Empowering individuals to build a stronger community
by Carol S. Lewis
In part one, I talked in general about checking out ebooks from our library. This week I’ll give you the details for taking advantage of this fantastic library resource. As you might recall, the first step is to register with Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library (MFRL), which oversees our Craig County Library ebook loaning. You can register in person at the library in Christiansburg, or you can fill out a paper form at the Craig County Library and they will mail it in for you. You’ll then receive information (and a PIN number) from Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library that allows you to access their eLibrary.
Once you have the information from MFRL, get on their website at www.mfrl.org. Click on the eLibrary tab at the top. After a short sign-in process in which you enter your library card number and your PIN number, you will be able to access all kinds of resources. This includes a large collection of ebooks and audiobooks, but also you’ll have access to academic research sites, homework help, foreign language tutorial sites, searching text of current newspapers like Roanoke Times and the Washington Post, and genealogy research. For this column, we’re focusing on ebooks, so you’ll click on one of the choices that offers ebooks. MFRL has agreements in place with several websites that offer ebook collections, so just choose the one you want by clicking on it (choices include Overdrive, hoopla, OneClickdigital and others). Overdrive has been around the longest, but the others have different features and offer different collections. I started with Overdrive because I was at least a little bit familiar with it.
With Overdrive, you can download a borrowed ebook to your tablet, smart phone, or MP3 player. You can search the ebooks by subject, or you can search their “Collections,” which includes Available Now, New Additions, Most Popular, and others. I recommend that you start with the Available Now collection, so you can guarantee the ebook you want is available to you. (Just as with a print book, a limited number of each ebook is available to our library patrons, as there’s a cost involved to the library. Borrowing is not unlimited.)
When you’ve made your selection, just click “Borrow.” Then you’re given an option to download the title or read it in a browser. I chose to download my ebook selection. Since I had set up my account as a Kindle borrower, this sent me directly to the amazon.com website, with a button there labeled “Get Library Book.” Clicking this button caused the ebook to be downloaded to my tablet where I have a Kindle app for reading.
It worked like a charm! I’m now reading a great ebook, for free, that I would normally have paid almost $10 for on amazon.com. After 14 days, when the borrowing term is up, the file will disappear from my tablet. (But I can always borrow it again.) Thank you, Craig County Library, for this awesome service!
Library news:
Ongoing: Membership drive for Friends of the Library. Look for an insert in the New Castle Record to support your library!
Newsletter: If you wish to get the informative monthly newsletter, just send your request to craiglibrary@swva.net ( New Email address)
Inquire at the library for your Eclipse glasses for the solar eclipse in August 21!
Next Board of trustees meeting: September 11, 2017, 6 pm at the library
Wanted: a desk volunteer for Wednesdays. Inquire at the library to take advantage of this opportunity to give back to your community. Benefits: social opportunity, helping children, learning new computer skills, air conditioning and plenty of free reading!
Please help your library to get free money by registering your Kroger card: (every little bit helps!)
Go to Kroger.com/community rewards
Go to Register
Select the zip code of your favorite Kroger store and select it from the list
Enter your name and create a password
Create an account
Enter your Kroger rewards card number if you have one
Select Enroll now
When prompted, type Craig in the box and select Craig Library Friends of the Library!
