Happy New Year! The warmth of the holidays and the terror of the new calendar year always help to put things in perspective, and inevitably lead to New Year's Resolutions. If you're itching to make a change in your life, check out some of these suggestions of free library resource to help you in your 2022 adventure.
Get a New Hobby
One of the easier, and funner, ways to find a new side to yourself is to consider picking up a new hobby. We have a number of great resources available for all patrons who want to try new interests. If you're interested in birding, you can check out a birding kit. If you want to learn a skill like coding, digital photography, or even ukulele, there's Linkedin Learning. If you want to get crafty, hundreds of in-depth lessons are available at Creativebug. If you're interested in car repair, we have Chilton Library's car repair manuals available as an online database, as well as many manuals in print.
Get Job Skills
Are you looking to expand your employable skillset, thinking of taking a technical exam, or otherwise looking to expand your on-the-job skills? There's a number of online resources available to help. LinkedIn Learning has classes on coding, using Microsoft Excel, and on the varied aspects of running your own business. Learning Express has a resume builder, and practice tests for a number of standardized exams, including the NCLEX, GRE, GED, and SAT.
Get Prepared
Thinking about the future? Feeling like you want more certainty? We've got that covered, too! For those looking for legal forms such as a Last Will and Testament, Durable Power of Attorney, and more, we have Gale Legal Forms, which has fillable and printable legal forms. (Note: library staff cannot provide any advice on legal matters, so if you drop by the library to print your items, make sure you feel reasonably confident in what you need printed.) For those who want to be more informed, try America's News, which will give you access to the Gainesville Sun, USA Today, and dozens of other major newspapers, on a daily basis. For those preparing for a large purchase, we have Consumer Reports, both digitally and in print; you can find more info here.
Get Connected
Is it connection to the World Wide Web you need? Or maybe a printer? Or maybe to an unparalleled collection of DVDs? Whatever your need is, we've got you covered. For internet access, we have our immensely popular fleet of Wifi-2-Go devices, mobile hotspots that provide completely free internet access for you, wherever you may go, for a week-long checkout period. At all twelve of our branches, we also offer free computer access; our Windows computers have the complete Microsoft Office suite, a whole host of other useful programs, and of course, internet access for all of your diverse digital needs.
You may have heard that we offer low-cost black-and-white and color printing, but have you heard that our printing has received an upgrade? We have made it a breeze to print documents from your personal devices, wherever you may be, and print them at any Alachua County Library District location. All twelve branches also offer ScanStations, handy devices that make digitizing forms, photographs, forms of identification, and all your other documents incredibly easy. (And, while printing to paper has a small cost involved, scanning documents is completely free!)