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Article Credit: Karen Shore, LIS
 
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As this school year begins, Cranston Public School libraries are delighted to announce expanded services through AskRI.org, which is available right on your child’s school library web page.

Gone are the days when research projects and homework demanded emergency trips to the public library.  For many assignments, you can help your children with free resources available through the Office of Library Services (OLIS) agreement with many school libraries in Rhode Island, including Cranston Public Schools.

  • Start with ricat.net, the website that takes you to the portal for your child’s school library.
  • Find your child’s school (Gladstone)
  • Click on the school’s name to arrive at your child’s school library web site.

Need an up-to-date, online encyclopedia which has different areas for different ages, not to mention for different English as a Second Language patrons?  Go to World Book Online, the starting point for any research project.  World Book Online is available for younger readers, intermediate and older students and available in multiple languages.  Take a look!

Homework Help is also available.  In addition to Tutor.com, where one-on-one help is available every school day from 2 pm until 10 pm, Homework Help also offers the Skills Center Library, where you can find worksheets, lessons and study guides as well as test preparation (for the SAT and other standardized tests).

EbscoHost has full text articles on anything your researching student needs.  There’s Searchasaurus for Grades K-3 and  KidSearch for Grades 4 – 8.  EbscoHost also offers Biography Collection CompleteLiterary Reference Center, History Reference Center, and Auto Repair Reference.  It’s really worth looking at.  There’s even EbscoHost mobile for your mobile device!

Do you want to learn another language?  Mango is a free program, available at AskRI.org, where you can learn languages like Spanish, French, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Mandarin Chinese, Greek, Italian and more.  Did we mention it's FREE?

Other services available through AskRI.org include:   
  • Heritage Quest, where you can research your genealogy
  • Learning Express for practice tests and tutorials for your student
  • Career Center, which offers resume help, interview guidelines and cover letter templates to help job seekers.

Help is here!  Check it out through your school library portal, ricat.net.  Click on the link for AskRI.org and you have everything you need to answer your next research question!

Adapted from Mrs. Rose, Library Media Specialist, 2012