The Library can help you brush up on your language skills while school’s out this summer - or get you started learning a brand new language - all from the comfort of home!

Library card holders can access the Online Language Learning Center (sometimes known as Rosetta Stone), which provides learners with writing, reading, listening, and speaking lessons in a number of languages from Arabic to Japanese to Welsh.

Connect online through the College, Careers, & Education section of our Research Page. Complete a one-time registration at the Online Language Learning Center site so you can save your work, and you’re ready to go!

Good luck, bonne chance, buena suerte....

Got your eye on a new grill? Replacing that old air conditioner? If you'd like to review the product information in Consumer Reports, the AADL can help - and you don't even need to leave home!

Library card holders can access full text articles from the magazine using the General OneFile database, accessible from the Research page. Once you're at the InfoTrac site, choose the Advanced Search screen to limit your search by publication and enter "Consumer Reports" into the publication title box.

Of course, if you’re coming to the library, you can still find the print copy of Consumer Reports at all of our branches.

frog

This is not a zigzag bladderwort, it's a Blanchard's cricket frog, one of the more than 600 rare plants and animals featured in the new Michigan Rare Species Explorer. The curious of all ages can search by habitat, location, name, best time to view or browse the beautifully illustrated entries for all the species. Kudos to the team at the Michigan Natural Features Inventory for this wonderful new resource.

Looking for a good book set in Michigan? Or maybe a story about a zookeeper? The What Do I Read Next? database is here to help you!

Try their Who? What? Where? When? feature – select a character, setting, or time period to search the database and get a list of titles that match your selections. You can limit by age range and choose fiction and/or non-fiction titles. You can access What Do I Read Next? from the library’s Research page. (And, for a Michigan setting, check out The Lake, the River & the Other Lake. For a story about a zookeeper, try Good Night, Gorilla.)

Have you watched The Queen, or read Abundance: a Novel of Marie Antoinette, or checked out other books and movies with characters based on real people?

If you want to find out more about the real lives of those portrayed on screen and in print, try the Biography Resource Center with Marquis Who's Who. The database includes narrative biographies, as well as articles and selected websites. Access it through our Research page in the Biography section.

Don’t forget you can use the database from home with a Library card!

pasty

After much research we are sad to report there is not an official Michigan Pasty Day. Although Governor Romney proclaimed May 24, 1968 as Pasty Day and Governor Milliken declared May 25, 1972 as Pasty Day, these single-year proclamations do not do justice to the importance of the pasty in Michigan’s history and cuisine. Perhaps Governor Granholm can rectify this situation. Best place to get pasties? Jean-Kays Pasties in Marquette, across from the NMU Superior Dome

If your book club is setting its summer agenda, the Library can help you -- with more than just the books!

If you’re looking for discussion questions, the Novelist database offers reading group guides for a range of titles. Need more information about an author? You can find author biographies, bibliographies, and selected websites in the Literature Resource Center.

Both databases can be accessed through the Arts and Literature section of our Research page.

According to AAA, 1.1 million Michigan residents are planning to travel on Memorial Day weekend. If your family is among them, you can find kid-friendly facts about your destination state in the CultureGrams database, located on the AADL's Research page. Check out the "States Edition" to read about the history, geography, and population of any state. You can even hear the songs of state birds!

It's time for gardens and summer activities. The following web sites can help kids FIGURE OUT how to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Texas Agriculture Extension Service provides a nice slide show sequence of kids setting up a compost bin. Learn how garbage can become new and treasured at EEK! Recycling and Beyond. At The Imagination Factory an Indiana waste management company has a site full of fun and artisitic ideas on how to reuse materials.

Chrysler logo

With DaimlerChrysler's recent sale of the Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management, you may have been left with the same question I was: who on earth is Cerberus Capital Management?

Fortunately, AADL's fearless research databases (available on the research page) can help us out. The Business and Company Resource Center provides quick access to summaries, financial data, management information, and articles on thousands of companies, including Cerberus Capital Management. Check it out!