While the library building may be closed, our virtual library is always open! The library has a number of great online resources for education, business, and entertainment. Here are a few of our favorite library resources, as well as a few free online resources. As always, if you have any questions or need assistance, please email us at reference@deerfieldlibrary.org.
Library Online Resources
Overdrive/Libby and Hoopla have great selections of ebooks, e-audiobooks, and music. During this time, we have increased our checkout limits for both resources. You can now check out ten titles from Overdrive/Libby and twenty titles from Hoopla per month.
Kanopy has movies, documentaries, TV series, kid content and more. Patrons can check out up to 15 titles per month on Kanopy.
RBDigital provides full color, cover to cover digital editions of popular magazines. More information and instructions are provided on our website, but if you are having trouble using any of our resources, please email reference@deerfieldlibrary.org and we will provide assistance.
One of our staff’s favorite databases is CreativeBug. This site offers hundreds of arts and crafts projects from sewing, quilting, knitting, crochet, jewelry, food and much more! There is something for everyone at every skill level.
Maybe you would like to use this time to take up a new hobby or brush up on your technology skills. Gale Courses offers many online courses that range from learning Excel or XML to digital photography, drawing, meditation and so much more.
Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn another language. Mango Languages has courses in over 70 different languages, including Pirate! Blow me down!
One of our newest resources is Newspapers.com. It features over half a million pages of newspapers from the 1700s to the 2000s. If you’re looking to explore this resource, we have created a baseball themed scavenger hunt that you can use to get acquainted with the site!
Check out all of our online resources here.
Free Online Resources:
We may not be able to travel at the moment, but we can visit places through the magic of the internet! If you visit YouTube and search “slow tv” you will find a number of scenic journeys through many different countries, as well as underwater journeys! Google also offers virtual tours of many famous museums, churches, temples and historical sites throughout the world. Browse through this list for more museums and zoos with virtual tours.
Here are some more things you can do at home:
- NPR has a list of live virtual concerts to watch during the coronavirus shutdown.
- Filmmaker Gary Hustwit is streaming his documentaries for free right now. Each week he posts a new documentary.
- Old Bob Ross videos are very relaxing to watch and it’s a lot of fun to paint along with him. Even if you aren’t a painter, he makes it easy for everyone. Try out one of his videos on YouTube.
- The Smithsonian is always asking for help transcribing handwritten letters. It’s a great way to pass the time and contribute to preserving our history!
- Corepower Yoga has a whole page of free yoga classes.
- Neil Gaiman is offering free downloads, streams, and other content through his website!
We hope you find these spots on the web entertaining and useful to fill your time.
