Money Smart Week® (MSW) is a series of free events and activities designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances.
Bookmark this page for helpful financial resources and visit the library calendar for a list of upcoming Money Smart Week events including The Lazy Couponer (4/25) and Personal Money Management (4/26) for adults plus Be a Smart Saver (4/25) and Money is Funny (4/26) for kids. Throughout the week we’ll offer displays and resources to help you save money plus a chance to see how much money you save by using the Reading Public Library. Read on …
Online Databases
Biography In Context Search for people—both current and historic from all eras and fields of endeavor—based on name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender. You will find biographies, full-text articles, images and links to websites.
Popular Catalog Searches
U.S. Presidents || Entertainment || Large Print
Online Databases
- EBSCOHost Master File This comprehensive source includes full-text magazine and journal articles, many with images. A great place to find a specific article, start a research project or look for what’s new on a topic. Includes fulltext access to Consumer Reports.
- InfoTrac® OneFile A one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics: business, computers, current events, economics, education, environmental issues, health care, hobbies, humanities, law, literature and art, politics, science, social science, sports, technology, and many general interest topics.
- Morningstar Investment Research Center
- Business Source Premier This source contains full text from the world’s top management and marketing journals as well as as country economic reports from the EIU, Global Insight, ICON Group and CountryWatch and detailed company profiles for the world’s 10,000 largest companies.
- Business and Company Resource Center
- Business Economics and Theory
- Small Business Collection
- Vocations and Career Collection
Periodicals at the library
Banker & Tradesman
Barron’s
Boston Business Journal
Boston Consumer Checkbook
Business Week
Consumer Reports |
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Forbes
Fortune
Inc.
Kiplingers
Money
Success |
Web Sites
- Better Business Bureau – Provides online access to business and consumer alerts, consumer news, consumer complaint forms and more.
- Central Register - The Central Register is the weekly source for information about state, county and municipal contracts being put out to bid for the design, construction and reconstruction of public facilities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
- Consumer.gov – “A ‘one-stop’ link to a broad range of federal information resources available online.” Organized by topics such as food, health, and product safety.
- Consumer Product Safety Commission – This independent Federal regulatory agency works to protect consumers and families from unsafe products.
- Consumer World – “a public service, non-commercial guide with over 2000 of the most useful consumer resources.”
- Goods and Services Bulletin – The Goods and Services Bulletin is a weekly publication containing solicitations for the procurement of commodities and services (which, generally, are unrelated to construction of public facilities).
- Google Business News – “a computer-generated news site that aggregates headlines from more than 4,500 English-language news sources worldwide.”
- Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries – This site provides a wealth of legal information. Among the highlights are Massachusetts laws by subject, how to find a lawyer, online Massachusetts forms and information on famous cases.
- Middlesex Community College Law Center – Middlesex Community College Law Center is a non-profit organization which works in cooperation with the Attorney General’s Office and provides free mediation services to consumers and businesses in the Greater Lowell Area including Reading.
- Reuters – Business and finance news stories.
- For more information try these links selected by the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE)
Business Resources | Consumer Resources | Legal Resources
Catalog Searches
Baking || Christmas || Healthy || Italian || Slow Cooker || Southern || Weight Loss
Magazines at the Library
Bon Appetit
Cook’s Illustrated
Cooking Light
Eating Well
Every Day with Rachel Ray
Everyday Food |
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Food & Wine : the guide to good taste
Gourmet
Magazine of la Cucina Italiana
Real Simple
Vegetarian Times |
Web Sites
- Food and Nutrition Information Center — A collection of information from the United States Department of Agriculture
- Boston.com: Food –Recipes, articles, reviews and other food features from the Boston Globe
- New York Times: Dining and Wine — Articles, reviews, recipes and features on food, nutrition, entertaining and more.
- FoodNetwork — Recipes, articles, videos and other features
- RecipeSource — This huge collection of recipes includes categories for different types of food, ethnic groups, and even special categories like baby food, dog treats, and crafts recipes.
- GourmetSpot — A good starting point for information on cooking and fine dining
- Epicurious Food — This site from CondeNet includes a huge, searchable collection of recipes from Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines.
- Food from Family.com — Family.com’s Food page includes cookbooks to browse, a meal planner, and even a shopping list to take to the supermarket.
- AllRecipes.com — This popular site has a large collection of recipes, articles and special features on food, cooking and entertaining
- The Recipe Link — “Your guide to what’s cooking on the Net”– includes master index of over 6,000 food and cooking links.
- Vegetarian Resource Group — Information and links to vegetarian resources on the World Wide Web.
Catalog Searches
Nutrition || Cancer || ADHD || Exercise || Alternative Medicine
Online Databases
Magazines at the Library
Additude
Bicycling
Body + Soul
Cycle World
Health
Maximum Fitness
Men’s Health |
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Prevention
Runner’s World
Self
Vegetarian Times
Weight Watchers
Yoga Journal |
Health Web Sites
- Top 100 List: Health Websites You Can Trust - Put out by the Medical Library Association’s Consumer and Patient Health Information Section, this list provides a limited number of current high quality resources.
- Health.com – This companion website to Health magazine features news, information about medical conditions, weight loss, nutrition and more.
- Healthfinder.gov – A gateway site to finding reliable health information from a variety of government and nonprofit organizations.
- National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine – NCCAM “is the Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on the diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine.”
