Holiday Sounds for Free with Freegal Music!

Do you hear what I hear? 

I hear FREE high quality MP3s, and I got them by using my library card!

Spice up your Christmas playlist with 5 free downloads every week with your Terrebonne Parish Library card! 

You can mix it up with A Pentatonix Christmas

Let your sweetie know that All I Want for Christmas is You

Or have a Blue Christmas with the King!

There are hundreds of songs to choose from. 

Mix them up, and make your perfect holiday playlist!

The albums above include the full songs by the original artists. Freegal also offers several covers of popular songs, children's music, and classical music. Listen to a sample before you download to be sure you like what you're getting!

Homework Help for Everyone!

Homework Louisiana, through Tutor.com, offers an excellent service to library patrons that many don't know about: completely free tutoring, online, that you can access from any internet connected computer or Android/Apple device. Tutoring is available for library patrons at kindergarten through college levels. Help is available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. And, as of November 2017, an audio feature has been added so that you can talk with your tutor during your session.

Yes, live, real time tutoring through an online chat with a trained tutor is completely FREE with your library card! Just select your grade level (or, you can choose “adult” to work on skills if you’re not in school) and your subject, and you will quickly be connected with a live person who is trained to assist you with your homework or skill building. You can even scan in a worksheet or assignment and submit it to your tutor, so you can work on it together. If you need math help or for someone to review your essay or resume during off hours, there’s even a convenient way to drop those off and have them reviewed by a tutor later. Resume and essay feedback will be returned to you within 12 hours, and step-by-step feedback on your math problem will be returned within 24 hours.

Are you thinking of going back to school, but it’s been a while? There are assessment quizzes that will let you know where you stand and what you need help with. If you need to take the ACT or SAT, a section of the website provides free practice tests with automatic feedback at the completion of the test, letting you know where you stand and what you will need to work on to get a better score.

Live one-to-one help is available at the kindergarten through college level, Sunday – Thursday from 2:00 – 10:00pm; Adult Education and the Career Center are available Sunday – Thursday from 10:00am – 10:00pm.

Here's to Your Health! Health Resources from Terrebonne Parish Library

October, as you probably know, is Breast Cancer Awareness month. But keeping informed about topics related to your overall health and well being shouldn’t be confined to one month. As always, the library is here to help with a wealth of current information pertaining to a wide array of health topics. Whether it’s as serious as cancer or as small as mild acne, we have your health information needs covered with digital resources, available 24/7 at www.MyTPL.org.

The best way to access our online health resources in one place from our website is to select the “Databases by Subject” tab from the “Research” drop down menu on our homepage, shown below. From there, scroll down to “Health and Medicine.” You will find a group of databases created for both laypeople and medical professionals.

One of the best places to get started with your own medical research is Consumer Health Complete (Which is also available in Spanish as Salud En Espanol). Consumer Health Complete features one search box to search over 170 full text reference books. As described on the database itself, “More than 170 reference books and encyclopedias provide answers to health-related questions and offer in-depth information on conditions, procedures and treatments. These books cover a wide range of topics from First Aid, baby & child care, diseases, alternative medicine to aging & health and wellness.”

A quick search for “Breast Cancer” yields over 150 results for full text articles in publications such as Mayo Clinic Guide to Women's Cancers, Reduce Your Cancer Risk: Twelve Steps to a Healthier Life, and American Medical Association Family Medical Guide.

Another great resource is Salem Health, where library patrons can view entire books on the following subjects:

At Terrebonne Parish Library, we are proud to provide current and authoritative medical information to make sure our patrons are living their best and healthiest lives. Call or email the Reference department any time to get help navigating these fantastic resources.

Native American Resources at Your Library

On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the "New Word," probably somewhere in what we now consider the Bahamas, and claimed that land for Spain (believing he had landed in East Asia). However,  multitudes of indigenous peoples had existed in the islands, and what we now consider the United States, since well before settlement by Europeans. Due to European conquest and exploration, over the generations, many tribes have unfortunately disappeared. What remains are several federally and state recognized tribes of various sizes and location.  Fortunately, information about the culture and history of many of these tribes have been passed down and is available to us today. Below are a few resources to help you learn more about the fascinating culture and history of America's first people. 

The Encyclopedia Britannica online is a good place to start, with a well written, comprehensive article titled, "Native Americans: Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the United States."

The United States Bureau of Indian Affairs website offers information about modern legislation and issues affecting Native Americans living in the US today. 

Three books on Native American history and culture are available online anytime via Brittanica E-Stax with your Terrebonne Parish Library card. 

Infobase Ebooks has another great, always-available online resource, the Encyclopedia of the American Indian in the Twentieth Century. 

Reading diversely is important to understanding the experiences of people unlike yourself, or to see yourself reflected in others. A good place to start learning about Native American writers is Native American Writers, New Edition, edited by Harold Bloom, and available 24/7 online at Infobase. 

Looking for something a bit more tangible? Of course, the library has a wide variety of books by and about Native Americans. Check out some of the titles below, or search our catalog online to find out more. 

 

 

 

Talk Like a Pirate at Your Library!

Ahoy, Mateys!

Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Don’t know how to talk like a pirate? Fortunately for you, Mango Languages offers a free online course to teach you how to perfect your pirate vocabulary, pronunciation,and sentence structures. Just visit the Terrebonne Parish Library’s databases page, create a free Mango Languages account, and get started! After you master Pirate, you can try out one of the other 70 language courses offered through Mango.

