We’re about a month from the end of the school year and I’m continuing my trend of references for summer. As the beginning of summer is creeping ever nearer I thought now would be a good time to talk about some of our digital services that all ages can benefit from without even having to make it into the library to enjoy them!
I’ve written about Libby/OverDrive and Hoopla before but they remain an excellent source of entertainment for all ages, especially for those with long hours of free time to look forward to. And for parents, we have a few tips in case you’re concerned about what these services allow your child to access.
As with print books, a juvenile card CAN check out adult material—“adult” is really just library jargon to refer to any fiction or non-fiction material that is above a juvenile or teen reading level. We don’t restrict the types of content we allow access to because so many of those classics we know and love, and that are required reading for school, are considered “adult” material. Ultimately you are you own best judge of what is appropriate for your family and your child so we leave that up the discretion of the parent or guardian to monitor what their child is accessing. However, there are some options for you: In Hoopla, you can turn on Kids Mode which will filter the titles to those deemed appropriate for kids 12 and under (in movies this would be anything from G to PG). Simply go to your settings in the upper right corner to activate Kids Mode.
In Libby/OverDrive, you can use an audience filter to filter the titles you see when you browse and search. The audience types are: juvenile (children); young adult (teens and young adult); adult (general adult fiction and nonfiction); and mature adult (18+/erotica). You can activate the audience filter in your settings. To activate these filters, you do have to be logged in to your account.
Please be aware that these settings do not require you to re-enter your password to change them so if you have a tech savvy child they can change these settings if they choose to; therefore we do always encourage parents to continue to monitor and be aware of what their child is accessing, same as you would monitor YouTube, Google, or any of their other online use. And, as always, check in with your local branch if you have any questions for us!
Coming Up:
- Aulds , 742-2337 — Saturday, Apr. 27 @ 2:00pm – Kids Crafternoon, ages 3-12
- Benton , 965-2751 — Friday, Apr. 26 @ 10:00am – Baby Laptime, ages 0-2
- Bossier Central, 746-1693 — Thursday, Apr. 25 @ 6:00pm – Rage About the Page Book Club, ages 18 and up; Friday, Apr. 26 @ 4:00pm – Graphic Novel Gourpies, ages 6-12; Sunday, Apr. 29 – Saturday, May 4 – Children’s Book Week: Stop in any time to celebrate!
- East 80 , 949-2665 — Thursday, Apr. 25 – Pages in the Park Storytime, all ages
- Haughton, 949-0196 — Friday, Apr. 26 – Trivia, all ages
- History Center, 746-7717 — Saturday, Apr. 20 – Saturday, Apr. 27 – EARLY VOTING LOCATION
- Plain Dealing, 326-4233 — Saturday, Apr. 27 @ 2:00pm – National Kite Month Celebration, ages 6-12
- Tooke, 987-3915 — Wednesday, Apr. 24 @ 10:00am – Once Upon a Time Storytime, ages 0-5
- Community Engagement — Saturday, Apr. 27 @ 11:00am – Gingerbread House Food Truck Rally @ Flying Heart Brewery, all ages
New Materials:
- The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugoni (Fiction; Book)
- The Tale Teller: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel by Anne Hillerman (Fiction; Book)
- Triple Jeopardy: A Daniel Pitt Novel by Anne Perry (Fiction; Book)
- When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton (Fiction; Book)
Annie Gilmer, Community Engagement Librarian for Bossier Parish Libraries