Since Covid19 started, we have not physically gone into a Los Angeles Public Library LAPL branch, or any other libraries near us, including LA County or Glendale public libraries since March 2020.
We miss library buildings and the wonderful librarians and library staff, terribly.
However, thanks to technology, we can still visit our libraries virtually. WE ARE SO LUCKY! The librarians and patrons of the Library of Alexandria would have been envious of our current technology that we use in our own homes. . .
Here are some basic library apps and online resources that will keep you reading, listening, watching and engaging in literature while library buildings are physically closed. . .
First, get an Online Library E Card – get one easily if you are a California resident, right here. Even if you don’t already have a physical card. A physical card is not needed.
Access all of LAPL’S online e-media and resources here. (When you get your library card –whether it’s a physical card in your hand or an E-card it’s the same– you will have a library number – which you will use with the following apps etc., and your PIN is usually just the last four digits of your phone number).
Libby App, Overdrive – borrow e-books and listen to audiobooks, here and here.
Hoopla – borrow e-books and listen to audiobooks and podcasts, here.
Kanopy – watch movies and documentaries, here.
Mango – learn a new language, here.
Lynda – learn how to code, or just how to finally use Excel or many other skills, here.
These are just some of the free resources with your library card – check out everything you have access to for free, with your library card. I repeat, access all of LAPL’S online e-media and resources here. (You will use your library number – which you will use with all of the apps or websites etc., and your PIN is usually just the last four digits of your phone number – but each website or app will explain how to sign in collaboration with your local library).
I’ve been reading the actual, physical, large, illustrated Harry Potter books, out loud to my 4 year old daughter Riley every night during Covid19 (after the HP series, it will be Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata books and Binti series). Riley doesn’t hear everything and isn’t always paying attention, but she gets to hear my voice reading to her every night as she falls asleep. Maybe she will reread them one day. Riley and I reread books we physically have on our bookshelves at home all the time. But we also read and reread e-books. Books are books. Riley loves Luke Pearson’s Hilda graphic novel series (and now the Hilda series on Netflix too).
It doesn’t matter if a book is online, an e-book, or if it’s physically in your hands. But if you prefer a physical book, LAPL is doing Library To Go, where you place a hold on a book, make an appointment at a LAPL branch doing Library To Go, and then you go and pick up your books! I’m sure your local library is doing a similar program.
Need more suggestions? Read on LAPL’s blog: Ten Library Resources for Families & Kids to Access From Home and for kids, go here.
Stay safe, wear a mask, get a Covid vaccine when you can, and keep reading. Get that library card if you’ve never gotten one. Or renew it if yours has lapsed! Libraries make it easy for us.
Thank you LAPL, and all public libraries (check out your local library’s e-media resources, I bet they are similar to LAPL’s) and use your library number to access literature and everything else online while we can’t visit our local libraries in person. Here’s to a better year in 2021. I’m off to listen to a book now. . .
