It’s easy to reminisce about the times past in the public library. Times spent perusing shelves of multi-colored book bindings filled with just about any story anyone could imagine. The library is approachable, no matter what socioeconomic background you may come from. As a child, I felt like I had hit the imagination jackpot.

Later on while at university, the library became a refuge in helping me focus enough to study. As someone who gets easily distracted, it was a pleasant surprise to see the only distractions were little finches outside my window hopping from branch to branch. I honestly don’t know how I would have gotten through those long hours of studying without the use of the university library.

Around 2012 the fear of the public library shutting down became real. In the digital age, people no longer felt like the need to go to the library. Some would go to study there, but the reality of people using the library for other resources started to lack. Everyone has a smart phone, and wifi can be obtained nearly anywhere.

Writers like Neil Gaiman promoted the use of public libraries while on book tours and in speeches around the world. Then the pandemic hit throwing us all on to spin cycle. However, in a strange way this disaster assisted in the resuscitation of our library system. In 2020, libraries became popular once again as we coped with the ever-changing reality of needing to change jobs, tighten our purse strings, and find ways to entertain ourselves while living in isolation. The library was our knight in shining armor!

Coming out on the other side of the pandemic left us with the notion that our public library system is not to be taken for granted. Whether you want to learn something new, escape to another land, or just read… there is plenty to offer for everyone.

There are also some apps to help us utilize what our libraries offer including ebooks, audiobooks, music, TV shows, and movies. If you love the tactile use of a paperback or hardback then the trusty library is still there for us to use. But if you are app inclined, then these will help you while you are on the go.

Let’s get to it!

Hoopla

Hoopla is great for ebooks, audiobooks, music, movies, and tv shows. You can use your public library card for this. I have used Hoopla with Oakland Public Library as well as San Francisco public library and it’s worked great! Keep in mind, these ebooks and audiobooks borrowed do not transfer over to your kindle or e-reader, and must be read in the app.

Downloading and using in airplane mode while traveling on this app hasn’t worked out well without the use of wifi. So just make sure you have wifi and the ability to use the app while using.

Libby

Libby is great for ebooks and audiobooks. I have used a couple of different city library cards for this one as well without any issue. There aren’t as many audiobooks on this platform as there are at Hoopla in my experience, however, you can get the books transferred over to your kindle or e-reader. So while traveling, the use of Libby is easy.

Also if are like me and need a little extra time to finish a book, then you can leave your e-reader on airplane mode until you have finished what you are reading without the worry of renewing. Just keep in mind, you cannot sync your e-reader while on airplane mode.

Kanopy

Kanopy is not so much for books but is for media such as music, movies, and TV. With your public library they will grant you 32 tickets to use per month.

You can stream the media on to Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, and Fire TV to watch on your TV at home. Each film has 72 hour access. I don’t think this is travel friendly since I couldn’t find a way to download films. At any rate, there are a host of documentaries, movies, and TV and is well worth checking out especially given it is free with the use of a public library card.

Have you used any of these? Tell me what you think in the comments below.

-Keri

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