By Valerie BrownSince we’ve had some extremely cold days and ice followed by a thaw and mud, I thought it might be a good time to explore some of the on-line databases available through the Four County Library Research Center.

One resource I found particularly helpful was NoveList because it provides ways to browse through fiction and expand one’s knowledge of authors and their writing styles. NoveList is easy to use and there’s even a tutorial to assist you as you search. After I spent some time looking through their suggestions, I accessed the 4cls.org book holdings and entered my requests. These will come on Thursday when the Four County van makes its deliveries.

Of the many resources in the Research Center, I recommend the children’s engine Searchasaurus. The text is matched to a child’s reading level and there’s a kid-friendly interface to guide the search. Searchasaurus is great for doing homework and to find the answers to many of your child’s questions.

Another helpful resource at the 4cls Research Center is morningstar.com. This will help you with your investments and retirement accounts. You can use it to research most publicly traded stocks and mutual funds. Morningstar.com provides a statistical analysis along with an informative narrative about each company, and you don’t need an M.B.A. to understand it.

So try going on-line to 4cls.org and click on the Research Center. Select your subject area and look over the many databases that are available to patrons of the Andes Public Library. You just need to enter your library card number. I hope that you will find it informative and it might get you started on that long awaited vacation reading list.

If you have any questions or experience trouble accessing the Research Center or any of the other Four County Library services, please contact us at the library at 845-676-3333. Of course, now that spring is almost here, you can come by and browse through our collection, use the public access computers, or sign up for a book discussion group. ~