Great Courses: Great Resources in Crisis

Many of the financial headlines we’ve swiped through in recent months have shared at least one common factor: they’re revealing the world to be a profoundly unstable place. If you’re feeling a bit insecure, uncertain about the global economic future and your place in it, why not shore up your knowledge and skills at no cost? 

If you’re up for some enlightening viewing that may just enhance your personal and professional toolkit, the Abbot Public Library has an excellent resource for you: The Great Courses! In case you haven’t heard, hundreds of video lectures by professors eminent in their fields, some from Ivy League universities, are available to stream through the Abbot Public Library for free with your Marblehead library card. If you were to buy the DVD versions of these courses, you would be paying up to $50 for just one course! 

Begin at the beginning with a comprehensive course of 48 lectures illuminating “An Economic History of the World,” progress to the timely “Economics of Uncertainty,” and bring it all home to your personal situation with “Money Management Skills.” Want to feel more secure about the expertise you have to offer, whether you’re currently working or hunting for a job? Have a look at courses like “Critical Business Skills,” “Public Speaking” (essential even in this Zoom era), and “The Psychology of Performance.” With no less than 21 economics and personal/professional development courses on offer, you’ll be spoilt for choice! You can browse all available titles on various topics here.

Great Courses videos are available via one of our streaming services, RBDigital. If you’ve never logged on before, please visit our FAQ page for instructions. You can stream on your laptop, desktop, most mobile devices, and even on your TV (instructions for streaming to your Smart TV are also in our FAQs). All you’ll need is your Marblehead library card; if you don’t yet have one or have lost yours, begin here, and our staff will be eager to assist you!

Tune out the pundits and tune in to great learning options!

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Homeschool with hoopla!

While home during shelter-in-place, it is practical to keep new digital learning resources coming in to help with burnout and boredom. Check out all of the Abbot Public Library’s e-collections and digital resources online. Today we are spotlighting homework help on hoopla.

Parents can borrow any of these picture and chapter ebooks as “Bonus Borrows.” They do not count toward the five borrows a month limit. Use your Bonus Borrows for supplementing nonfiction books for kids. The collection of ebooks covers diverse subjects, from astronomy to zoology, and is geared to grades K-5. Update homework help with fresh, factual materials.

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Below are some engaging examples:

Rosie Revere’s Big Project Book for Engineers by Andrea Beaty
Cooking Class: Global Feast! By Deanna Cook
Junk Drawer Algebra by Bobby Mercer
How Plants Grow by Donna H. Rice (also available as a Read Along)
The Solar System by Laura Hamilton Waxman, part of the Early Bird Astronomy series

You can also check out the School Closed? collection on Overdrive or through Overdrive’s Libby app for more books to keep kids learning while at home, as well as other activities for kids that were posted on the blog!

Stream Video Lectures for Free with The Great Courses!

So…you’ve caught up with all your chores, binged on Netflix, baked too many cookies, and played endless board games but are still–well, bored? Maybe it’s time to challenge the little gray cells with some adult education courses from a renowned company: The Great Courses! In case you haven’t heard, hundreds of video lectures by professors eminent in their fields, some from Ivy League universities, are available to stream through the Abbot Public Library for free. If you were to buy the DVD versions of these courses, you would be paying up to $50 for just one course! There are a multitude of diverse lectures to choose from; you can browse them here.

From cooking tutorials via the Culinary Institute of America, to expert discussion of how stress can work for you, to the history of India, to dog training tips, to music appreciation—there are offerings for everyone. Tune out the news for a while and tune in to Great Courses–who knows where your curiosity might lead you?

Great Courses videos are available via one of our streaming services, RBDigital. If you’ve never logged on before, please visit our FAQ page for instructions. You can stream on your laptop, desktop, most mobile devices, and even on your TV (instructions for streaming to your Smart TV are also in our FAQs). Here’s to new voyages of discovery!