By Saara Itkonen, chief librarian of the Creston Public Library
Let’s Get Digital, Digital
It seems pretty silly to open this month’s column on digital technologies by firmly dating myself as an 80’s child in the title, but I couldn’t help it. I’m a sucker for a good pun, especially when it’s a classic 80’s tune.
All jokes aside, last year was a HUGE year for digital library content at the Creston Valley Public Library. Since e-books and online digital resources were made available at the library, we usually see about a 10 per cent increase in use per year. In 2020, we saw a 23 per cent increase in e-books and e-resource use. Creston Valley Public Library users also rated sixth in the province, per capita, for e-books borrowing.
With our growing usage numbers and the ongoing pandemic making in-person library visits less frequent, we’re growing our technology and digital resource collections for you to access at home. Here are some new highlights for this year.
Tech Kits
Robots, drones, circuits and build-your-own-computers for children and families to take home and explore with. You can check out all our kits on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/4zi4XEY2ARE We also welcome any suggestions for new kits. Special thanks to the Columbia Basin Trust and the Provincial Libraries Branch for extra funds for this project.
Biblioboard PressBooks
Write and publish your own e-books with this free online software. If your writing is good enough, you may be selected for the Indie-Author Project, a BC-wide online library where views of your work can earn you royalties. You can check it out here: https://library.biblioboard.com/home
Kanopy
Streaming movies, tv-shows, documentaries and kid’s shows. Like Netflix but free to library users! Coming soon.
Tumblebooks
Now free for all BC public libraries, Tumblebooks is a high-quality collection of children’s e-books, including picture books, readers, novels and graphic novels, all readable in the browser with no borrowing necessary. Have a look here: https://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/Home.aspx?categoryID=77
And we still have your old favourites:
Library 2 Go
A province-wide collection of e-books available for borrowing. Over 30,000 titles and counting. Creston Valley Public Library is also adding extra copies of the most popular titles for our library users, meaning hold lines are shorter for you!
RB Digital
A massive digital collection of online magazines and audiobooks. Find your favourite titles or try out some new ones.
Lynda.com
Free online courses in web development, design, marketing, business and more!
Our complete list of online resources, including the ones mentioned above, can be found on our website at crestonlibrary.com
We’ve also added two new Kobo e-readers for library users to borrow. If you’re curious about e-books and would like to try them out, simply borrow an e-reader and our staff will be happy to assist you.
Our library staff are here to assist you with your technology questions and concerns, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. We still love books at the library but we also know that more and more reading and learning is happening online and we’re here to support you.
And if you don’t already have a library card and would like to access our online resources, give us a call or send us an email at info@crestonlibrary.com and we’ll set you up.
Upcoming Events
Family Storytime on Facebook Live – Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. (facebook.com/crestonlibrary)
