You've got homework?  We've got help!  The Torrance Public Library offers help from real, live tutors at the library, or in your home via the Internet!

Live Homework Help is available for Kindergarten to 12th grade and college introduction level students right from this website from 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. every day.  The program connects students to a real live tutor.  Children and young adults with a Torrance Library Card simply log on to Live Homework Help via the Torrance Public Library website, enter their grade level and the subject they need help in, and within a few minutes or less are connected with an expert tutor.  Students can receive help in math, science, social studies, or English. 

Also available 24/7 is an online skills center with information and assistance on homework topics.

If you would like to learn more about this program, please call the Youth Services Department at (310) 618-5964 or visit any Torrance Public Library location.

Online resources

The Library subscribes to a variety of online databases specifically to help students with homework.  Access is available from the Library or from home - please visit a Torrance Public Library location for instructions.  These include:

CQ Researcher  an excellent source for original, comprehensive reporting and analysis on issues shaping our world. CQ Researcher is used by students, teachers, librarians, journalists, and more, who need to complete an assignment, prepare for a debate, or become a quick expert on a topic.

DISCovering Collection  content and key resources culled from DISCovering Program titles DISCovering Authors, U.S. History, Science and Biography, and the entire contents of the Junior Reference Collection (also known as U·X·L Online). Thousands of overview essays, critical analyses, biographies, timelines and multimedia elements comprise the new DISCovering Collection, a completely original, comprehensive online resource.

EBSCO Full Text Magazne Index  provides full text from over 1,210 general reference, business, consumer health, general science, and multi-cultural periodicals. In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for over 2,760 periodicals. Full text backfiles go as far back as January of 1990, while indexing and abstract backfiles go as far back as January of 1984. This database is updated daily.

Facts on File World News Digest  complete content from the Facts On File World News Digest since 1980 and selected content from six other core reference databases to answer questions about events, issues, statistics and people of the last 20 years. FACTS.com also delivers in-depth features on "Historic Events" drawn from the 60-year Facts On File archive. The six databases from which content has been selected are Issues and Controversies On File, Today's Science On File, Editorials On File, Reuters On-Line News Service, The World Almanac and Book of Facts. The World Almanac Encyclopedia (Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia) 

LearningExpress Library  test preparation and skill-building practice.

Literature Resource Center  direct access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline in a single Internet-searchable service. Its resources cover more than 90,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers, with additional in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the most-studied authors. New and updated material is added monthly. In addition to biographical, bibliographical and contextual information from the Contemporary Authors and Dictionary of Literary Biography databases, users can access full-text criticism from the Contemporary Literary Criticism Select database, as well as unique information not found in any other source. This coverage of authors of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history and journalism is enhanced through partnerships with Chadwyck-Healey's Literature Online and Macmillan Reference's Scribner Writers Series and Twayne's Authors Series.

Mango Languages  an online language-learning system teaching actual conversation skills for a wide variety of languages.

ProQuest Newspaper Database  full-text newspaper archives.

SIRS Researcher   contains thousands of full-text articles exploring social, scientific, health, historic, economic, business, political and global issues. Articles are selected from more than 1,500 domestic and international newspapers, magazines, journals and U.S. government publications and may be accessed instantaneously. Articles are archived from 1989 to the present. Many articles are accompanied by graphics, including charts, maps, diagrams and illustrations. Also included is SIRS Renaissance® - Current Perspectives on the Arts & Humanities. Provides current, dynamic information on music, literature, film, performing arts, culture, architecture, philosophy, religion and visual arts. Many articles are accompanied by full-color graphics - including art reproductions, photographs and illustrations.

World Book Onlne  a comprehensive encyclopedia.

Pathfinders:

• Birthstones:  A Pathfinder for grades 4-6
• California Missions:  A Pathfinder for Grade 4
• Careers:  A Pathfinder for Grades 6-8
• Countries of the World Pathfinder for Grades 5-8
• Explorers: A Pathfinder for Grades 5-8
• Infectious Diseases: A Pathfinder for Grades 8-12
• Planets & the Solar System: A Pathfinder for Grades 3-8
• Presidents of the U.S.: A Pathfinder for Grades 5-8
• States of the U.S.: A Pathfinder for Grade 5
• Tall Tales & Legends: A Pathfinder for Grades K-12