Parent Resources

Our parent services are designed to make it easy to share library materials with your children and help them succeed.

Get a Library Card

Did you know because your student attends school in Ocean County they’re entitled to one of our free library cards? This means if your student’s residence is in Sussex County but they attend private school in Ocean County, they can get a card. With their card, all in-county students have access to over hundreds of databases, thousands of e-books, millions of print books, and so much more.

Please see our Get a Library Card page to start your application today.

OCL Supports Homeschool Education

The Ocean County Library provides great educational resources to help support our homeschool families. Resources include digital materials & resources, homework help, in-house programming, and more. Whatever your homeschooling needs, OCL is a resource you can count on.

Need more information on curriculum standards, lesson plans, or other resources for your student? Visit our Digital Resources page and select “Educator Resources”

Meet other homeschool families at one of our many upcoming programs.

Age-Based Programming

The Ocean County Library offers programming for all age groups. Visit our Calendar of Events to view programming for your student’s age group.    

• Kids: Our children’s programing builds early literacy skills and fosters a love of books, technology, and creativity.
• Teens: Teens are able to enjoy our Teen based discussion groups, gaming, food, art, fandoms, and volunteer opportunities.
• College & Career Readiness: What’s your student’s next big step? Will they be attending college? Entering the workforce? These programs help with college essays, resume writing, FASFA, and more.
• Maker: We offer STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, & Math) and Maker programs. Maker activities provide hands-on learning experiences that encourage all to experiment, invent, create, and learn. The Library offers programs and classes featuring robotics, 3D printing, coding, and DIY basics like sewing and cooking.

Homework Help and Online Tutoring

We offer free, live, one-on-one, online tutoring through brainfuse - HelpNow. This excellent resource offers tutoring in math, science, writing, language learning, and other subjects for elementary, middle school, high school, and college students. The service also features a writing lab that gives feedback on written assignments within 24 hours and much more.

All brainfuse tutors have at least a four-year degree and undergo background checks.

HelpNow also includes live, online help for Spanish speakers.

All tutoring services are available daily from 2 – 11 pm seven days a week.

Digital Resources

We provide free access to over 100 reliable Digital Resources with your library card. Students of all ages have access at any one of our locations, most of which are available anywhere with an internet connection. Subjects include:

Digital Materials

Can’t get to the library? We’re open 24/7 with internet access. We offer a variety of eBooks, emagazines, audiobooks, streaming video and music on our Digital Materials page.

Listed below are various resources to access digital and downloadable content for free.

Enjoy eBooks, audiobooks, movies, magazines, and more! All resources contain materials for children, teens, and adults.

	Streaming Music	Streaming Video	eBooks	Magazines	Audiobooks
Access Video Just for Kids
Access Video On Demand
EBSCO eBooks
eLibrary (Includes the Most Current eBook Titles)
hoopla*
Kanopy**
TumbleBookLibrary (For Kids)
RBdigital

We no longer offer eBooks from cloudLibrary. If you are currently enjoying a title you checked out and downloaded from cloudLibrary, you will still have the full checkout period for your download. If you were on hold for a cloudLibrary item but your hold did not fill, please see our eLibrary collection to access the desired title. Staff are available to assist you at your local branch. We hope you will continue to enjoy eBooks from our currently available collections.

*We are pleased to offer hoopla digital borrowing, which provides eBooks, eComic books, eAudio, digital music, and digital film with no waiting lists on a cost-per-use basis. Our annual budget supports this service along with all of the formats available for borrowing in both physical and digital collections. If our budgeted amount has been reached for the day, we invite you to explore our other digital collections for items available to borrow. Daily budgeted borrowing resets at midnight.

**Our Kanopy video streaming service provides four checkouts per month for Ocean County Library resident cardholders. Each checkout provides unlimited access to a title for up to 3 days.

For help and support with these digital materials, please visit our help page.

Recommended Reading

Our Librarians want to inspire a love of reading and have created current and up to date booklists for your children in various genres. Lists include topics like Non-fiction, Diversability, Teen reluctant readers, mental health and more. Here are our suggested reads for Children and Teens.

Or find your next great read on NoveList, discover new titles and “read-a-likes” of your favorite books.

• NoveList K-8 Plus: Teens, Middle, and Elementary School recommendations. Also helps parents and teachers search by reading levels and curriculums.
• NoveList Plus: Book Discussion Guides, Book Lists, Describe a Plot, Explore Fiction, and Find Similar Books.

Chat Live with Library Staff

Did you know you can chat live with a library staff member? Questions can be asked via:

Live services are available Monday – Thursday 9-9, Friday & Saturday 9-5, and Sunday 1-5*

*Sunday hours are available September through May.