Wouldn’t it be great to have your own tutor who knows their subject and is also a good teacher?

It would be even better if it were free since tutoring can run anywhere from $15 to $100 an hour.

Well, guess what! The Library is a proud provider of Tutor.com, a highly respected online tutoring service from The Princeton Review. It is free and available to Dauphin County Library System members on any computer or mobile device with internet access.

Now, The Library is embarking on a public awareness campaign, ensuring that families know about this free, invaluable benefit that comes with their Library cards.

Library Programming and Outreach Administrator Tynan Edwards can attest to the value of Tutor.com. He submitted several grad-school papers to the service to check the bibliography. So, how did it go?

“I still have a 4.0, and it really makes the bibliography easy,” he said. “I asked if they were formatted properly, and the answers came back a day later, saying they looked good. I made a couple of corrections, submitted them to my professor, and it’s done.”

Tutor.com saves families money and helps students of all ages boost their academic achievement. The online service connects students with highly qualified, fully vetted tutors. Tutors include certified teachers, college professors, and graduate students. They can help with studying, test prep, writing assignments, and homework help in more than 40 subjects in math, English, science, and social studies.

Access to Tutor.com is a significant outcome of The Library’s All Ready Access initiative, which automatically grants Library membership to students in partnering school districts.

Currently, participating school districts are Central Dauphin, Harrisburg, Steelton-Highspire, Millersburg, and Williams Valley. Families in Hershey and Middletown, which have their public library systems, also have access to Tutor.com.  

To ensure that more people enjoy the benefits of Tutor.com, The Library is conducting an awareness campaign. Information is more prominent in All Ready Access materials handed out to schools, and   Library staff are talking to PTAs and PTOs. 

The Library also attends back-to-school nights and visits All Ready Access schools, sharing information on the privileges that come with All Ready Access. Library staff are also converting the digital All Ready Access memberships to Library cards for all students, giving parents physical reminders of their children’s Library memberships. Teachers and school librarians are also learning about the availability of Tutor.com.

As schools embark on new journeys in engaging students, The Library’s campaign raises awareness of Tutor.com as a resource that helps children love their learning.

“By tying all these things together at the schools, we’ll reach parents, teachers, and students simultaneously,” Edwards said. “We’ve found that to be most effective.”

Tutor.com can be especially helpful for dual-language households where the children speak English, but their parents don’t. With Tutor.com, children can submit their homework for review without parent help.

“It’s a great service,” Edwards said. “We’re making sure everyone knows it’s there. It gets rave reviews when teachers and admins hear about it. It’s so easy.”

The Library’s access to Tutor.com was made available through a Pennsylvania Department of Education County Coordination Aid grant. 

Tutoring sessions are available from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Sunday. Tutors can also review emailed papers, and answer submitted math questions. Tutor.com also offers practice quizzes and other study resources. 

How to get started:

Library members: 

Have your Library card number handy and visit dcls.org. Click on the “Free, live, one-on-one tutoring” icon and enter your Library card number. From there, the link takes you to Tutor.com. First-time users create a free account to access tutors, submit papers, send math questions, or take practice quizzes. Users without accounts can still access Tutor.com’s SkillsCenter Resource Library for links to websites and worksheets.

All Ready Access members:

Use your ARA barcode and PIN to access Tutor.com. For assistance, call 717-652-9380, extension 2.