Best Access to Libraries During a Pandemic: Digital Libraries
In the past two plus years of the pandemic, public libraries essentially closed up shop. There were complete shutdowns, followed by allowing patrons to reserve books and pick them up curbside. Book donations generally were declined – who knew what germs were riding in on the tomes from a home library and people weren’t coming in to buy or borrow them anyway.
What did work? As card holders at the Houston Public Library, Fort Bend County Library System and many other Houston area library systems came to find out: Digital.
Access to digital libraries meant borrowing books online and reading them on a Kindle, computer or phone. Listening to them via Audiobooks or Hoopla. Opt for Overdrive, or the Libby app. All at no charge to borrow. Try a new author and find you don’t like the book, hit the return button. No charge.
Better yet, try a writer new to you and find someone whose work you want to embrace. Read several of the author’s books. Again, no charge.
COVID-19 probably forced many people to expand their technical skill set if they wanted to continue reading. Armed with that new knowledge, this is something there’s no reason not to continue to do whether you decide to buy a book or go to the library in person.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2022.
