Digital Events and 10 Free Library Resources You Can Use at Home

(Woodland, CA) – Yolo County residents are invited to join Yolo County Library online for a wide range of information and entertainment – free from home during the County’s shelter-in-place order.

Wondering if you need to return your library materials? Please keep your materials at home until the library re-opens.  Due dates have been extended until May 4th and overdue fees will be waived.  Get questions answered by visiting the library webpage or calling (530) 666-8005.

No library card? No problem! Yolo County residents can register for a temporary Yolo County Library eCard to instantly access a wide range of digital services at: https://web-iii.yolocounty.org/selfreg. Alternatively, borrow e-books and e-audiobooks with OverDrive’s Libby app.  Simply sign up with your mobile phone number and gain instant access.

“We offer free digital resources for all ages,” said Yolo County Librarian Mark Fink. “Now is a great time to explore our website, https://yolocountylibrary.org to read a new book, learn a new skill, or catch up with your favorite publication.”

Here are ten great ways to use the library from home (for free!): 

1. Spring into Reading by participating in the Spring Reading Program, sponsored by the Yolo County Library Foundation. Register on the Library’s website, earn digital badges while reading at home and are entered into a prize drawing when 10 badge activities are completed.
2. The Library’s Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest pages have updates, live and prerecorded storytimes, trivia night events and forums to connect with fellow community members scheduled throughout the day, Monday through Friday.
3. Learn about the latest shelter-in-place resources. The Yolo County Library website FAQ page provides an updated list of useful community resources, including food banks, community meals, school lunches and delivery services, emotional support resources, and wage replacement sources for impacted workers. The list also includes activities and entertainment resources for families, including live zoo webcams, virtual tours, online museum art exhibits, virtual music and theater performances, open education courses, craft instruction and online sporting events. www.yolocountylibrary.org/faq
4. Browse the books, audiobooks, news and magazines with the library’s virtual collection. The library offers something for every kind of reader, so read and listen to a treasure trove of fresh content. Also try OverDrive, which offers our community’s most popular fiction and nonfiction on any desktop or through the Libby app for your mobile device. E-book and e-audiobook formats are available as well as options for IOS, Android and Kindle. Our newest app SimplyE combines OverDrive, Enki (if you want more indie options or more nonfiction variety), and the Digital Public Library of America collection (DPLA). A lifetime worth of reading in the palm of your hand. Magazine lovers can use Flipster for favorite popular titles, including current and back issues. www.yolocountylibrary.org/reading
5. For elementary age children Flipster eMagazines offers Highlights and Ask!. Tumblebooks includes read-along and animated e-books for parents and young children to enjoy together as well as literacy building games, puzzles, and videos. To keep your teens and tweens busy, look to TeenBookCloud for e-books, e-audiobooks, videos and more. Lastly, encourage your child’s math literacy with Tumble Math, an e-book collection designed to help children understand mathematical concepts through stories.
6. Teachers and students of all ages can benefit from the Library’s online Encyclopedia Britannica, Spanish language Escolar and General One File research tools. Teaching Books provides teachers with activities, reading lists, books and author resources, authors hosting free events and more. Teachers can have instant videos and interviews with authors! www.yolocountylibrary.org/research.
7. Learn or practice any of the 163 languages on the library’s website through courses, movies and music, including a newCOVID-19 language course in 101 languages from Pronunciator. Quickly build conversational skills through a suite of interactive online drills, scored quizzes, and downloadable audio lessons and phrasebooks.
8. Improve your English skills with USA Learns, a free website to help adults learn English online. There are three English courses to teach you beginning and intermediate English anytime, day or night. Video lessons include English speaking, listening, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, writing, grammar, and a new U.S. Citizenship course! 
9. Yolo County Archives and other historical collections can be explored from the comfort of your home. Calisphere, at https://calisphere.org, aggregates digitized collections from a number of California repositories, including resources from the Yolo County Archives. Google Arts & Culture, at https://artsandculture.google.com, includes curated collections from the California State Archives, the Crocker Art Museum, the Bancroft Library, and the California Academy of Sciences. California Revealed, at https://californiarevealed.org, helps California’s public libraries digitize, preserve, and provide online access to archival materials, including collections from the Yolo County Archives and the West Sacramento Historical Society.Additionally, some photographs and collections from the Yolo County Archives are digitally available at: www.yolocountyhistory.com. Nationally relevant resources and curated digital collections can be accessed through the Archives Unbound database on the Library page at: https://yolocountylibrary.org/research/.
10. Reach your goals and finish your high school education with Career Online High School.By providing academic coaches and individual career paths, this program sets students up in a supportive environment to obtain their high school diploma. Participants must be nineteen years or older and live in Yolo County. Take the self-assessment at: https://www.careeronlinehs.gale.com/ca/self-assessment/.

Residents with questions regarding accounts or how to access digital resources while library buildings are closed, can call: (530) 666-8005, Mondays – Fridays, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information about these Yolo County Library virtual programs and online resources, visit: www.yolocountylibrary.org or connect with the Library on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/yolocountylibrary.org.