By LINDA CHION KENNEY
With New Year’s resolutions intact for learning, saving and investing, and for taking better care of body, mind and emotions, it pays to remember library card holders have access to free and extensive learning and research tools for professional development, financial literacy, and in-demand skills training and certification.
The full list of offerings is available online at www.HCPLC.org for access to the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative and its “Learning and Research” offerings. Many of the offerings are available without library access but for a fee, and that’s why library card access is a compelling benefit.
For access to sites that otherwise require monthly or annual costs, a user needs only to type in their library card number and PIN, which typically is the last four digits of the library user’s telephone number on record.
One such site. LinkedIn Learning, is a skills-development platform built on insights from 1 billion users of LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals and hiring officials. For the more than 21,000 expert-led LinkedIn courses, the cost for library card holders is free. Service costs otherwise are $49.99 per course; $29.99 per month; and $19.99 per month, when paid annually.
Trending LinkedIn topics as of January 27 were courses related to leadership and management, artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity. For new and experienced coders, expert instruction and real-time practice is available through CoderPad and GitHub Codespaces. For digital media and marketing, instruction and professional certification training is available for Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop and Premiere Pro.
And the list goes on.
Interested in business and investment? Available is Value Line, which provides research on companies, industries and markets. Established in 1931, Value Line is billed as the “uncontested authority for reliable and unbiased information.”
Also on tap is Weiss Ratings, a financial ratings site that covers banks, credit cards, insurance, consumer guides, financial literacy basics and more. Users can generate an 80-page document to help with Medicare Medigap supplemental insurance planning.
Morningstar Investment Research, which had been removed but is set to soon again become available, offers comprehensive data and analysis on thousands of investments, including mutual funds, stocks and exchange-traded funds. Morningstar Premium is free for Hillsborough library card users. Otherwise, there is a cost for monthly membership.
In all, there are 16 categories covered under the “Learning and Research” tab on the HCPLC.org website, including health and medicine, homework help, legal research, literature and books, mobile apps, travel, DIY and consumer. The genealogy and history tab includes links to the Burget Brothers Photographic Collection, African American Historical Resources, Ancestory Library Edition (in-library use only), FamilySearch, HeritageHub, MyHeritage, Fold3, Find a Grave and Ellis Island passenger list searches.
The government tab offers links to city, county, state and federal websites, as well as to Florida legal forms and tax information. The grants and fundraising offerings are available online only at the John F. Germany Public Library and include GuideStar and the Foundation Directory Online Professional (FOD). The FOD, through Candid, is reportedly the most comprehensive and up-to-date giving information available, with monthly billing costing $219.99 per month. The annual, one-time cost is $1,599. On site, with the library card, the cost is free.
A further sampling of “Learning and Research” offerings online include instruction through Mango Languages, available in more than 70 foreign languages. Without a library card, the cost is $199.99 per year, or $16.67 per month. With Brainfuse HelpNow/Job Now, kids get live instructor tutoring, while adults can access assistance for high school equivalency and U.S. citizenship test preparation, Microsoft Office help, career resources and resume writing.
Universal Class self-paced courses include instruction in business, crafts and hobbies, entrepreneurship, homeschooling, general and special education, office skills, personal development, psychology, spiritual studies, web development, writing and more. Health and medicine classes include those that cover the art of breathing, Alzheimer’s disease, asthma and medical technology. Without library card access, pricing for all courses, including certificates and CEUs, is $189 for one year, $299 for two years, and $79 for the first month, with $29 for each consecutive month thereafter.
For more on businesses and investments, offerings include Gale business insights and Gale business demographics, for statistical breakdowns based on income, housing, business, race, age, education, retail spending and consumer expenditures.
Linda Chion Kenney Photos
The Riverview Public Library, at 9951 Balm Riverview Road, is part of the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative.
For small business skills and understanding, there are links to Gale business entrepreneurship and to the U.S. Small Business Administration, Hillsborough County Entrepreneur Collaborative Center and Florida Small Business Development Center. Likewise, Gale OneFile offers full-text coverage of all business disciplines, while Gale legal forms provides sample forms for family law, wills and estates, business, landlords and tenants, and much more, tailored to the state of Florida.
A further library card benefit is access to newspapers and magazines, which provides free access to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Tampa Tribune Archives, Florida Newspaper Database, Black Newspaper Collection, America’s Newspapers, PressReader, Consumer Reports and National Geographic Virtual Library. Through OverDrive/Libby, users can borrow eBooks, audio books and magazines through computers and digital devices.
For more on the learning and research offerings, visit www.HCPLC.org/.