The State Library of Iowa and Credo Partner to Expand Iowans’ Access to Foundational Research Materials

Des Moines, IA and Boston, MA, August 1, 2017 — Students and residents across Iowa will now enjoy increased access to foundational research materials as the State Library of Iowa and Credo Reference have partnered on a statewide agreement, thanks to a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, that will bring Credo’s flagship exploratory research platform to public and academic libraries.

At a time when finding information online means navigating around fake news sites and biased sources, easy access to authoritative sources is critical for meeting Iowans’ academic, professional, and personal information needs.

In addition to accessing the award-winning Credo Online Reference Service platform, college and university students (in the Iowa Academic Library Alliance consortium) and public library patrons have been granted access to Credo’s Complete Core collection. With access to over 850 easily-searchable ebook titles, thousands of high definition images, plus a wealth of video and audio files, there is something for everyone. The interface is intuitive enough for younger students whose schools might not have access to many digital resources, and easily searchable for lifelong learners researching their favorite topics. The award-winning platform also provides the robust and wide-ranging scholarly materials necessary for academic libraries helping their students embark on college-level research.

“We are pleased to offer the Credo Reference platform to Iowans through their local libraries,” said Michael Scott, State Librarian of Iowa. “Credo supports critical information literacy skills and will allow Iowans to succeed by promoting knowledge building, critical thinking, and problem solving.”

Credo Online Reference Service is more than just a database of scholarly materials. Its unique user interface includes several features that help cultivate information literacy skills in users while providing them with the information they seek. Topic Pages help researchers gather background information without venturing into the unverified sources found in Google or Wikipedia searches. The Mind Map brainstorming tool helps users see connections between and across topics. Key concepts included in every search use natural language processing to help researchers build subject vocabulary and find links to related resources.

“We’re honored to work with the State Library of Iowa in their efforts to provide researchers with easy-to-use, authoritative reference content,” said Credo Reference’s General Manager, Ian Singer. “We see this partnership as an embodiment of Credo’s core belief that everyone deserves the ability to learn and the opportunity to succeed.”

For more information and to access Credo Online Reference Service, visit corp.credoreference.com, or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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The State Library of Iowa, a division of the Iowa Department of Education, actively champions libraries and seeks to improve library services across the state and deliver specialized information services to state government and Iowans.