The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regulates the offering and provision of consumer financial products or services under the federal consumer financial laws and educates and empowers consumers to make better informed financial decisions. Check out their website for resources about loan and debt management, saving for retirement, keeping your finances safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.
Month: March 2020
Library Update March 31
Welcome to Stay Connected with Chescolibraries. The Libraries are closed until April 30. Please do not return library materials at this time. All due dates will be extended to May 5, and current overdue materials will not continue to accrue fines until we reopen. To apply for a library card, please visit our Library Card Help page. For help with OverDrive, please visit our OverDrive Help page. For any other questions, please visit our Contact Us page.
Online high school and college resources
Do you have high school and college kids at home, doing online coursework? The word “homework” has taken on a whole new meaning! Here are some great resources from our databases to help them get their work done:
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE:
- Contemporary Authors – database of more than 135,000 modern novelists, poets, playwrights, nonfiction writers, prominent print and broadcast journalists, editors, photojournalists, syndicated cartoonists and screenwriters.
- LitFinder (POWER Library) – literature content from full-text poems, poem citations and excerpts, full-text short stories and novels, essays, speeches, and plays. Plus biographies, work summaries, photographs, and a glossary.
- Mango Languages – the fast, easy, and most effective way to learn to speak a foreign language.
NEWS & HISTORICAL RESEARCH:
- AP Images (POWER Library) – search current and historical photographs
- New York Times – articles from 1981 to the present, and an archive from 1851-1922.
- ONEFILE: News (POWER Library) – Full-text newspapers from more than 2,300 national and world newspapers, images, radio and TV broadcasts, and transcripts.
- Philadelphia Inquirer Collection with Historical – scanned copies of the complete issues from 1829-1922 and January 2018 to current. Full text of articles from 1981-current.
SUBJECT RESEARCH:
- Explora – subject overviews, full text magazine articles, images and AP clips on wide variety of subjects.
- Gale Virtual Reference Library (POWER Library) – a collection of reference titles in the arts, biography, business, education, environment, general reference, history, literature, medicine, nation and world, science, and the social sciences.
- Gale Virtual Reference Library (Chester County Library) – a collection of reference titles in the arts, biography, business, education, environment, general reference, history, literature, medicine, nation and world, science, and the social sciences. Includes Business Plans Handbook Series (volumes 1-35).
- General OneFile (POWER Library) – general-interest periodical resource. Millions of articles available in PDF and HTML full-text, supplemented by reference, newspaper, and audio content.
- GreenFILE (POWER Library) – information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment.
- MasterFile Premier – subject overviews, full text magazine articles, an image collection and AP clips.
- ONEFILE: High School Edition (POWER Library) – information from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and engaging multi-media covering science, history, and literature, political science, sports, and environmental studies.
- Informe Académico – supports Spanish-speaking researchers with full-text Spanish- and Portuguese-language scholarly journals and magazines both from and about Latin America.
SCIENCE RESEARCH:
- IN CONTEXT: Environmental Studies (POWER Library) – Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources for environment and sustainability studies, materials and resources on energy systems, healthcare, food, climate change, population and economic development.
- Science Reference Center (POWER Library) – full text science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, and other reliable sources. More than 280,000 high-quality science images.
Looking for something else? Click here for a full list of our databases by subject.
Tour Museums Virtually!
Wish you could get out of the house but know you should stay inside? Why not take a virtual tour of a museum! Below are a few of our local museums that are offering online tours and learning!
Academy of Natural Science Online Exhibits and Science From Home
Barnes Foundation Collection and Take Out (virtual art talks)
Brandywine River Museum of Art Virtual Tours
Elmwood Park Zoo Zoo School Live
Jenkins Arboretum: Jenkins at Home
Longwood Gardens Virtual Garden Tours
National Museum of Natural History Virtual Tours
Philadelphia Zoo at 2 Facebook Live Series
Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Virtual Tours
Valley Forge National Historic Park Virtual Tours
Stream Free Audio Recordings of Seven Shakespeare Plays
The Folger Shakespeare has made audio recordings of seven Folger Shakespeare plays available for free streaming until July 1 2020. Choose from Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, Richard III, and Romeo and Juliet, “performed by the professional actors of Folger Theatre, in consultation with the editors of The Folger Shakespeare.”
