They are purveyors of information, passionate about their resources. They offer the tools to solve problems. If someone is looking for an answer, they know how to find it.

They’re not investigators. They’re the staff of the local library.

February was “Love Your Library” month; April holds National Library Week, but every day of the year, library staff promotes literacy — from basic reading skills for children to learning Portuguese for travelers, from basic computer skills for the elderly to advanced programs like Photoshop for the photographer.

Libraries’ resources are too numerous to list; those resources are free; accessing them is as easy as getting a library card — those are the messages that members of Beaufort County 360’s literacy task force is trying to share with residents. The other message is that libraries today are very different from libraries of the past.

“I think the one thing that we want people to know is that you do not have to come into the library to use the library,” said Sandra Silvey, director of George H. and Laura E. Brown Library in Washington.

Libraries have kept up with technology, and library cards today hold the key to accessing resources from anywhere, according to Silvey.

A visit to the Brown Library website proves it as, by following the online resources link, cardholders can download eBooks and eAudio books, or search out family roots through the library’s edition of Ancestry.com. More importantly, library cardholders have access to a wealth of information starting with Atomic Training, which provides tutorials covering a broad range of subjects: from Microsoft Office and email program tutorials to programming in several different computer languages. Atomic Training offers tutorials on career skills such as the art of running effective meetings and how to interview for a job.

Silvey said the tutorials see plenty of use inside and outside the library, for a very specific reason.

“Excel and Word are the two that you need to get a job,” Silvey said.

The flow of information and resources is continued through NC LIVE, also accessible through the website.

“It just has an amazing amount of resources in it,” said Kim Davenport, library service coordinator at Brown Library.

Through NC LIVE, users are able to learn any of 80 languages with Pronunciator, a self-paced, interactive program.

“It’s going for the kids that are in high school trying to get through their courses, but it’s a great thing too for people who are traveling, or in civil services, because you can access it from anywhere,” Davenport said.

Another NC LIVE program is Learning Express, which offers test prep for everything from SATs and ACTs to real estate and civil service exams. Home Grown eBooks is a new feature that provides simultaneous (no waiting) access to publications specific to North Carolina, including fiction, nonfiction, travel guides and more. Peer-reviewed information for purposes of research papers and fact-finding is available through journals, magazines and access to other databases.

If one can’t find the information being sought on the website, it’s just a quick NCKnows inquiry away. On the library’s home page, this statewide program allows user to type a question in the provided NCKnows window. A librarian on duty will assist, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to Davenport.

“If for some reason they can’t answer your question immediately, they will get your email and send you an answer later,” Davenport said.

For Silvey and Davenport, these are all tools of a trade that is, essentially, about getting information into the hands of people who need it.

“People come in all day long looking for information other than books. Tax forms, how to get a license — the questions are endless,” Silvey said. “If you can imagine it, we’ve been asked it.”

Each question asked and answered is part of the effort to promote literacy of all types, as are the many programs offered at the library, both of which are in keeping with the BC 360 mission of promoting family literacy, according to Silvey.

“I think we start at the very beginning with the parents bringing their kids in for Storytime with (children’s librarian) Terry (Rollins),” Davenport said. “We filled the gap for young adults about five years ago. We’re keeping them engaged right up until they head off to college.”

Children too young to read, the elderly who missed out on the rapid rise of technology, teens who start with graphic novels and graduate to simply novels, families working together on puzzles and games at the Saturday Stumper events — all are being served through learning.

These sources for learning are all available for free at the local library, according to Silvey.

“That’s why you need that library card,” Silvey said. “Because knowledge is power.”

For more information about Brown Library resources and programs, visit the library’s website at washington-nc.libguides.com or visit the library at 122 Van Norden St.

This is the third article in a series about Beaufort County 360’s literacy task force efforts.