Resources Review - Novelist

Over the next few weeks, we'll be highlighting some of our online resources, including our ebooks and various online learning programs.  You can visit our Resources page at any time for a list of our more popular programs, or the databases by subject page to view a comprehensive list which includes our academic research offerings.

First we'll take a look at NoveList, a comprehensive readers' advisory solution for fiction lovers. It helps you find your "next read" with a variety of easy-to-use tools.

You can access Novelist from this link in the library, and use your Oldsmar library card # to access it from outside the library.

Novelist has book discussion guides, read-alike lists and reading suggestions for all ages.  You can tell it what type of books you're looking for or browse by genre and age group. You can even search by Lexile or limit your searches to only award winners with the Advanced Search options.

Right on the landing page, you'll find suggested read-alikes for recent bestsellers as well as the Keeping Up lists, which let you know what's been released recently in your favorite genre.

We hope you'll give Novelist a try when trying to find your next read and let us know what you think!

Universal Class - new resource for online learning

Have you wanted to try an online course but were turned off by the price? Well, we have a great new product that you can use for FREE to polish up your skills or learn some new ones. Instructions for creating an account are below.

Universal Class offers over 500 online non-college credit continuing education courses on a wide variety of topics:

Accounting -  Alternative Medicine -  Arts and Photography -  Business - Career Training -  Computer Training - Cooking - Crafts & Hobbies -  Finance -  General Education -  Health & Medicine -  History -  Home and Garden -  Homeschooling -  How To / Do It Yourself - Law/Legal/Criminal -  Mathematics -  Medical Billing -  New Age - Office Skills -  Parenting and Family -   Performing Arts -  Personal Care -  Pet and Animal Care -  Psychology -  Real Estate -  Reference -  Religious Studies - Science -  Self-Help -  Social Work -  Special Education -  Spiritual Studies -  Teacher Resources - Terminology -  Test Preparation -  Web Development - Writing Skills

Most classes contain an audio-visual component as well as assignments, quizzes & exams to test your knowledge. You can print out a Certificate of Course Completion for each class you complete.  Classes take between 10-20 hours to complete

• You can browse the catalog, but you must register & create an account with Universal Class before you can begin classes.  You can do this with this link either in the library or outside with an Oldsmar library card.  Please call us at 813-749-1181 if you need assistance.
• You will need to have a valid e-mail address to sign up for courses
• You are welcome to enroll in up to 5 courses at a time
• You have up to 6 months to finish each course
• You have access to your course 24/7 via the Internet & can cover course materials and do assignments on your schedule
• Each course has a real instructor who you may communicate with using e-mail
• There are online message boards which provide opportunities to connect with other students for an authentic classroom experience
• These are non-credit courses and are provided for your personal enrichment. These courses are not intended to be a substitute for any state, government, licensing, or educational requirements.
• Universal Class is accredited as an authorized provider by the International Association for Continuing Education Training (IACET), offering continuing education units on all qualifying courses.

You can read more in this FAQ.