February is Black History Month.

Britannica.com offers a wealth of resources and information to help you celebrate the contributions and history of this group of our nation's citizens.
The Library of Congress has links to many special collections on their African-American Odyssey pages.

Winter Resources:

TripCheck (ODOT) Current Oregon highway road conditions, webcams, and weather.
KCST Local radio station website--Coast Radio Florence--providing local news and information.

Disaster Resources:

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Are you prepared for weather-related disasters?
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Preparation and recovery from floods.
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency Brochure Coping with a Flood. Note: This is a 2-page PDF brochure. You will need a copy of Adobe Reader in order to open this book.
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Book Are You Ready: An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness. Note: This is a 204 page book in PDF format. You will need a copy of Adobe Reader in order to open this book.

Free eBooks:

Inkmesh This is a search engine that searches several websites for free eBooks.
Stephen's Lighthouse A site that lists the best websites to visit for free eBooks.
Baen A source for free science fiction and fantasy eBooks.
Google Books The books available at this site, Google's Library Project, are titles that are in the public domain (out of copyright).
ManyBooks.net This site has over 29,000 titles in various formats and languages.
Munseys This is a collection of fiction titles available in various formats.
Project Gutenberg This site has over 33,000 free eBooks which were all digitized with the help of volunteers.

E-Reader Instructional Videos:

Cnet.com's Kindle Instruction Videos, including "Kindle Fire Tips 'n Tricks", "How to transfer video to a Kindle Fire" and "How to stream media from a PC to a Kindle Fire".
Cnet.com's article "Ten most useful NOOK tips and tricks" includes videos "How to get free library books on your NOOK" (Note: This video is not specific to our library), and "How to make a custom NOOK screen saver."

Educational Resources:

Siuslaw School District 2011-2012 school calendar, back to school supply lists, school registration information and much more.
Mapleton School District School and events calendars, student insurance information and even cafeteria menus.
Khan Academy Over 2400 educational videos concentrating on math and science, taught by professional educators. GMAT, SAT and other test preparation instruction too.
GFCLearnFree.org Brush up on computer skills, math, career and basic life skills at this site sponsored by the GoodWill Community Foundation.
Boys and Girls Club of Western Lane County With year-round programs for elementary and teen age youth, including after school, weekend, vacation and summer programs, the Boys and Girls Club provides a safe, supervised environment for youth in Florence.
Academic Earth Watch lectures from universities around the globe.

Canning and Preserving:

Oregon State University Extension Service Free, downloadable pamphlets, links to classes and master food preservation experts to answer your questions.
National Center for Home Food Preservation Information on the use of pressure and water bath canners, canning at various altitudes, freezing, drying, smoking, fermenting, curing and pickling as well as links to many more resources and publications.
Ball Canning and Preserving August 13th is National "Can it Forward" day. Ball Home Canning's web site includes recipes, links to local classes, and a basic introduction to canning video.

Popular Reading Resources:

Criminal Element.com Are you a crime fiction fan? Are you looking for new authors, recent award winners and discussion groups that focus on crime and mystery fiction? This web site, launched in April 2011, and featured in the July edition of Library Journal, has a large assortment of resources.
Crime Thru Time has detailed lists, time lines, links, a book club and more for fans of historical mysteries.
The Big Thrill is a webzine sponsored by the International Thriller Writers organization. Look under the tab for "Latest Books" to find a huge list of titles, organized by category (crime fiction, military thrillers, etc.).
Tor.com and Baen.com offer a similar range of resources for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror fans. Baen.com also offers free downloadable e-books from many of their authors.
If romance is more to your taste, Heroes and Heartbreakers.com, offers a wide range of resources, including book excerpts.

Gardening:

OSU Extension Service now publishes a monthly online journal for home gardeners. "Northwest Gardeners eNews" is a monthly electronic magazine with news and advice about gardening in Oregon. The Extension Service website also offers a wealth of other gardening resources on their community gardening page, including tips, calendars, handbooks and contact with Master Gardeners for your questions.
Want to build a worm bin? Go to seattletilth.org and type "worm bins" in the search box for a link to a set of plans in downloadable .pdf document format.
Bring Recycling in Eugene has a great website, full of "Green" tips and advice, including ways to recycle in your garden.
New for 2012, the revised USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map