5 Great Resources for Students

It’s time for students to head back to school, and we’ve got great resources to help with homework and home learning for kids and teens.

Whether you're just stepping into preschool or hoping to catch up on Grade 11 math...or perhaps you're an educator or looking to teach at home...we have something great for you. 

Start Learning

Hey Book Lover! What's Your Sign? 

Every month we search for the perfect book pairing for each zodiac sign. This September, we have something for our logical and nature loving Virgo signs. If you're a Virgo (August 23 to September 22), happy reading with these recommendations - just for you!

What's my biblioscope

Library Card Holders Catch Up on Canadian News Through PressReader

In the wake of tech company Meta blocking Canadian news in response to a new law in Canada that requires tech companies to pay news outlets for using their content, news-readers in our coastal communities may be seeking alternative sources.

That resource is at your finger tips, with a library card.

Available through Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL), PressReader is a great resource for Canadian News, with major Canadian daily newspapers from across BC and Canada.

New to the service, PressReader now features a unique news feed function under its "For You" tab that includes the day's biggest Canadian and International news stories in an easily scrollable format.Library card holders can also customize the news feed to include more of the news that interests them the most, like:

• Adding additional "interests" to increase the focus on Canadian news, or other areas of interest.
• Browsing by section (Business, Sports, Arts, etc.) to get news in a specific area.
• Adding “Publications" to include more content from your favourite news sources.

For CBC content that is curated to Vancouver Island readers, you may also want to check out our CBC Corner site.

Check out what online news, magazines and newspapers, learning tools, ebooks and audiobooks, and other resources are at your finger tips with a library card, at http://virl.bc.ca/read-watch-listen.

Start Reading Now

Click here to get more great hacks

Indigenous Collection 

JAJ: A Haida Manga, by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, May 2023

From the publisher, Douglas & McIntyre:

With gorgeous imagery, visual artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas brings to life the tumultuous history of first contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples and the early colonization by the Europeans of the northern West Coast.

Yahgulanaas uses a blend of traditional and modern art, eschewing the traditional boxes of comic books for the flowing shapes of North Pacific iconography. The panels are filled with colourful and expressive watercolour paintings. The panels of each page, if removed and assembled into one whole image, form a large image reminiscent of a woven robe.

The story follows several historical figures, including Johan Adrian Jacobsen (JAJ), who comes to the Haida village of Masset to collect specimens for a German museum, through a time span that includes first contact, the devastation of the smallpox epidemic, and the mass resettlement of disenfranchised peoples, both Indigenous and European.

Place Your Hold Now