Library Resources
By Linda Henderson, Adult Services Librarian
“I didn’t know they did that!” When I do presentations in the community about our online resources, people always remark about the variety of online services we offer at no cost. The Manhattan Public Library offers online access for you at home to magazines, genealogy, auto repair, e-books and audio books for adults and young people, movies, instructional videos, foreign language tutorials, and many other resources –all available with just a Manhattan Public Library card.
The library offers 22 full-text magazines online. Better Homes & Gardens, Popular Mechanics, National Geographic, Seventeen, This Week, Ranger Rick, The New Yorker, Men’s Journal, Wired, Rolling Stone and more give our public a wonderful chance to read, just as if you were holding the magazines in your hands. No need to squint at fine print or small photos; if you are online, it’s easy to enlarge text and zoom in on images to catch every detail.
Savvy consumers still check Consumer Reports for professional reviews, and it is also available online and fully searchable through the library, with new reviews, comparisons, and articles on all sorts of products. Yearly run-downs of the best new autos, appliances, phones, and other devices offer consistent, readable insight into which products offer solid value, and which bargains shouldn’t be missed.
For in-depth financial research and analysis, check Morningstar or Value Line. Comprehensive investment info is searchable with your library card.
As librarians, we take pride in recommending new books for patrons to read, but you can also search Novelist Plus to get recommendations, reviews, articles, and reading lists. Hoopla is a new and very popular source for streaming or downloading music, audiobooks, movies, tv episodes, and e-books. Download the Libby app to access e-books and audiobooks from the Sunflower eLibrary.
Many educational sites are available through the library offering chances for growth, from children’s learning to advanced technical materials for adults.
Young children can develop reading skills using a variety of excellent sites. BookFLIX lets kids read along with videos of many classic storybooks, on any e-device. Tumblebooks offers online picture books, ebooks, and graphic novels, along with puzzles and games for children to enjoy.
Learning Express Library includes tutoring for elementary, high school, college, and adult students. Prepare for SAT, GRE, and other standardized tests; gain skills in computers, in math and grammar, and in office work to improve writing, business skills, resumes and more.
Mango Languages specializes in language tutoring, offering fun, conversational courses in 74 different languages, naturally including English instruction courses for those that speak other languages.
Popular Lynda.com provides beginning and advanced courses in business work, software, and technical and creative skills, including design, programming, graphic art, animation, and web development, all using suites like Adobe Creative Suite, AutoCAD and many others.
Car trouble? From loose panels to engine overhauls, and all types of maintenance in between, the Auto Repair Reference Center offers repair and service information for your specific vehicle by year, make and model. There is guidance on how auto components work, and all sorts of care tips to extend the life of your car or truck.
The library site offers access to quite a few general research sources, as well. Explora offers flexible searching for books, journals, and more. Encyclopedia Britannica remains an authoritative work with children’s, young adults and adult reference portals. Images, videos, dictionaries, and more e-books and magazines are available.
Explore family roots. Heritage Quest has expanded with much more information. Genealogy Connect serves up over 600 genealogy and reference publications. Note that our other resource, Ancestry, is only available at the library, but you can e-mail articles, save them to USB media, or print your results.
Kansas State Library Online Resources offers many more opportunities—Skill building, business, health, and history. Spanish resources are also available. You may need a Kansas Library Card which we can give you quickly with just a phone call.
You only need a Manhattan Public Library card, and a library card is simple to acquire: just bring a photo ID (like a driver’s license) and a proof of address to the library, and we will handle the rest.
To access all the resources in this article, go to mhklibrary.org and click on “Online Resources,” then log in with your library card number. If your group would like a demonstration of these resources in the library or at a meeting place, please contact Linda Henderson at lhenderson@mhklibrary.org. I would love hearing from you!