Aug. 18, 2021

MONTGOMERY – The Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) is pleased to announce the addition of two new resources — TeachingBooks and Gale LegalForms — to its already robust list of databases that provide reliable information to all Alabama residents free of charge.

Made for use by students, educators, and librarians, TeachingBooks is a comprehensive collection of audio, video, and digital resources that personalize and enrich connections to books commonly read by children and young adults. The database provides more than 257,000 resources on books, including 14,000 read-along audio book performances and 1,600 complete book readings.

Gale LegalForms brings together thousands of authentic, professional, national and state-specific legal forms and templates including business, personal, real estate and general forms covering hundreds of legal subjects and issues. Forms included range from landlord tenant, wills, power of attorney, and small business contracts. These forms are fill-in-the-blank, downloadable, and continuously updated to reflect current Alabama laws.

AVL also recently acquired 302 educational e-books (237 titles from Capstone and 65 titles from Gale) to include in its online library primarily for use by elementary school students. These e-book titles cover more than a dozen academic areas ranging from science, art, music, math, reading, and technology.

“The addition of over 300 e-books for grades K-5 is a win-win for Alabama,” said Ron Leonard, treasurer for the AVL. “There are both non-fiction titles to support classroom activities and fiction titles to help foster a love for reading. Also, by making a large, statewide purchase of the ebooks for all Alabamians — there is economy of scale, thus benefiting the taxpayer.”

AVL (www.avl.lib.al.us) is Alabama’s statewide digital library. First funded by the Alabama Legislature in 1999, AVL ensures equitable access to high quality information that is always available remotely to anyone in Alabama. The AVL Council is composed of representatives from the Alabama State Department of Education, the Alabama Public Library Service, the Alabama Community College System, the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, and the Alabama Supercomputer Authority. The Alabama Public Library Service is the fiscal agent for AVL.

The Alabama Public Library Service is the state agency whose mission is to provide information services to all citizens, local public libraries, and state employees.