Library adds new tutoring service to help with academics and job-seeking

Mike Wolanin | The Republic The login screen for Tutor.com is seen on a computer at the Bartholomew County Library in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. Tyler Munn, collection and discovery services coordinator for the library, demonstrated how to log on and use the site. The library recently started offering the service.

COLUMBUS, Ind. — The local library has added a new resource to help residents with academic improvement and job-seeking.

The Bartholomew County Public Library has entered a partnership with Tutor.com that allows library cardholders to access the website’s services for free.

Tutor.com is an online business that partners with colleges, K-12 schools, libraries, employee benefits programs and the United States military to provide tutoring and homework help to individuals within these entities. It also has resources for career coaching, resume reviews and job seeking.

“Tutor.com is a live online homework help and tutoring service for all ages, from elementary students to adult learners,” the local library shared in a social media post. “The tutors are experts in their subjects and include certified teachers, college professors, and qualified students. Tutor and student work one-to-one in a secure online classroom, and no personal information is exchanged between them.”

Collection and Discovery Services Coordinator Tyler Munn said that the library believes this partnership to be a good use of their funds and hopes that both students and “lifelong learners” make good use of the resource.

He described Tutor.com as having two main pieces. One is live tutoring, which is available to library patrons from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. every day. Students can input their grade, the subject they need help with, and what kind of help they need. From there, they will be connected with an appropriate tutor.

“We’re told that the average connection time is less than a minute, so they shouldn’t have much of a wait,” said Munn. “And then they have the option of having a chat-only tutoring session or chat with voice.”

He added that he’s been told that if a person were to sign on for a tutoring session as late at 10:59 p.m., they would still have access to live tutoring for as long as they need. Tutoring sessions typically last about half an hour.

The other half of the Tutor.com service is a suite of online resources that are available at any time. This includes submitting math problems, papers or resumes for feedback. There are also practice quizzes and study materials for different subjects, as well as test prep resources for the SAT, ACT, grad tests, AP tests and citizenship tests.

For more on this story, see Monday’s Republic.