Useful Online Resources
Online resources that may be useful during COVID-19 restrictions
Collaborative responses to COVID-19 crisis
IFLA updates on COVID-19 and the global library field
IFLA translated language resources for libraries to communicate COVID-19 information (30+ languages, permission to adapt as needed).
*see the below section for HSE translated information
Online platform ‘Coping With The Crisis’ - collecting, documenting and providing innovative practices in dealing with the crisis across Europe. Making best practices available to politics and society
NAPLE Overview of Public Library Authorities in Europe During COVID-19
Reliable health information resources
Government of Ireland COVID-19 statistics dashboard (still a beta version)
HSE posters, leaflets and social media assets, including translated information
NALA have developed a list of COVID-19 words and terms explained in plain English. Their freephone support line at 1800-20-20-65 can provide help with reading and understanding health information
Book/ Reading Related Material and Programmes
Direct library users to these materials, use them to get ideas for programmes and/or incorporate into your own library social media.
Spring into Storytime: Children's story-time sessions will now be available online thanks to cooperation between local library services and Irish publishers
Audible children’s stories are now free while schools are closed
Oliver Jeffers is reading a #StayAtHomeStorytime every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7pm GMT via Instagram Live
David Walliams is releasing a free audio story a day for 30 days
LeVar Burton Reads stories by Neil Gaiman, Haruki Murakami, Octavia Butler, Ray Bradbury and more
Patrick Stewart is reading a different Shakespeare sonnet each day
Goodnight with Dolly is a ten week special series of weekly videos featuring Dolly Parton reading select Imagination Library books
Mo Willems is giving drawing lessons
Neil Gaiman has put lots of his content online and freely available – read aloud sessions for younger children as well as material for older readers
JK Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic have launched a Harry Potter At Home Hub
The British Library’s Childrens Books Online has a wide range of resources, activities and digitized material
Booklist, an American Library Association publication, is now freely available to libraries around the world until further notice.
Storyline Online streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations, for free for children of all ages, parents, caregivers and educators worldwide
Los Angles Public Library have archived some of their Storytimes
Brooklyn Public Library is delivering a Virtual Programming series
A Read the World collaboration between UNICEF, the International Publishers Association, and the World Health Organization will see popular children’s authors reading extracts of their books to millions of children and young people currently living in isolation amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Short Story Project is a curated library of short stories from around the globe for all ages. They are multilingual, audible, updated weekly and currently free
ModPo introduces readers to modern and contemporary U.S. poetry. Free, non-credit, and open to all
The Internet Archive National Emergency Library has made access available to users all over the world for the duration of the crisis period in the U.S. Mainly materials published during the 20th century, the vast majority of which do not have a commercially available ebook
Ulverscroft are making their uLibrary free to access for all Library Borrowers until July 31st, including access to 500 of their most popular audiobooks and authors. [After registration, download the uLibrary Platform from Google or Apple app store; select Library and from the drop down menu click on eLibrary Support. Agree to their terms, and download as many eAudio books you from the selection of eAudio titles.]
The University of Limerick have updated their LibGuide: Library guide to finding open access resources - providing researchers with links to open datasets, tools like UnPayWall for open content, find openly available books (to supplement their Borrowbox loans) and view research output from Ireland’s Universities through the Institutional Repositories.
Arts and Culture
The National Library of Ireland’s Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again exhibition is holding Instagram live events, including workshops on poems about hobbies and staying at home
The Abbey Theatre have made the film version of their award winning play, Cyprus Avenue, available free online until April 26
Science Gallery Dublin is bringing content online, including live events, podcasts, videos, blogs, how-to workshops, video tours of current exhibition INVISIBLE and interactive quizzes
Irish Museums Online have collected some of the material being shared by Irish Museums in one portal and are using #IrishMuseumsOnline across social media platforms
World Digital Library (UNESCO) has digitized material from libraries and museums worldwide
The National Theatre is streaming a new National Theatre Live performance for free every week, with each one remaining available for 7 days
Filmmaker Kate Lain has created ‘Cabin Fever: coping with COVID-19’ a playlist of online experimental films and videos
The Metropolitan Opera is providing free nightly performance streams
MOCA Toronto are putting their Shift Key exhibition online, with a new artwork added each week
Learning resources for children and young people at home
On the RTE Home School Hub children can watch, download and engage with curriculum-based content, project work and fun activities to keep them entertained and learning
The major publishers of schoolbooks - including Edco, Gill Education and CJ Fallon are making their online education resources for primary and secondary students available free of charge, including ebooks, podcasts, games and puzzles
Marino Institute of Education lecturer Ciara Reilly (ICT and digital education) has compiled this growing bank of resources
Happy Talk and UCC Speech and Language Therapy Department are collaborating to develop Happy Talk Language Packs, containing games and activities to promote language, early literacy and learning. The packs are updated weekly on their Facebook page.
