Local Research
Current and Historical Info on Santa Cruz County
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Businesses & Organizations
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Community Information Database SCPL's comprehensive database of human service resources, nonprofit, and community organizations serving Santa Cruz County.
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DataShare Santa Cruz County DataShare Santa Cruz County is an interactive data platform with local, state, and national data that allows you to explore and understand information about our community.
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Santa Cruz City Business License Database Businesses licensed within the City of Santa Cruz.
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Santa Cruz County Statistics Links to a full range of demographic, economic, health, and other statistics for Santa Cruz County. Created and maintained by SCPL Librarians.
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Santa Cruz Economic Development Connects you to the resources you need to get your business started or to grow.
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Starting a Business in Santa Cruz County Complete guide to starting a business in Santa Cruz, with links and contact information.
Government
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Community Assessment Project (CAP) In-depth annual survey focusing on quality of life in Santa Cruz County.
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Elected Representatives for Santa Cruz County From the County Elections Office
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Local Ballot Measures Full text and results compiled by SCPL.
History
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David Rumsey Map Collection Historical maps, including Santa Cruz and Central California.
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Local History Photo Collection More than 1,500 images dating from the 1860's to the 1990's.
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Local History Resource Guide A list of many resources available to those who are researching Santa Cruz County's history. Maintained by SCPL librarians.
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Researching Your House's History A brief guide to researching property in Santa Cruz County.
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SoundSwell Santa Cruz Public Libraries local Music Collection allows library cardholders to download and keep music from the collection of performers with current contracts. All music can be streamed free.
Nature & Environment
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Discover & Go Instant online access to free and low-cost tickets to museums, science centers, zoos, theaters and other fun local cultural venues with your library card.
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Endangered Species of Santa Cruz County Created and maintained by SCPL Librarians.
Recommended Website
EWG Tap Water Database The Environmental Working Group Tap Water Database is currently the only free online consumer resource that analyzes tap water quality purely with respect to human health. Users can search by zip code to find their water utility, see the detected contaminants in their water, and learn how the levels of contaminants in their water compare to state and national averages and health guidelines.
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Santa Cruz County Birds & Wildlife This inspiring collection of Santa Cruz County Bird and Wildlife Photography is available to the Santa Cruz Public Libraries thanks to a generous donation by Tony Britton Photography. Students may use the photos for educational purposes for free, as long as the photos are attributed to the copyright holder. Use of these photos for commercial or other purposes are decided by the copyright holder. All inquiries for use of photographs should be directed to virtualservices@santacruzpl.org.
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Water Smart Gardening in Santa Cruz County Sustainable local gardening tips.
Newspapers
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America's News (NewsBank) Explore and stay informed on local and national topics, people and events in areas such as business, health, education, jobs and careers, political and social issues and more. Features a wide variety of credible, vetted news sources spanning the U.S, including current and archived issues of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the San Jose Mercury News, and the San Francisco Chronicle with full-color newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online. Available remotely 24/7 on any device.
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Historical Newspaper Index This is an index to newspapers published in Santa Cruz County, primarily the Santa Cruz Surf, Pacific Sentinel, Santa Cruz Sentinel, and Mountain Echo. Volunteers from the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County create and maintain the Index and are responsible for the content.
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Local News Index Index to early newspapers published in Santa Cruz, including the Santa Cruz Daily Surf, the Santa Cruz Evening News, and the Santa Cruz Sentinel. See also: Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County's Historic Newspaper Indexing Project
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Newspaper Clipping File Index to the Santa Cruz Public Libraries' newspaper clipping file (early 1900's-present)
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Newspapers.com World Collection Provides online access to 3,000+ historical newspapers dating from the early 1700s to the early 2000s, with full runs and portions of runs of well-known, regional and state titles to small local newspapers in the United States and other countries. Includes Santa Cruz papers.
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Santa Cruz Sentinel Archives Digital collections of Evening Sentinel, Santa Cruz Evening News, Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel, and Santa Cruz Sentinel, 1896-2005. Available only from within the library.
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Santa Cruz Sentinel Collection (NewsBank) Explore Santa Cruz history through local news, events and people with the Santa Cruz Sentinel Collection. Search current and archived issues with full-color newspaper pages (2019-Current), full-text articles (1999-Current) and content only published online. Available remotely 24/7 on any device.
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Watsonville Historical Newspaper Archive Watsonville newspapers from 1864-2012 including the Pajaronian, Evening Pajaronian, Watsonville Morning Sun, and The Watsonville Register Pajaronian available via the DigitalReel Platform which allows date and keyword searching.