With the start of the school year there are a variety of resources, academic and otherwise, available to students at both the Tam Library and the Mill Valley Public Library (MVPL).

Link Crew is running after school peer tutoring at the Tam library. The program is underclassmen-focused, although all grade levels are welcome. Drop-in, Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:00 to 5:30.

In addition to peer help, there are a lot of resources that students can access themselves, ranging from general databases like EBSCO, subject-specific databases such as ABC-CLIO, a social studies database, to newspaper subscriptions. A comprehensive list of databases and how to access them is available on the Tam website.

MVPL Young Adult Librarian Katie MacBride thinks academic databases are a valuable tool. “I find a lot of information on Google but if you’re looking for a quality source these databases are a lot of times a really efficient Google,” she said. In addition they can also give students access to copyright protected material.

The MVPL also has academic resources for students. “If you want to make it your academic place…if that’s what you want to get out of the library, we have test prep databases and homework help databases and late night study halls, and librarians you can request to sit down with for 45 minutes to help you research something,” MacBride said. The MVPL has a subscription to JSTOR, a primary sources resource, and Shmoop, which offers test prep material as well as class-specific resources. The library also has a teenager specific area where teenagers can work.

Besides academic programs, MacBride is excited with the variety of creative programming at the library. “We offer a weekly creative writing workshop, we offer different programming every month,” she said. “Now we’re offering this MyCast program which is going to teach people [how] to create a podcast from…writing to content to publishing, the whole thing. I’m really excited to see what people come up with because we’re giving them free reign.”

Both MVLP and Tam are going digital. “We have OverDrive and we have 3M,” MacBride said. “[Both] are free to download books and audiobooks….you can just download the 3M and the OverDrive app and login with your library card and pin number and you’ll have access to a whole bunch of stuff.”

Tam also has a subscription to OverDrive, which can be accessed by the app and a student ID number.

“I’m always looking for [program] recommendations….If people hear about something that we should have just send me an email,” MacBride said.