes new issues of the newspaper roughly once per month. Any student can attend a writers' meeting to sign up for articles which, once written, are edited by page editors and laid out for final review by club leaders before getting sent off for printing.
Fully Stocked
Our library collection includes 23,000 book volumes, access to more than 80,000 ebooks and 30+ research databases. The 21,000-square-foot building also features a computer lab, a library instructional classroom, study rooms, reading areas, the Western Reserve Academy Archives Collection, The Academic Center (TAC) for Student Support, and our College Counseling Office. We encourage our community to take advantage of everything our library has to offer.
Visit the John D. Ong Library
We encourage our community to take advantage of everything our library has to offer. And please don't hesitate to contact the library staff for assistance. We are always here to help, email us at [email protected].
Library History
Officially opened in June 2000, the John D. Ong Library is a 21,000 sq. ft building designed by the Pittsburgh-based architectural firm of McLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni. The current library honors John D. Ong, who served as WRA Board President from 1977 to 1995.
Previous Library Locations
- 1826–1827: Rev. William Hanford's study on Aurora Street
- 1827–1836: Middle College (demolished in 1912)
- 1836–1882: The Chapel (ground floor)
- 1882–1903: Athenaeum (top floor, west)
- 1916–1921: Seymour Hall
- 1921–1963: The Chapel (ground floor)
- 1963–2000: Wilson Hall
The Archives
Western Reserve Academy's revered history is documented in the Academy Archives Collection housed on the lower level of the library. Included in the collection are yearbooks, faculty and alumni records, school publications, photographs, correspondence, audiotapes, videotapes and 16mm films. The Archives Collection is open to students, alumni, faculty and historians.