Primary
Twinkl.ie was created by teachers and contains curriculum supporting games and worksheets. One month free with code IRLTWINKL-HELPS
National Geographic Kids has homework help resources, games, videos and more
Khan Academy is a non-profit offering free video tutorials in maths and reading
Scholastic have created a free learn from home site with 20+ days of learning and activities
Storyberries is a free, online collection of easy-to-read and illustrated stories, comics and poems for kids, arranged by theme
Cúla4 is a free Irish app from TG4, aimed at two groups: Cúla4 na nÓg is aimed at under-sixes, while Cúla4 is aimed at older children. As well as TV shows, there are games and creativity sections
Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. It is a project of the MIT Media Lab and provided free of charge
Super Troopers offers a health homework programme that encourages children and their families to live happier and more active lifestyles
Award-winning children’s writer Sarah Webb and the Museum of Literature Ireland are collaborating on Bright Sparks: Creative Bursts, posting daily writing games and story prompts
Secondary
Druid and Wildfire Films have made the 2005 award-winning production of The Playboy of the Western World by JM Synge available online for free as a resource for those studying the text
A number of Irish revision and grind sites are providing free study notes and resources during this period, including Dublin Academy, Study Clix and Study Notes
Irish Architecture Foundation have created an interesting educational project available to secondary school students under Project 20 x 20. It's called "Architects in Schools- DIYSStudio". It runs for the month of May and provides an intro. to architecture and the design process for 2nd level students https://architecturefoundation.ie/news/architects-in-schools-diystudio/
Wellbeing
Aware has information which may be useful when it comes to managing mental well-being at this time, and provides phone/email support lines
Jigsaw offers mental health information and support for young people, parents and guardians
Helplink are offering free counselling services, nationally and internationally (Irish abroad) online; 7 days a week, during the crisis. (N.B. this is not a crisis service). Free counselling for people laid off work by the COVID 19 crisis, for people with addictions to gambling, alcohol and/or drugs, for Irish returning home and for Irish living abroad
GoNoodle provides movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts and used widely by teachers.They are an opportunity for kids to wake up their bodies and engage their minds
Sadler’s Wells Company of Elders workshop series is specially created for over 60s who may be staying at home due to social distancing
Continuing Professional Development
Universal Class, offered via Libraries Ireland, has online courses in a variety of subject areas
eCollege Ireland provides tutor supported & industry certified courses in business, web and graphic design, computer programming, data and more, all temporarily being made available free of charge to over 16s
Irish LIR Group are running a series of Library Carpentry workshops online during the next few weeks. These are synchronous courses run online in real time, so numbers are limited. So far they are covering UNIX Shell, GIT, SQL, OpenRefine and Tidy Data
Children First training is available online from Tusla, for anyone working with children or vulnerable adults
AsIAm delivers training for frontline public services to become more Autism-Friendly. They have an online version, package rates available for staff (looks to be c. €500 per library service) - email info@asiam.ie for information
The British Library’s Digital Research Team has put together a list of free online training available, mainly digital/tech focused
UW Madison/Wisconsin Public Libraries produced a webinar on providing remote and online services to children (it is U.S. specific but some good tips)
The Library Figures podcast discusses library marketing and contains tips for better engaging with your community
Texas Digital Library have archived webinars on research data management, web archiving, digital preservation, and more
FutureLearn provides accredited university course material, and non-credit bearing courses are free
Coursera offers courses, certificates and degrees online from accredited universities, and non-credit bearing courses are free
Code Academy offers free entry level courses in the most popular coding languages, both front and back end
The Education and Training Foundation's Enhance Digital Teaching Platform is aimed at teachers/FE educators but has some useful course material on digital skills and online delivery. Free to sign up
The Carnegie UK Trust and CILIP The Library Association have launched Stepping into Leadership - new online development materials for leadership and innovation. These are open to all library staff and free to access.