Photo: Contributed
Whatever you are interested in these days—and especially these days with all this time on your hands—you will be able to improve your skills in that field through Lynda.com.
The Okanagan Regional Library offers the impressive resource through its e-library, which all card-carrying members are able to access for free.
Photography? Lynda.com has it.
Lead generation? Yes.
Animation? Of course.
Film scoring? Absolutely.
Note taking? Sure.
Self help? You bet.
The list goes on and on and on. Each category features numerous options within it for you to learn. There are, for example, 97 courses you could take in the category of interaction design alone. The first step for many would likely be determining what exactly interaction design is, but you get the picture. If you want to improve a skill—whether it’s how to take the best picture of something you’re selling or keyboard shortcuts for InDesign—Lynda.com will deliver through video tutorials that also have subtitles if you prefer to read what the instructor has to offer.
“It usually costs money for a business or for a person to subscribe to it, and with a library card you get it for free,” Okanagan Regional Library marketing and communications director Michal Utko says. “There are thousands of tutorials to get better at whatever you’re doing.”
Even if you already feel confident with, say, search engine optimization, Lynda.com can likely teach you something you don’t know. It starts out with basic instruction and then gets detailed as the course progresses.
Utko believes Lynda.com would be a valuable resource for small businesses that have had to close their doors during the pandemic. Whether they are well versed in marketing strategies or not, Lynda.com is a valuable resource for any business owner who is looking to gain an edge once the government restrictions are ease.
“It’s a really good opportunity for a business owner to go get familiar with social media, get familiar with how Google works, how SEO works, and what you can do very quickly to improve your business once the doors re-open,” Utko says.
Those looking for work can also improve their skills, prepare for certification and obtain certificates of course completion as well.
The only thing required to access the vast library of Lynda.com courses is an Okanagan Regional Library card. If you don’t have one, it takes five minutes to sign up for one here.
Any other questions you might have about ORL and its virtual library can be answered via chat on the bottom right corner of the library’s home page or by calling 1-844-649-8127 from Monday to Saturday between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.