By Eyesenia Reyes
Libraries are moving into the wave of the future. Electronics are everywhere, and as the world shifts into the technological age of iPads, Android products and Kindles, it’s impossible to escape from it.
In order to remain relevant, libraries needed a new game plan.
Along with the basic borrowing of traditional books, the public library now allows you to rent library books to read on your Kindle too. Renting an eBook is the same as if you were to rent a book at the library, except, you can do it from the comfort of your home or just about anywhere you have access to the internet.
Visit the Hillsborough County Public Library’s Website at www.hcplc.org to check out an eBook and have it sent to your Kindle. All you need is a current library card.
The local library also allows free downloads of music too. When you click on Music to download, it takes you to Freegal, a service which allows you to legally download free music. All you need is your library card number.
Freegal offers hundreds of thousands of DRM-free songs, over 100 genres of music, and more than 50 record labels from the Sony Music Entertainment catalog, which allows you to download up to three songs per week. Once you’ve successfully logged in, you can search and sample the songs of your choice. Once the songs are downloaded, they are yours forever.
The library also offers free classes for both children and adults at all of their branches. Visit www.hcplc.org and click on Events/Classes for more information.
For more information on any of the local libraries, call 273-3652. The Bloomingdale Regional Public Library is located on 1906 Bloomingdale Ave., in Valrico and the Brandon Regional Library is located at 619 Vonderburg Dr., in Brandon. In the graph below are the times both branches are open.
