Secretary of State Tre Hargett dropped by Lawson McGhee Library with one of those big, oversized checks boasting a very large number. The State of Tennessee granted us $642,235 in recurring and surplus funds for the library’s collection. That’s a lot of books – of all sorts.
Libby at the library
His staff didn’t think we could spend it in time for the end of the fiscal year, but Secretary Hargett knew better. We were prepared and ready to purchase new copies for the collection. We now have 123,461 total items in Overdrive/Libby (86,586 eBooks and 36,864 audio books) and 12,000 new books for adults and children.
The funding could not have been better timed. Our online media usage keeps growing. This past year, Knox County cardholders downloaded more than 900,000 items out of a total of 2.7 million items checked out. With this infusion, more titles are instantly available and wait times are a lot shorter.
If you want to access ebooks and audiobooks with the Libby app, but are not sure how to get started, you can call the reference desk at 865-215-8705. Or you can register for a free webinar from the Libby/Overdrive Experts. They are offering monthly sessions. In fact, there’s one today (July 12) at 2 p.m. and another on Wednesday, August 16, at 11 a.m. If you can’t attend one of the scheduled meetings, you can register and receive a recording of the webinar to watch anytime.
The great thing about ebooks and audiobooks? You can check them out at 3 a.m. and you never have to return them, so you’ll never get a late fine!
Mary Pom Claiborne is assistant director for marketing, communications and development for Knox County Public Library