You can also read free full text of all of Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets, and poems, learn about topics related to Shakespeare, and more.
Enjoy exploring!
Teen Update: Aidan Tyler, Quaran-TEEN A Weekly Webcast “Serial”
Each Tuesday at 2:00pm, author Rex Ogle reads a new and original story featuring Aidan Tyler, the main character from “Free Lunch”. Just like you, Aidan is quarantined. Find out how he is coping in this fun and relatable getaway from your own time of self-isolation. Click here to follow Aidan’s story.
Kids' Update: Women's History Month
Today is the final day of Women’s History Month 2020. Celebrate by reading about Women’s History Month and amazing women who made a big difference in the world.
What is Women’s History Month?
Now you can listen to a book about Jane Addams, who made a big difference, in The House That Jane Built.
The Youth Services Staff at the Chester County Library and Hankin Branch are presenting Virtual Storytimes beginning April 27th. They will be for three different ages groups — 0 to 2 Year Olds, 3 & 4 Year Olds, and 5 & 6 Year Olds. Registration is required via the Events Calendar at https://chescolibraries.org/. Virtual Storytimes are not registered as multi-week sessions; you will need to register for each storytime individually.
Resources for BUSINESSES during the COVID-19 pandemic – PA DCED
The PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) offers working capital loans that could be of assistance to businesses impacted by COVID-19. Resources and information will be posted to http://dced.pa.gov/resources as they become available.
Businesses seeking guidance from DCED can also contact its customer service resource account at ra-dcedcs@pa.gov or by calling 1-877-PA-HEALTH and selecting option 1.
Craft time!
Now is the perfect time to start a new craft project or finish up old projects. We have some eBooks to help you get ideas for new projects or learn a new craft! If you are tackling your UFOs (UnFinished Objects) instead, then make some progress while also tackling your TBR (To Be Read) list by crafting while listening to an eAudiobook. Browse this list to find some eAudiobooks that you can check out now if you are waiting for a hold to come in.
How to file for Unemployment Compensation during coronavirus
If you lost your job or your hours were cut because of coronavirus (COVID-19), you
should apply for unemployment compensation at: https://www.uc.pa.gov,
or call the statewide toll-free number: 888-313-7284.
Si has perdido su trabajo o sus horas fueron cortadas debido a coronavirus
(COVID-19), se debe aplicar por la compensación de desempleo a:
https://www.uc.pa.gov, O llamar al número de teléfono: 888-313-7284.
You may be eligible if:
• Your employer temporarily closes or goes out of business because of COVID-19;
• Your employer reduces your hours because of COVID-19;
• You have been told not to work because your employer feels you might get or
spread COVID-19;
• You have been told to quarantine or self-isolate;
• You left work because you were being asked to do unsafe things or lacked
childcare, as long as you told the employer first; or
• You were an independent contractor or self employed.
File a claim: https://www.uc.pa.gov/unemployment-benefits/file/
• File your first claim;
• Reopen a claim (if you filed for unemployment compensation benefits within the
past year, you can reopen your claim);
• File a bi-weekly claim (once every two weeks, you must report any hours you
worked, any paid time off, and pay you received. Also available through 888-255-
4728.) File a bi-weekly claim even if you haven’t received benefits yet.
(NOTE: As of March 16, 2020, the PA government recommends that you file claims online
(https://www.uc.pa.gov) for faster processing. To ask a question about your claim,
email uchelp@pa.gov (suggested due to high call volume and UC Live Chat requests).
If you need help applying, or if your claim is denied:
Contact Legal Aid of Southeastern PA (LASP) at 877-429-5994,
Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Stay Connected with Chescolibraries 