Legal & Public Records

Family history data, census information, immigration, etc.

NOTE: Starting January 1, 2022, Ancestry Library Edition will only be available inside the library. Please consider using HeritageQuest or other genealogy databases that are available via remote access.

Look up public records in northern Illinois across communities quickly by personal or business name. Part of Public Records Online.

Formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library
Reference eBooks on biography, business, environment, history, law, literature, medicine, multicultural studies, nations/world, religion, science, social science, and more. See also Access My Library app.

Thousands of legal forms for personal, business, real estate, litigation, etc. (MS Word or PDF). See also Access My Library app.

Find articles videos and forms on legal topics as well as obtain referrals to free and low-cost legal aid offices.

Name change:  See Gale Legal Forms

NEW: Designed to assist the general public in legal matters of all kinds. Includes exclusive full text for many top consumer legal reference books, as well as thousands of legal forms. 

NEW: An interactive platform that gives business owners step-by-step, customized directions to complete 50+ legal essentials in advance of working with a lawyer. It can save owners significant legal fees and 60+ hours.
9/2/2022: Due to a site update, you may need to create a new LegalGPS profile if you used it previously.

From Lexis Nexis. Legal sources (federal/state statutes/cases), business directories, news/magazine/journal articles and much more. Directory listings from Company Dossier can be downloaded for mailing/contact lists. Topic-specific training videos  available. 

U.S. citizenship preparation course from the makers of the Pronunciator language-learning product.

Illinois home sales business licenses foreclosures, mortgages, bankruptcies and more. Now includes access to CheckIllinois (quick searching by personal/business name, across communities and record types).

Preserves US historical documents and manages federal records. Of use to genealogists, historians and legal researchers.

Illinois appellate court cases, annotated statutes (Illinois & federal) and selected analytical materials. Now using the Westlaw Next interface. 

UPDATED 10/4/2022--Westlaw no longer offers remote access, and is currently only available inside the library.