So, here I am to encourage you, utilize your local library! Learn and grow, for free!!!
I know...we don't all have time to be running to the library! Well, that's okay your local library likely has an online program.
Grand Rapids Public Library has an amazing array of online resources. I was just telling someone a few hours ago about the apps and thought I'd share this in my blog just in case some are not aware of how amazingly rich of a resource your library card is these days!!
(Picture I took a couple weeks ago of our beautiful GRPL!)
As a kid I LOVED the library, mostly for the books, but also for the tarantulas and snakes that lived there! I remember the day I was old enough to get my very own library card. It was yellow card stock versus today's plastic with a barcode. The card changed, but not me, I'm still proud to be a library card holder!!! (Hey, no puking noises or snickers...I gave fair warning of this type of talk in the blog's title!)
Growing up our family utilized the library, a lot! In fact my mom would check-out (sorry to give your secrets away mom) our living room art pieces! We always had fantastic art on our walls from the library!
Fast forward to today. Although nothing beats the feel and smell of being in the library we often now turn to the online resources GRPL.org offers. This includes access to many databases much of which are provided by Michigan eLibrary which is funded by a grant for the State of Michigan! Cool!
Lots of research and lots of books, both audio and electronic. If it's checked out, that's okay, put a hold on it and they'll shoot you an email when it's ready! When your time is up, it just disappears off your device and checks itself back into the library! NO LATE FEES!!
So, there's an app for that! A few actually, the main one is the Overlook app. There are a few additional ones that GRPL partners with. Two that I use: Hoopla and Zinio.
Hoopla does music, books (e-books and audio-books), and movies. Our library allows 7 free "rentals" per month. Since we each have a library card, that's 21 between us! And there is a Kid Mode setting, yay! You can stream or download. We download audiobooks and all listen as we drive to visit D!
Zinio is for reading magazines. Any magazine your library subscribes to, you can check-it-out and flip through it in your device at your leisure! I don't use it incredibly much, but I sure would if I had more time! (Download a few before a long car ride!!)
Beyond books, GRPL also loans out passes to places like the children's museum and even cooler, you can borrow a bicycle from some branches! Awesome!!!
On FB you see this clan doing some fun things like, origami, cooking classes, Tai Chi in the park, soda Geysers, etc.... Guess what???!!! It is ALL through the library and it is ALL FREE!!!
Okay and one last nerdy confession... one of my favorite fun library things to do in college was to challenge my friends to a contest to find the funniest book combos. You get 10 minutes and you have to strategically pick 10-12 books and put them on the table in stack of 2 or 3 so that as you read the titles they flow and are hilarious. The funniest combo wins! Careful though, this could lead to belly laughs, snorting, and getting the evil eye from the Library Nazi on duty!
So, lots to do and no time to waste!! Go ahead, check it out (get it?!!)!!
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