Category: Adult Resources

Business, education, biography, and more in Gale Virtual Reference Library

~ Sam Bardarik ~ Leave a comment

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

~ Book Club Mom ~ 5 Comments
Image: Pixabay

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

Author Alex Michaelides joins Daniel Ford on Friday Morning Coffee to chat about his best-selling debut The Silent Patient. –23 minutes

On the B&N Podcast:

Bestselling, award-winning novelist Harlan Coben talks about where his stories come from — and the surprising tale of how he came to be a novelist. – 36 minutes

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:

Interview with C. J. Box, author of the Joe PIckett series and the new mystery Long Range (A Joe Pickett Novel Book 20). – 38 minutes

Walk and listen – a great combo!

Free access to Foundation Directory Online Essential

~ Tom ~ Leave a comment

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!

~ megyves ~ Leave a comment

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

~ Sara ~ Leave a comment

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 

National Agricultural Library

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!

~ mxremy ~ Leave a comment

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.

Start your genealogy research at home

~ Book Club Mom ~ Leave a comment

Image: Pixabay

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!