N.S. Public Library announces free services

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    The North Smithfield Public Library would like people to know about the following new free services available.

    Tutoring: Through the AskRI.org website, Rhode Island residents can access the tutoring service, Tutor.com. As stated on their website, “Tutor.com provides online, on-demand academic tutoring, homework help, and test preparation to kindergarten through 12th grade students, plus early college students and adult learners. Tutor is available 7 days a week from 2 p.m. – 10 p.m.”

    Users can choose to remain anonymous as it is not necessary to create an account to use the site. Once a subject area and grade level have been chosen, the user is connected to an appropriate tutor. Other services include study prep for SAT, GRE and AP exams and the ability to submit a paper for review.

    Genealogy: The National Archives recently released the official 1950 US Census records. Data collected can vary from decade to decade and in 1950, people were asked about their employment – “What was this person doing most of last week – working, keeping house or something else?”, “What kind of work was he doing?”, “What kind of business or industry was he working in?” and their residence – “Is this house on a farm (or ranch)? and “Is this house on a place of three or more acres?”

    Using the site can be addictive for those wishing to learn more about their family history.  The records are searchable, however, the index was created by OCR – optical character recognition – and the results aren’t perfect. The Archives welcomes volunteers who would like to help transcribe names listed in the census to provide more accurate results to searchers.

    If you are unable to find your ancestor listed, try scribbling the name on a piece of paper and see how many ways it could be viewed. For example, Connor might be indexed as Comar. Also, if you find who you are looking for in an earlier census, note the neighbors listed. You might find your ancestor by entering the neighbor’s name.

    Educational fun: Lastly, a reminder that thanks to funding by the North Smithfield School Department, residents can borrow a STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – kit for one week. Themes include birdwatching, star gazing, weather forecasting, coding, and more. 

    Library hours are Mon.-Thurs. 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Fri. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; and Sat. – until June 12 – from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Saturday hours will resume in September. For more information visit the library website at www.nspl.info or call (401) 767-2780.

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