- Boston Magazine’s Top Doctors Boston Magazines annual Top Doctors list showcases nearly 600 of the Hub’s finest doctors across 55 specialties.
- KidsHealth – “The most-visited site on the Web for information about health, behavior, and development from before birth through the teen years.”
Catalog Searches
Knitting patterns || Antiques and collectibles || Crafts || Woodwork
Magazines at the Library
American Craft
American Patchwork and Quilting
Antiques
Antiques and Collecting
Antiques Roadshow
Bead and Button
Coinage
Crafts n Things
Doll Reader
Family Handyman |
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Fine Woodworking
Interweave Knits
Knit1
Make
Model Railroader
Scott Stamp Monthly
Threads
Piecework
Woodworker’s Journal
Workbench
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Web Sites
- Knitting Pattern Central – Free knitting patterns directory.
- KnittingHelp.com – “Learn how to knit with free knitting videos.”
- Quilting – This site, from About.com, features patterns, tips and techniques, forums, and more.
- WoodNet.net – This companion site to the magazines Woodsmith, ShopNotes and Workbench, features forums, patterns, tips and more.
- Threads – This companion site to the magazine Threads is a good resource for news, patterns, tips and techniques.
- AllCrafts – Crafting patterns, ideas, tips and techniques for a variety of different crafts, from basketry to woodworking and everything in between.
- All Guage Page – Model railroading information.
- American Numismatic Association – “a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect money and related items.”
- Kovels.com – Provides prices on over 700,000 antiques, as well as other reference information such as a directory of appraisers.
Wherever you are on your job search path, we welcome you to join our Job Search Skills Series. Each month we’ll focus on a different topic and allow ample time for questions and group participation. Series programs take place on the first Wednesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. in the Meeting Room
Books at Reading Public Library
|| Changing Careers ||Find Jobs || Resumes || Cover Letters || Job Interviews
Online Library Resources
- Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance Vol 1 covers industry overviews. Vols. 2-5 cover individual job descriptions. This set covers more than 750 jobs in 90 industries, giving a general description of the job or career field, the personal and professional requirements, salary statistics, work environment, future outlook for the field, and sources for more information. This set is also available in print at the Library.
- Business Source Premier This source contains full text from the world’s top management and marketing journals as well as as country economic reports from the EIU, Global Insight, ICON Group and CountryWatch and detailed company profiles for the world’s 10,000 largest companies.
- MA Libraries Business & Careers General Business File ASAP – use these links database to research all business and management topics. Includes directory listings for over 150,000 companies as well as investment analysts’ reports on major companies and industries. Go directly to “Advanced search” to locate investment reports by ticker symbol.
Plus access to Business Insights: Essentials; Small Business Collection; Vocations & Careers Collection;Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Collection: Insurance & Liability Collection; Nursing and Allied Health Collection;Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Collection
- Boston Public Library Business Databases Get a BPL eCard.
Job Related Websites
Career Guidance
Company Research
Find Jobs
Massachusetts Resources
- Massachusetts JobQuest – A service of the Massachusetts Division of Employment and Training, in cooperation with the United States Department of Labor, this site carries searchable listings for a wide variety of jobs, with links to the other America’s Job Bank sites in other states.
- Boston Job Bank – A resume and job listings service for Greater Boston.
- Boston.com Monster – The Boston Globe jobs section offers a way to search for jobs, find job hunting advice and read up on employment and industry news.
- JobFind – The Boston Herald’s JobFind service includes job postings, corporate profiles and a resume listing service.
- Operation A.B.L.E. The Mission of Operation A.B.L.E. of Greater Boston, Inc., 501(c)3 organization, is to provide employment and training opportunities to mature workers 45 and older from economically, racially and occupationally diverse backgrounds.
Writing Resumes & Cover Letters
Interview Preparation
- Guide to Job Interviewing Resources – Links to sample questions, tutorials and more.
- About.com guide – Articles, questions and answers.
- Check industry associations for job specific interview questions. Check Online Library Resources and Company Research above for
Compensation and Benefits
Networking and Job Fairs
Online Job Search Safety
Mango Languages is a self-paced online language learning system teaching conversation skills in over 20 languages including English as a Second Language (ESL).
Mango uses real-life situations and actual conversations to help you learn words and phrases useful in practical situations. You learn more than words in a new language; you learn to communicate.
Catalog Searches
ESL || Chinese Collection || Hindi Collection|| Learn Spanish || Learn Italian || Learn French
Web Sites
- Babel Fish Translation – Enter a URL or a short pieces of text, choose your languages and the Assistant will provide a basic translation.
- Ethnologue – This web site is based on the reference book Ethnologue: Languages of the World and provides access to a major database of the world’s languages, including alternate names, geographic information, where spoken, etc.
- iLoveLanguages – A comprehensive catalog of internet resources related to the study and teaching of languages
English
- OWL Handouts – A large collection of webpages on different troublesome aspects of English grammar, spelling and punctuation
- Common errors in English – Paul Brians, an English professor at Washington State University, maintains this guide to proper usage
- Guide to Grammar and Writing – Provides sentence, paragraph or essay level help, and includes interactive quizzes and a question-and-answer service
- Activities for ESL Students – Quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles contributed by teachers
American Sign Language
Arabic
Chinese
Dutch
Esperanto
French
Gaelic
German
Greek
Italian
Japanese
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Welsh
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