Happy New Year!
One of the aspects of libraries that I enjoy is the serendipity of browsing the shelves or our eBook app to find hidden gems to add to my reading list, or our library program calendar for talks or activities I might want to attend. Beyond these heavily trafficked paths, we do have additional online offerings that are poised to yield up delightful surprises available to you if you explore them under the “Research” tab of our website. These resources are grouped by broad categories and each is a rabbit hole of freely available items you can access with your SCPL library card. Here are just a handful that I recommend exploring:
SoundSwell is Santa Cruz Public Libraries local Music Collection, plugging you into the local music scene with albums and songs from local artists that you can download with your library card.
CKBK is a new resource for recipe lovers! CKBK offers nearly 1000 cookbooks (more than 160,000 fully searchable recipes) by top chefs and cookbook authors, with new titles added each week.
Alexander Street is a diverse collection of Music, Dance and Theatre content, covering hundreds of genres and a wide range of content types, from instruction to performance. Leading content providers include the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Qwest TV, Smithsonian, L.A. Theatre Works, Broadway On-Demand, and many more. Includes video, audio, and text.
Kanopy provides streaming video access to one of the most unique collections of films in the world – including award-winning documentaries, training films and theatrical releases – on every topic imaginable.
LinkedIn Learning has thousands of professional online business, creative, and tech courses that build in-demand skills or just help you learn something new.
If you like historical maps, you’re sure to spend quite a bit of time in the David Rumsey Map Collection which includes maps of Santa Cruz and Central California.
These are just a few of the many more online resources you can explore and that are available for you to access 24/7 with your library card. Happy browsing!
Christopher Platt
