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Consumer Info
Consumer Info Research Materials
AtoZdatabases
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Premier Reference and Marketing Database including 30 million business profiles & 220 million residents. Ideal for sales leads, mailing lists, market research, employment opportunities, or finding friends and relatives.
Chicago Consumers’ Checkbook
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Find ratings on Chicagoland services and retailers, including dentists, car repair, personal services, banks, and more.
Consumer Health Complete
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Provides content covering all key areas of health and wellness, from mainstream medicine to the many perspectives of complementary and holistic medicine.
Consumer Reports
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Online subscription to the popular consumer magazine, plus exclusive online content, including Best Car Deals.
Financial Literacy Basics
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Easy-to-understand guides on how to manage your finances, including budgeting, student loans, how to start a checking account, and how to start a 401(k).
Gale Business: DemographicsNow
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Geographic-based demographic information perfect for business and marketing plans, including Consumer Expenditure, Simmons and Mosaic reports.
This resource is being discontinued by the vendor on March 31, 2025.
Gale Health and Wellness
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Articles on medicine, nutrition, diseases, public health, alcohol and drug abuse, and fitness.
Gale LegalForms
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Illinois Legal Forms includes thousands of business, personal, litigation, and federal forms.
Health Source: Consumer Edition
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Subjects include fitness, nutrition, diabetes, aging, women’s health, children’s health, and more. Information comes from magazines, books, Clinical Reference System reports, and pamphlets.
Home Improvement Source
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Provides users with detailed, user-friendly, “how-to” information covering a variety of home improvement and repair projects.
Illinois Public Records
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Source for public records in the Chicago suburbs, including real estate transfers, foreclosures, business licenses and incorporations. Check Illinois is their free background check service or choose more specific records databases if you know exactly what you’re looking for.
For best results, click the “Log In” button in the upper right-hand corner and then select “Library Patron”.
Legal Information Source
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Thousands of legal forms by topic including Bankruptcy, Divorce, Name Changes, Wills & Estate Planning and more. Most of the full text legal reference books provided through NOLO.
MedlinePlus
Use at Home? Yes
Description: A comprehensive, free, and authoritative consumer health site sponsored by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
Weiss Ratings
Use at Home? Yes
Description: Online listing of the trusted Weiss guides to stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), banks, credit unions, and insurance companies. Also contains the valuable Medigap tool detailing Medicare supplemental insurance options and Financial Literacy Basics guides about budgeting, paying off student loans, opening bank and investement accounts, and other key finanical skills.
Consumer Info Websites
- 360 Financial Literacy
- AnnualCreditReport.com
- Consumer.gov
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Consumer Price Index
- Consumer Product Information Database (CPID)
- Cost of Living Calculator
- IdentityTheft.gov
- Illinois Attorney General – Protecting Consumers
- Illinois Department of Agriculture – Recalls and Public Health Alerts
- Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation eLicense Lookup
- Pass It On
- Recalls.gov
- Repair Clinic
- SaferProducts.gov
- Snopes.com