Below is an ongoing list of vendors offering free access to their electronic resources or other resources to support students, remote workers, and other library patrons.
COSLA Community Spreadsheet Detailing eResource Provider Response to COVID-19
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12ftGRLhIoT2-HGLrLkH5KjMiSUFdwy7XaUi0kX6ifUI/edit?usp=sharing
COSLA (Chief Officers of State Library Agencies) has compiled this Google spreadsheet listing free and reduced-cost offers from digital resource providers. As of Wednesday, March 18, it was heavily academic but was expected to grow with contributions for public libraries.
Educational Publisher ABDO Books is making their entire digital collection of PreK–12 educational titles and Zoom Database free until June. Please contact Michele Gillman at mgillman@abdobooks.com or 952-698-2404, if you have any questions.
Amazon Prime Family Programming
Amazon is opening up free streaming access to more than 40 children's shows. No end date has yet been announced (as of March 24). No Prime membership is required, but viewers must sign in with a valid Amazon account for access. Amazon has created a landing page for this free content at this link.
Audible Stories
Audible Stories will provide free audiobooks for children and teens for as long as schools are closed. Includes a collection of stories across six different languages. Sign up and start listening here.
Booklist
Booklist (https://www.booklistonline.com/) has announced free access to its online content. This includes:
For an enhanced online experience and to read digital editions on mobile devices, sign in to your existing online profile or complete the free profile form. Note that a profile is not necessary for reading online content, but having one will allow you to save, share, and download your work.
To learn how to put Booklist Online to work, please view this informative video tutorial.
For additional questions about Booklist Online, please check out their extensive FAQ or email info@booklistonline.com.
Choice "Shelter in Place" Newsletter
Choice has just launched a new newsletter, “Shelter in Place,” with a collection of links to free content provided by Choice and other publishers. Sign up at this link and check the box for the "Shelter in Place eNewsletter."
EBSCO Information and Resources to Help During the COVID-19 Pandemic
A growing list of free and expanded resources, COVID-19 clinical information, webinars, and support for distance learning and remote work.
EBSCO (via WVInfoDepot.org)
EBSCO has offered the WVLC access to the following databases through June 2020. These databases can be accessed via WVInfoDepot.org using the same login and password as our regular Info Depot databases.
EBSCO eBooks: Gain Unlimited User (UU) eBook Access from Hundreds of Participating Publishers
Site contains a list of more than 400 publishers to offer free upgrades and discounted pricing for UU access e-book models, including Harvard Business Review eBooks, Penguin Random House, LLC, and many more.
Hub compiling support materials to help librarians and educators optimize existing resources available through their collections, enhance instruction, go virtual, share credible health information, and more. Page is expected to be updated continually.
Healthy Community Tools for Public Libraries
The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) and the Public Library Association (PLA) created http://publiclibrary.health to provide health-related reference tools, training on health reference, and free databases.
Internet Archive National Emergency Library
As of March 24, 2020, the Internet Archive will suspend waitlists for the 1.4 million (and growing) books in its lending library by creating a National Emergency Library to serve the nation’s displaced learners. This suspension will run through June 16, 2020.
Library Journal
Library Journal is offering a temporary, all-access pass to support the library community during the COVID-19 emergency. Access includes temporary free access to the digitized edition of LJ, as well as all the content on their website. Log in with the following credentials for full online access to LibraryJournal.com:
Email: access@libraryjournal.com Password: LJfullaccess1
LinkedIn Learning is offering free learning paths to help people adjust to a changing work environment or find a new job altogether. Courses address topics like job seeking, remote work, crisis communications, building resilience, and more. New courses may be added to the list at the link above as they are made available.
OCLC COVID-19 Information and Resources to Help
This page contains support for remote access to collections, advice on optimizing OCLC products and services during this time, information on free resources, and opportunities to connect and collaborate with other libraries.
Penguin Random House Open License Online Story Time and Classroom Read-Aloud Videos and Live Events
In order to encourage reading and classroom read-aloud experiences, and to support schools and public libraries forced to close by the escalating COVID-19 outbreak, Penguin Random House is permitting teachers, librarians and booksellers to create and share story time and read-aloud videos and live events, according to certain guidelines. Go here for more information.
Project MUSE
Project MUSE is making some scholarly content temporarily available for free on its platform to support higher education institutions moving into an exclusively online learning environment. This platform provides access to vetted research in the humanities and social sciences, from a variety of university presses, societies, and related not-for-profit publishers. Among the publishers currently opting to make content free on Project MUSE are Johns Hopkins University Press (all books and journals), Ohio State University Press (all books and journals), University of Nebraska Press (all books and journals), University of North Carolina Press (all books), Temple University Press (all books), and Vanderbilt University Press (selected books). Additional participants may be added in the near future.
Content freely available on the Project MUSE platform during the COVID-19 crisis will display a distinctive "Free" icon, different from the "OA" icon used for fully open access content. In addition to the temporarily free offerings, there are over 2,000 open access books and a small number of fully OA journals on Project MUSE.
A list of links to publishers offering free content on Project MUSE at this time can be found here: https://about.muse.jhu.edu/resources/freeresourcescovid19/.
Resources for discovering course content, facilitating online research, and helping to navigate the challenges and opportunities of e-learning. Teaching faculty may:
Project Muse Resources for Libraries During the COVID-19 Crisis
Brings together information about:
ProQuest Coronavirus Research Database
This database containing full-text content covering all facets of COVID-19 and related infectious diseases is automatically enabled at no cost for all ProQuest platform customers.
Scribd
In response to the COVID-19 emergency, Scribd is making its library of millions of eBooks, audiobooks, magazine articles, and more available for free for 30 days. No credit card will be required. Register for your free 30 days using this link.
The TIME for Kids digital library will be free for the rest of the school year. Sign-up is required for access to free digital editions of one of four grade-specific editions of TIME for Kids and Your $: https://time.com/tfk-free/
TumbleBooks
TumbleBooks, a provider of online children's book databases, is making its online libraries available for free to all schools and libraries until at least August 31. Its Flagship product, TumbleBook Library, is a collection of animated talking picture books, read-alongs, ebooks, quizzes, lesson plans, and educational games. E-mail info@tumblebooks.com with subject line Free TumbleBooks in order to receive free links to all three TumbleBooks databases so they can be shared and accessed by your patrons in their homes.
World Book Online
World Book is providing educators with access to additional Pre-K to grade 12 learning resources through April 30, 2020. To gain access to these additional complimentary resources, click here.
World Book has also created a guide to support educators, parents, grandparents, caregivers, or anyone using their resources remotely.
To further support virtual learning, World Book will also be launching Wizard, an adaptive learning resource for math, science, social studies, and language arts. It is intended to ensure that kids retain content taught earlier this school year and to provide teachers and parents the opportunity to assign new learning topics and to monitor students' progress on each topic. Access to Wizard will automatically be granted to those who have registered for World Book's complimentary resources using the link above.
This guide is a work-in-progress and will be updated as we are able.
Listings are not endorsements and may not be comprehensive. If you learn of something that you'd like us to include, please share it with the librarian below.
West Virginia Library Commission
1900 Kanawha Blvd East | Culture Center, Bldg. 9 | Charleston, WV 25305
In-State Toll Free : (800) 642-9021 | (304) 558-2041
WV.gov
