The Kutztown SBDC recognizes that their clients’ small businesses may be negatively affected by the impacts of the COVID-19 global outbreak. To that end, they stand ready to work with clients to navigate potential financial hardships. If you currently have any specific concerns or questions, reach out to your current consultant or complete their online consulting request form to schedule a time to meet.
Category: Adult Resources
Borrow books without joining a waitlist from the National Emergency Library
The Internet Archive has suspended waitlists for the 1.4 million books in their lending library by creating a National Emergency Library to serve the nation’s displaced learners. This suspension will run through June 30, 2020, or the end of the US national emergency, whichever is later.
During the waitlist suspension, users will be able to borrow books from the National Emergency Library without joining a waitlist, ensuring that students will have access to assigned readings and library materials that the Internet Archive has digitized for the remainder of the US academic calendar, and that people who cannot physically access their local libraries because of closure or self-quarantine can continue to read and thrive during this time of crisis, keeping themselves and others safe.
For more information, go to their announcement page and their FAQs.
Business, education, biography, and more in Gale Virtual Reference Library
The Gale Virtual Reference Library database includes reference titles in the arts, biography, business, education, environment, general reference, history, law, literature, medicine, multicultural studies, nation and world, science, social sciences, and technology.
Trying to plan a business but don’t have access to the Chester County Library’s Business Plans Handbook series while we’re closed due to the pandemic? Fear not! The first 35 volumes are available online in the GVRL business section.
Planning your career or higher education? Check out the education section.
For all other topics, log in to the database with your CCL library card number from this page.
Keep pace on your next walk with these five bestselling author podcasts
Before you take your next walk, why not download a podcast to keep your pace? Here are five bestselling author podcasts, ready for your ears!
On Writer’s Bone:
Author Delia Owens joins Daniel Ford for Friday Morning Coffee to chat about her debut novel Where the Crawdads Sing. – 21 minutes
On the B&N Podcast:
Jeanine Cummins sits down with B&N’s Miwa Messer to take us behind the making of American Dirt. –25-minutes
On Author Stories with Hank Garner:
Walk and listen – a great combo!
Free access to Foundation Directory Online Essential
Nonprofit organizations can still search for funding opportunities while the Chester County Library is closed. Candid, the parent company of the Foundation Center, has provided us with temporary, free access to Foundation Directory Online Essential. This valuable resource includes:
- 103,000+ expanded grantmaker profiles
- 300,000+ key decision makers and leaders
- Searchable 990s and 990-PDFs
- FDO Workspace
If you need more in-depth information on a foundation than FDO Essential can provide, please email us at ref@ccls.org and one of our librarians can send you the full Funder Profile from Foundation Directory Online Professional.
Vote by mail–no questions asked!
The 2020 Primary Election is just over a month away and you want to make sure your vote is counted! Did you know that you can now vote by mail in Pennsylvania? Due to recent voting reforms, registered voters can now apply to receive a mail-in ballot without providing a reason. Registered voters with a valid PA Driver’s License or PennDOT ID number can apply for their vote-by-mail ballot online. If you do not have one of these ID numbers, you can download a paper application from the same site and mail it to your County Board of Elections. Learn more about voting in PA in this handy online guide.
Time to Start Your Own Vegetable Garden
Having a vegetable garden supports a healthy and sustainable life style. Now is the time to start one, but how?
First, let’s find your plant hardiness zone from USDA Hardiness Zone Finder. It will help you to decide which plants should go into your garden.
Second, timing is everything. This Garden Planting Calendar tells you when to start planting your desired vegetables.
Third, let’s get up and start your own vegetable garden!
Resources
From OverDrive:
Ultimate Garden Guide
143 Ideas for Containers, Beds & Borders
Southern Living by The Editors of Southern Living
The Rodale Book of Composting, Newly Revised and Updated
Simple Methods to Improve Your Soil, Recycle Waste, Grow Healthier Plants, and Create an Earth-Friendly Garden by Grace Gershuny and Deborah L. Martin
Ecological Gardening
Your Path to a Healthy Garden by Marjorie Harris
From Seed to Skillet
A Guide to Growing, Tending, Harvesting, and Cooking Up Fresh, Healthy by Jimmy Williams
Starting & Saving Seeds
Grow the Perfect Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Flowers for Your Garden by Julie Thompson-Adolf
There are also many resources from Fipster. Search Home & Garden.
Other Resources:
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Food for Thought
Composting information from Chester County Soil Waste Authority
Gardening adds years to your life and life to your years. – Unknown
There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments. – Janet Kilburn Phillips
When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy, there is always the garden. – Minnie Aumonier
Tinkering at Home!
Looking for coding, gadgetry, and other STEM activities to do at home? These organizations have you covered!
First, follow along with the Girls Who Code and make binary bracelets, Scratch stories, and digital tutorials. They’ll be updating with new activities regularly, so stay tuned.
Next, check out Make Magazine’s Makercamp! They have a great catalog of projects to follow along with, from low tech papercraft automata to a fully functional Makey Makey Operation board game.
Finally, check out these Khan Academy schedules to add a bit of structure to your day! They have lessons on everything, from Math to Biology to Reading Comprehension.
Interim guidance for businesses and employers from the CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will update this interim guidance as needed and as additional information becomes available. This web page includes recommended strategies for employers to use now and important considerations for creating an infectious disease outbreak response plan.
Start your genealogy research at home
You can research your family history from home with these helpful library resources:
Access Heritage Quest Online, free with your library card.
Click here or visit chescolibraries.org, select Tools and Research from the menu bar and click on All CCLS Databases to locate Heritage Quest Online. Sign in with your library card.
Family Tree Magazine on Flipster
View this current issue and past issues of Family Tree Magazine through 2015 online.
Click here or visit chescolibraries.org, select Downloads from the menu bar and scroll down to click on Flipster and sign in with your library card.
General OneFile (POWER Library)
Our GALE General OneFile through POWER Library has millions of articles available in PDF and HTML full-text, supplemented by reference, newspaper, and audio content. Find relevant articles and periodicals by entering “genealogy” in the Search bar.
Click here or visit chescolibraries.org, select Tools and Research from the menu bar and click on All CCLS Databases to locate General OneFile and sign in with your library card.
Genealogy searches from home – a great way to learn your family history!
