The following article was submitted by Julia Lee, the Youth Services Manager at the Manitowoc Public Library.
It is hard to believe that August is almost over and fall is just around the corner! As parents prepare to send their kids back to school, Manitowoc Public Library wants to let students and teachers alike know that we have your back! We might not be able to do your back-to-school shopping for you, but the Library has everything else you need to help you have a great year! Your Friendly Neighborhood Librarians are here with resources to help get the school year off to a good start and keep it there!
One service we want to make sure that everyone knows about is our Virtual Library Card program. Virtual Library Cards are a great way for students and educators to have 24/7 access to digital library materials, such as Overdrive/Libby and Badgerlink. Regardless of whether or not you have a personal library card—or even if that card is blocked for any reason—these Virtual Library Cards will allow students and educators to access online databases, check out eBooks and digital magazines (not physical ones, though), and use the public computers at the Library.
Julia Lee
In 2017, Manitowoc Public Library partnered with the Manitowoc Public School District to introduce Virtual Library Cards. These Virtual Library Cards allowed all students and staff within MPSD access to a wide range of digital resources offered by the Library. Since that time, the Virtual Library Card program expanded into most of the private schools in Manitowoc (including Bethany, First German, Immanuel Lutheran, Roncalli, and Lutheran High School), as well as Valders School District, Reedsville School District, Mishicot School District, and St. John’s Lutheran in Newtonburg.
Below are just a few highlights of the digital resources you can access for FREE with your library card (or Virtual Library Card!). From getting math help on Tutor.com, to FREE eBooks, eAudiobooks, and streaming movies on Overdrive & Libby, our digital databases are the bomb.com! Did we mention that they are totally FREE?! For a full listing of our databases, please visit manitowoclibrary.org/databases/.
- Tutor.com Online professional tutors help students to complete homework and study for tests, reviewing papers and practice skills. There’s also job resume help. Available online noon to midnight. Also available in Spanish.
- Mango Languages/Transparent Language Learn a new language online! Choose from over 70 world languages and dialects through courses that start you with conversational words and phrases.
- Explora/BadgerLink Wisconsin’s Online Library, providing licensed content from journals and magazines not available through regular search engines. Great for research, extended learning, and also allows access to royalty free images, videos and sounds.
- Tumblebooks TumbleBooks has over 1,100 titles for grades K-6 in Spanish and French. Only available to use with internet connection.
- Overdrive/Libby Wisconsin Public Library Consortium’s digital library. Books check out and download to a device. Once downloaded, no internet connection is needed.
- BadgerLink Research Guide Step-by-step guide to learn about the process of doing research.
- Britannica Learning Zone Interactive learning games about letters, sounds, colors, numbers and more.
- Britannica School Encyclopedia articles including images, maps, games, and other learning materials.
- Explora Search engine for full text articles, includes images and citations.
- History Reference Center Full text history reference center includes articles, images, and videos.
- Learning Express College Admissions Test Prep Practice tests and prep for ACT, SAT, AP tests, etc. You’ll need to create a username and password.
- Literary Reference Center Literature-based information including some full-text classics.
- NoveList Fiction resource to find read-alikes based on author, title, series, or genre for grades K-12.
- Science Reference Center Full-text science articles, images, and videos.
- Teaching Books Make connections to books and authors with curriculum standards, literacy connections, and ready-to-use activities and lesson plans.
- Wisconsin First Nations Educational materials for teaching about Wisconsin Native Nations.
- Wisconsin Public Television Education Educational videos, images, sound files, and animations spanning all subject areas
In addition to the online databases, we also provide resources and special library cards just for educators! Looking to get 50 books on Wisconsin History for your classes? Library staff are happy to put collections of books together—all you have to do is pick them up! If you are a part of Manitowoc Public School District, you don’t even have to do that! MPSD staff can have their collections added to the District van, which stops by the Library each week. Check out our Teacher Resources on our website and fill out the Teacher Collection Request Form (www.manitowoclibrary.org/teacher-resources/) to get your collection started today! To get you the best collection possible, we ask that you give us a week to fulfill requests.
We also have a GREAT line up of fun, educational programs for Kids and Teens coming up at MPL this fall. Click on the “Events” tab on our website (www.manitowoclibrary.org) to see all we have to offer!
