This learning program is designed for young children between ages 2 – 8 to learn reading, math, science, social studies, art and music with more than 4,000 fun activities to expand their mind.

Discover your unique family history through census, military, immigration and vital records. They even have forms available to help you organize your research. This resource is only available from library computers.

Get detailed information you need to tackle vehicle maintenance and repairs. Includes maintenance and specification tables that provide unique data for each specific vehicle, plus step-by-step service and repair procedures.

Enjoy unlimited access to over 1000 award-winning art and craft instructional video classes. New classes are released daily with downloadable patterns, templates and recipes available for many projects.

Quality educational content for homeschooling families and teachers.

Educate Station currently has a full curriculum for grades Pre-K through Fifth Grade, presented in a recommended learning sequence of printable packets. The primary subjects are:

·      English Language Arts

·      Math

·      Science

·      Social Studies

·      Social-Emotional Learning

Use your Marengo-Union Library card to download eRead Illinois electronic books to your tablet, computer, or other device. More than 30,000 ebook and audiobook titles are available offered through a partnership with eRead Illinois, a state-run entity operated by the Illinois State Library.

Available through the NEW Boundless Mobile App: Android | Apple | Amazon Kindle

Experience more of our home state with a cultural pass program that provides offers and discounts to museums, park districts, cultural centers, and other attractions from around Illinois.

Firstsearch is a catalog of materials from libraries across the globe. Firstsearch includes books, websites, films maps, musical scores, sound recordings, videotapes, and more. Use Firstsearch to search for books and other materials available from other libraries. Marengo-Union cardholders in good standing can request identified items from Firstsearch by calling the library when the library is open.

Introducing Flipster: a new digital service that allows you to access magazines anywhere on the go! Access Flipster with your library card to explore, download, and read magazines any time on your computer or mobile device. Now, you never go through the hassle of paying for magazine subscriptions again!

Mobile Apps: Android | Apple | Amazon

Borrow ebooks, audiobooks, comics, movies, TV shows and music for all ages instantly. Enjoy up to 10 items a month with no holds, 24/7, with immediate streaming, or download to the Hoopla app.

Mobile Apps: Android | Apple | Amazon

Enjoy titles from your local, independently published authors in Illinois. This ebook service has nearly 40,000 items available at any time to anyone in the state, and the items are always available. Content includes local community histories, self-help resources, cookbooks, classics with beautifully reimagined covers, kids’ books, community collections by RAILS libraries, books on equity, diversity, and inclusion, graphic novels, and much more.

Collections will include the Indie Illinois e-book collection and the RAILS Community Collections multimedia anthologies.

Find a suite of self-publishing tools and resources available to everyone in Illinois free. Learn how to create an ebook, including how to submit an ebook to Indie Illinois, Indie Author Project Select, and/or the Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author Project. Also, find independently and self-published materials.

This PhD-created, linguist-approved language learning software teaches practical conversation in over 70 languages, while keeping it fun and encouraging. This colorful, educational language tool is perfect for students and travelers.

Mobile Apps: Apple | Android

Check out a Museum Adventure Pass using your Marengo-Union Library Card to get free admission to over 20 Chicago area cultural destinations.

Participating destinations include:

• Brookfield Zoo
• Legoland Discovery Center*
• Cantigny Park
• Chicago Botanic Garden
• See the full list HERE.

Passes are available on a first come, first served basis. Each household may have one museum pass within a seven day period. Passes are valid for seven days from the date of issuance. When using your Museum Adventure Pass at a participating museum, please be prepared to present the pass, photo identification, and your library card.

Click here to check for pass availability. Please bring your library card to the circulation desk to check out a Museum Adventure Pass.

*You will need to check out a Museum Adventure Pass AND reserve an online spot HERE to visit Legoland. Adventure Pass is redeemed at the door.

Full-page images with searchable full text for millions of pages of newspapers dating from the early 1700s into the early 2000s. Newspapers.com Library Edition contains full runs and portions of runs of known, regional, and state titles to small local newspapers in the United States and other countries.

Full text of over 180 historical Illinois newspapers, including Chicago Daily News, The Inter Ocean, News Journal and The Daily Herald.

Browse a vast collection of downloadable ebooks and audiobooks through OMNI Overdrive. Checkout up to 5 titles at once with many new bestsellers, find curated reading lists and read samples.

Available through the Libby app: Apple | Android.

For every path there’s a test, and for every test, there’s Peterson’s. From high school placement tests to college admissions tests to career certification exams, Peterson’s is your one-stop-shop for test information, strategy, and practice.

Offers printable activities for any subject: math, science, reading comprehension, STEM, writing, and beyond. Download printable lesson plans, reading passages, games and puzzles, clip art, bulletin board ideas, and skills sheets for kids in any grade.

From pre-K to high school and beyond, World Book Online has thousands of articles, maps, and videos for every learner at every level.

World Book Online is a suite of online research tools that includes encyclopedia articles, primary source collections, educator tools, student activities, pictures, audio, and video, complemented by current periodicals and related websites.

