There has never been a better time in history to learn things online. Through this post I will show you how you can access almost any great learning resource without spending a dime. This includes reading books, magazines, newspapers, comics, learning a new language, listening to audiobooks and watching video courses completely free of cost.
So it turns out that most public libraries in the United States allow their users to borrow digital content absolutely free of cost. Disclaimer: The resources mentioned in this blog have been explored using a public library located in Silicon Valley aka Bay Area (California) so apologies in advance if the exact same options are not available in your public library.
Kids
Best to time to learn is when you are a child so let us start with kids. Believe it or not but you can access ABCmouse completely free of cost via your public library account and help your child learn everything he or she needs using newer and more intuitive techniques.
Books
Almost all available eBooks can be borrowed from the library using apps like Overdrive, SimplyE, HyRead (for Chinese eBooks) and Odilo (for Spanish eBooks). Depending upon your platform (Kindle, Mac, Windows, iOS or Android), one of the above options should allow you to access the book you want to read. Apart from these options my favorite one is O’reilly for public libraries where you can access all the great O’reilly books and their other video content.
Audiobooks
Using your public library account, you can access almost any available audiobooks through apps like Overdrive, SimplyE or Libby. I use the OverDrive app to listen to audiobooks and it allows me to check out 10 digital items and place a hold on 12 items for a maximum period of 21 days. After 21 days, you can place a new hold on your previous book in case you weren’t able to finish it. In my experience the deadline of 21 days acts like a motivation and forces you to finish a book before your checkout expires.
Magazines
Just like eBooks, you can access many magazines online and free of cost from the library via Overdrive, Libby, HyRead and Flipster app on many different platforms.
Video courses
You can access LinkedIn Learning and Universal Class via your public library account to access the massive collection of their video courses. You can also access a good amount of video tutorials using O’reilly for public libraries.
Learning a new language
You can learn a foreign language and become multilingual by using Rosetta Stone via your public library account.
Newspapers
You can also access and read several newspapers like Mercury News (Bay Area) and New York Times free of cost.
Comics
You can access several comics using ComicsPlus via your public library account.
Free movies
You can even watch some movies including movies for kids on Kanopy.
YouTube and Google
Last but not the least, the world’s biggest library is YouTube and there is video for almost everything. Also, using Google you can search and find a solution for almost anything.
Final thoughts
To conclude there is no shortage of resources in the present age but what is scarce is your attention and motivation to learn. If technology enables you to access things easily, it also makes it easy for you to get distracted by it. So stay focused and have self discipline while using technology to learn and grow.