 As much fun as it is to talk like a pirate, pirates were (and are) terrifying people who shaped history in a myriad of ways. If you want to learn more about the real history of pirates, Terrebonne Parish Library has a wide selection of nonfiction books for adults, teens, and children. Learn about the day to day life of pirates in The Pirate Code  by Brenda Ralph Lewis. View maps of the routes that historical pirates followed in The World Atlas of Pirates by Angus Konstam. Learn the true history of such famous figures as Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, and Anne Bonney in Jolly Roger: The Story of the Great Age of Piracy by Patrick Pringle.

Looking for something fun for your littlest shipmates? DLTK Kids has a whole section of fun activities to share with your little mateys.

Happy Sailing! 

August is Romance Awareness Month

Hearts. Flowers. Boxes of chocolates. Wait, aren't we still in August?!

That’s right! August is officially “Romance Awareness Month.” Now you don’t have to wait until February to celebrate the one you love...or to find someone new.

If you have a blank space to fill in your nerdy heart, consider meeting someone at our Friend Speed Meeting event at Terrebonne Comic Con, coming up on September 17th. This speed meeting event is designed to help you meet new friends who share interests in the same fandom, or nerdy life in general. But is there really any better place to meet that “special” someone than at a library? Comic Con begins at 2 PM. Friend Speed Meeting (18+ only) will happen early, at 2:15 PM in the Quiet Study room (upstairs). .

Do you want to show bae how much you care? What could be more romantic than a playlist? No one needs to know you downloaded the music for FREE using your weekly downloads from Freegal! Every Terrebonne Parish Library account can download up to five songs every week. And, unlike bae, they're yours to keep, forever. How romantic!

Feeling the sting of a recent breakup? Here are some good reads to warm your cold heart:

Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

The Wisdom of a Broken Heart

It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Breakup Buddy

And finally, if you prefer fictional love lives, check out some of the recommended reads on our Pinterest page!

Back to School!

Congratulations, parents, you’ve made it through another wonderful summer! Now it’s time to pack away the suitcases, finish up your summer reads, gather your sleepy children, and  head back to school! And as always, your Terrebonne Parish Library is there to support you all the way through the new school  year! Be sure to visit mytpl.org/student to find collections of resources for your child’s age group, from “early learning” to high school.

Even the youngest children can benefit from the library’s online resources. Visit Tumblebooks for fun, animated picture books that read aloud with your child. Tumblebooks has resources for children from early learning to advanced levels, and includes not only picture books but chapter books, nonfiction, and graphic novels as well. A special “math stories” section features tales designed to get your children thinking about math through lively stories about counting, fractions, and even geometry. There are also books in Spanish and French to aid little language learners (and big ones too!). A beautiful collection of short streaming videos from National Geographic, on topics ranging from space to geography to history, is included in Tumblebooks. Looking for something a little more interactive to capture your kid’s interest? Try Tumblebooks’ “puzzles and games” section.

Another great resource for elementary aged children is Britannica E-STAX. If your child has a report due and you don’t have time to go to the library, Britannica E-STAX can be a lifesaver. Over 300 high quality, fully illustrated ebooks are available 24/7 to stream or download. Features such as keyword searching and automatic citation make these books even easier to browse than their physical counterparts. Students can also bookmark pages, highlight, and create notes in these ebooks and save the notes to their online “folder” for later reference. Similarly, Word Book Ebooks has interactive ebooks that can be borrowed for 21 days.

Middle and high school students will find a wealth of information they can use for reports and projects on Gale Virtual Reference Library. This expansive collection contains the full text of encyclopedias and reference books on a wide range of topics, including religion, history, literature, culture, and much more. The pages can be downloaded as PDFs and printed right from your home computer. Also of note for high school students, TumbleBookCloud contains a collection of always available ebooks, audiobooks, and graphic novels for the teen interest level - many of which may be required reading during the school year.

One of the best resources our library offers is free online tutoring through Homework Louisiana. Students of all ages (kindergarten through college) can contact a live tutor from 2 PM to 10 PM Sunday through Thursday. Students can upload worksheets or images of problems they are working on and the tutor will walk them through their homework problem. Help is provided with math, science, writing, ACT/SAT prep, and many other topics. Homework Louisiana is available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. An app is available for both Android and Apple based products.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of resources your library has to offer. So when you’re done filling those backpacks with new boxes of crayons, tissue, and notebooks, don’t forget to share these fantastic resources with your friends and family! We’re hoping we can help make this the best school year ever for you and your kids!

July is National Culinary Arts Month!

July is National Culinary Arts Month. Celebrate your own way with resources from your Terrebonne Parish Library!

Aside from a vast collection of cookbooks available in the library or online via OverDrive Digital Media, the library has a collection of culinary DVDs featuring favorites like Paula Deen and Julia Child. Learn the basics, or step up your game by following along with the greats.

The library offers five cooking magazines available to our users online, 24/7, via Flipster. Flipster is especially great for recipes, because you can either print out an individual recipe to try, or bring your tablet into the kitchen and read your recipe straight from the app. Best of all, the back issues are available as well, so you have months worth of recipes, cooking tips, and ideas at your fingertips!

Interested in reading up on the professional side of things? Try our the Vocational & Career Collection from EBSCO. You can view full scans of articles in professional journals, magazines, and newspapers from nearly 340 sources by selecting “full text” in the box on the left side of the page.  A quick search on “culinary arts” will bring up over 7,000 results featuring the full text of articles about dining, culinary education, and food trends around the world.

                 

Looking for more recommendations? Our Pinterest page contains cookbook recommendations from our staff!