Having fun isn’t hard when you have a library card! Turns out, there’s also so much more than books to take advantage of. From stunning locations across the city packed with literature, workspaces, and all the comfy seats you could desire, to free courses that can help you jump-start a new skill. Yeah, the Calgary Library has all that.
With nothing but your library card, you can access a ton of interactive and instructor-led online courses. They offer lessons in a wide range of subjects, including personal finance, programming, and interior design.
Courses are interactive, instructor-led and delivered online. Each course lasts six weeks, with new sessions starting every month. What better way to dip your toe into a new field and see what you like? And all that value without paying a dime!
Here are seven courses you can start this summer for free at the Calgary Public Library.
Start Your Own Small Business
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Learn how to take your dream of starting a business and put it into action. Learn how to find the right opportunity and develop proven marketing techniques to build sales. This course also covers traditional and nontraditional financing options, along with employee-management procedures and how to write business policies.
Interior Design Basics
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This introductory interior design course covers various topics and skills in residential interior design. You will start by defining key terms and concepts in interior design and then learn how to effectively apply design elements and principles to create residential design plans. You will also explore the historical design features that influence contemporary projects.
Stocks, Bonds, and Investing: Oh, My!
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This course will teach you the fundamentals of investing. Learn about the stock markets, retirement, and personal financial issues that are often ignored, but absolutely essential, to your success as an investor.
Introduction to Programming
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Take your first steps toward a career as a computer programmer. In this course, you’ll learn to use Just BASIC, a free Windows programming language, to create stand-alone applications for professional or personal use.
Introduction to Photoshop CC
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The Introduction to Photoshop CC course provides meticulous instructions that will teach you how to use Photoshop Creative Cloud with confidence. Master the basics of this ubiquitous program, such as editing photographs to remove dust and scratches, adjusting colour, and correcting image exposure.
Write Fiction Like a Pro
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Learn how to structure novels and stories for maximum dramatic effect. Discover how viewpoint, dialogue, pacing, and many other techniques are used to build scenes and move your story from beginning to end. Each assignment in this course helps you develop your own original novel or story.
Human Anatomy and Physiology II
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Develop a greater appreciation for the wonders and complexities of the human body. Start with granular basics like cellular metabolism and learn how the building blocks come together through the human lifestyle, from prenatal life to late adulthood. If you were looking for a comprehensive, biology-focused course on how to stay healthy, this is it.
This is just a tiny sample of the free courses you can take in Calgary. So if you’re keen, sign up for a library card and start learning.
Check out the full, free online Gale course catalogue available through the Calgary Library online. You can even access every course available on LinkedIn Learning for free through the library.
Pretty neat, huh?