The Greater Victoria Public Library has launched free access to Lynda.com, an online learning resource that typically costs individual subscribers up to $30 a month.
The GVPL will pay an annual subscription cost of $21,000 for a library version of Lynda.com, a site described as having “life-changing” potential by library chairman Rob Martin.
“Library patrons will be able to master skills they may be missing, as well as discover new interests,” Martin said.
Jennifer Windecker, the library’s public services director, said Friday that 256 library cardholders checked the website out the first day.
The resource is part of the library’s push to help its cardholders “cultivate 21st-century skills,” she said.
The thousands of business-related courses and video tutorials will be a “huge boon” to people who want to learn or enhance their computer, management and professional skills or learn photography or calligraphy, communications officer Jessica Woollard said.
There are about 3,000 full courses — and 140,000-plus videos — taught by experts, she said.
Courses can be completed at users’ own pace from any Internet-enabled device.
The business community welcomes the addition as a way to “upgrade business skills and to remain on the cutting edge,” said Catherine Holt, CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.
The learning platform can be accessed at any time. Most videos come with transcripts and can be downloaded for offline viewing with adjustable playback speed and closed captions.
Library CEO Maureen Sawa called Lynda.com “one more way the library is extending our reach, bridging the digital divide, and supporting lifelong learning for our patrons.”
Other digital services at the Greater Victoria Public Library include online databases such as Ancestry Library Edition, Consumer Reports and B.C. Codes Online, streaming of movies and music, and downloadable e-books and audiobooks.
The Vancouver Island Regional Library system also offers Lynda.com.
To access Lynda.com, GVPL cardholders can visit gvpl.ca, click on Lynda.com on the home page, and log in using their library card bar code and password.
Visit any branch to sign up for a library card.
