SCLSNJ Staff Share: What I Learned at Home During the Pandemic

About Blog Post Jul 16, 2020 by Pressroom

As restrictions in the state start to lift and life slowly begins to evolve into the “new normal,” the Somerset County Library System of New Jersey (SCLSNJ) staff reflect on what they discovered at home using the Infobase resource family during the stay-at-home order. From health, history, science, and geography to career services and more, Infobase has a resource for you available through your Library while safe at home or in-branch. “Infobase resources provide an extensive collection of supplemental educational materials to our Library System,” said Chris Murray, adult services supervisor. “The core subject areas cover everything from literature to health and science. During the pandemic many Library customers had inquiries about finding reliable, trustworthy information related to the pandemic. I was able to direct them to COVID-19 information available through the Health Reference Center, part of the Infobase family.” Through the Health Reference Center, Library customers were able to discover the origins of Coronavirus, reported COVID-19 cases worldwide, symptoms of the virus, preventative measures, and more. “Not only were community members concerned about their health during the pandemic, but many people were concerned about their jobs and careers,” continued Murray. Infobase offers Films On Demand: Careers and Job Search Video Collection, a streaming service with over a thousand videos that offer career advice and skill advancement; as well as Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center, a one-stop shop for job seekers. “As a librarian whose main focus is business, Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center is one of my favorite offerings from the Infobase family,” said Murray. “The career guidance center provides unique components including a career assessment, career advice, and available internships and apprenticeships.” In addition to career services and health information, Infobase’s many history resources and references were utilized by Library staff and customers. Not only can the historical references be used to research parallelling current events, but historical references can also be used to research particular areas of interest. “What a time saver, knowing you can search these Infobase’s specified historical references and find quality academic information all with your Library,” said Jennifer Konopacki, adult services supervisor. “In the past month, I was reading an article about the protests in Michigan and found a reference to Shay’s Rebellion (1786), an incident from early in our republic’s history,” continued Konopacki. “It sounded familiar but I could not recall the details. Rather than just googling it and sorting through the open and unwieldy universe of information created by such a search on the web, I decided to access the Library’s subscription to Infobase’s American History. What a plethora of information there was to be found and all from reliable sources such as ‘The Encyclopedia of the Revolutionary America,’ ‘The Encyclopedia of the U.S. Constitution,’ and ‘The Encyclopedia of American Military History.’” “I am so excited that Ancient and Medieval History is part of our Infobase reference and resource family,” said Teresa Bayles, acquisitions supervisor/cataloging librarian. “I have spent many decades participating in an educational group called the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international organization devoted to bringing the ancient through Renaissance world to life through research and reenactment. While all of our events and meetings have been put on hold due to the current pandemic, I felt it was no reason to stop researching topics of interest.” What will you discover using the Infobase family? Explore these subjects and more with SCLSNJ and Infobase today:

*Resources available through October 31, 2020. For one-on-one assistance or more information about these resources contact: ask@sclibnj.org.

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SCLSNJ Staff Share: What I Learned at Home During the Pandemic