For many of my readers, you might remember the day you got your library card. To some, it was a rite of passage. To others, it was required, perhaps by a classroom assignment.
No matter the reason, the process generally looked the same. You entered your local branch, filled out a paper form or gave some general information, you were handed a card and became an official “library cardholder.”
Between the time you signed up for your first card and now, some things have changed. Online resources have exploded with research websites tied to your library card number, eBooks and eAudiobooks, and even magazines are now available for check-out digitally.
Recognizing that sometimes you need an electronic resource, but you don’t have the opportunity to stop in to the library for the in-person rigmarole, we at DCDL have created a new option.
No matter your location in the State of Ohio, when you log on to www.delawarelibrary.org and click the image on the homepage that says “Need a card? Get one,” you’re just two steps away from being able to have almost all the benefits of a cardholder without leaving your computer or mobile device.
Signing up for a library card online grants the registrant access to check out OverDrive eBooks and Zinio magazines immediately. Also, all databases listed on the “Research” portion of the DCDL website can be accessed. Many of these sites can be visited from home, but some do require a login or library card number.
Even physical library materials can be requested using the access code given when you register online. Since you’ll have to stop in to pick up your requested books or DVDs in a library branch anyway, when you go to check out, just have a form of identification with you and we’ll transfer your online card to a traditional card with complete borrowing rights.
The Ohio Digital Library has some popular new titles in their system now. Click over to their website and see some of these popular titles that you can get on eBook or eAudiobook.
• This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. Minutes after the principal of Opportunity High School in Alabama finishes her speech welcoming the student body to a new semester, they discover that the auditorium doors will not open and someone starts shooting as four teens, each with a personal reason to fear the shooter, tell the tale from separate perspectives.
• Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. Shares the story of the author’s family and upbringing, describing how they moved from poverty to an upwardly mobile clan that included the author, a Yale Law School graduate, while navigating the demands of middle class life and the collective demons of the past.
• The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. Cassie Sullivan, the survivor of an alien invasion, must rescue her young brother from the enemy with help from a boy who may be one of them.
• The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney. Gathering to confront an older sibling who has been recently released from rehab after a drunk driving accident, the Plum siblings watch as the trust fund left by their father rises and falls according to self-inflicted problems.