• Early World of Learning
  Image-based navigation helps young readers navigate through stories, games, videos, and interactive coloring pages for educational entertainment.
• World Book Kids
  A visually stunning resource with intuitive iconography, World Book Kids provides thousands of easy-to-read articles with embedded multimedia for increased comprehension. Includes fantastic age-appropriate resources, such as Important People, Science Projects, Webquests, and games.
• World Book Student
  Packed with such research tools as Citation Builder, How to Do Research, Compare Places, Interactive Maps, and the World Book Atlas to help students get the most out of their
  research experience. World Book editors more fully explain current events in Behind the Headlines, which includes quizzes and lesson plans.
• World Book Advanced
  A powerful reference tool that includes all the same effective research tools as Student, plus provides users with access to primary sources, historical documents, and multimedia directly from each encyclopedia article.
• World Book Timelines
  Optimized for tablets and offers hundreds of pre-generated timelines across eight broad topics, which cover various time periods in history or span the life of historical public figures. Featuring more personalization and customization options than any other World Book site, World Book Timelines also allows users to create their own timeline from scratch, adding events, descriptions, and media.
• World Book Discover
  Offers engaging reference resources for students reading below grade level because of language or learning difficulties, with content and tools specifically developed for these students. The collection includes reference articles, text-to-speech capabilities, learning and life skills activities, research tools, multimedia, and interactive video to draw students into curriculum-related topics and subjects relevant to older students.
• Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos
  As the optimal beginner’s Spanish-language reference tool, the site offers all the best elements of World Book Kids—thousands of easy-to read articles packed with stunning illustrations, videos, interactive maps, and a wealth of engaging games and activities— designed to build key language and research skills throughout their education.
• Banco de Contenidos aulaPlaneta
  is the upper-level Spanish language database, intended for high school students through adult learners. The resource is perfect for use alongside both World Book Student and World Book Advanced as an English/Spanish supplementary resource.

Find product and auto reviews, shopping tips, information about recalls, and consumer-protection agencies.

Buying Guides & General Advice

• Consumer Reports: A lot of free and useful information is available, but a paid subscription is required for product reviews and ratings.
• ConsumerSearch: “Reviewing the reviews.” Compiles and analyzes product reviews from magazines and websites. Great starting point.

Cars & Trucks

• Car & Driver: Includes the magazine’s road tests and reviews, interactive vehicle comparisons, and Kelley Blue Book values.
• edmunds.com: Reviews, comparisons, price and value information, and tips for buying new or used vehicles.

Consumer Protection & Complaints

• annualcreditreport.com: The place to get a no-obligation, free copy of your credit report from all three major reporting companies.

• Consumer Protection Division: Part of the Illinois Attorney General’s office.

• Recalls.gov: Product recalls and safety information from the federal government.

• Adobe Creative Cloud Tutorials: Learn the basics, or refine your skills with tutorials designed to inspire.
• Driving-Tests.org: Prepare for your driver’s test with DMV manuals, and IL specific DMV practice tests for car, motorcycle and commercial driver’s license (CDL), also includes an exam simulator and DMV-related FAQ.
• freeCodeCamp.org: helps people learn to code for free by offering thousands of videos, articles, and interactive coding lessons. They also have thousands of freeCodeCamp study groups around the world.
• Microsoft Office Tutorials: New to Office or want to refresh your skills, these lessons offer a mix of text, video, interactives, and challenges to practice what you learn.

Reputable sources for information about health and medicine.

• MedlinePlus: A medical super-site from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. Includes extensive information and links on hundreds of conditions and health issues, drug descriptions, a medical encyclopedia, surgery videos, and more.
• HealthFinder.gov: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ guide to health information.
• NIH Senior Health: Information for older adults, from the National Institutes of Health.

Online documents, photos, articles, and other information about the history of Illinois and the local area.

• Illinois Digital Archives: A portal to online exhibits and collections from libraries and museums across the state. A project of the Illinois State Library.
• Illinois History Resource Page: Dozens of links, compiled by the Illinois State Historical Society.
• Cyndi’s List – Illinois: Directory of genealogy and history websites. Also includes links for specific Illinois localities.

If you have a Library Card, we’ll borrow items from other libraries for you! Delivery from most Illinois libraries is free.

• Every Library in ILLINET (ELI): Directory of hundreds of Illinois libraries, with links to many libraries’ websites and catalogs.
• Library of Congress Digital Collections: A large number of pamphlets, letters, historic documents, pictures, early films and recordings, and other items are available online.
• LibriVox: provides free audiobooks from the public domain.
• Open-Access Text Archive: Thousands of public-domain books and other free books, for online viewing or downloading in plain text or scanned formats. Part of the Internet Archive site.
• Project Gutenberg: is the first and largest single collection of free eBooks, many of which are downloadable.
• Worldcat.org: Use WorldCat to search for books and other materials available from other libraries around the planet to request through Interlibrary Loan.