Dr. Tom ably introduced today's guest speaker Jaime Griffis from The Idea Exchange Cambridge. I'm pretty sure EVERYONE in attendance was quite impressed with Jaime's talk - the Idea Exchange has done an absolutely incredible job of offering current and expanded services on-line. Here are some quick highlights: - free borrowing of e-books, traditional and audio - Kanopy - free movies - over 30,000 films - KanopyKids - for kids, leaning toward learning programs and educational offerings - Linda.com - Educational programs on a multitude of topics; all free - Gale courses - also includes interaction with teachers, and other participants - Press Reader - unlimited access to current news papers from 120 countries - free access to many magazines on everything under the sun - Ancestory.ca - search for free Canada/US/European data bases - Tumble books - free, for kids - Virtual Chat service offered daily where staff will answer any questions about the library, or the community; helping to connect citizens with local services - Telephone check-in service - anyone who is alone/isolated can sign up for having a staff member reach out regularly to talk to them - many LIVE streamed adult and children's programs - Virtual Prom - this Friday night - Quarantine + Magazine = Quaranzine : an on-line magazine, put together by staff and the public #AloneTogether - SRC - Summer Reading Club - will continue; follow along, report your reading, earn points, win prizes :) The bottom line.... the Idea Exchange offers a TONNE of services that many are not aware of; all can be accessed by anyone with a Library Card. If you don't have one, you can still sign up on-line to access all of these services - this is a temporary 'on-line' library card, so once the library re-opens, you would need to get it converted to a real card if you want to actually borrow a book; like a real book, like one you can hold in your hand, like with a cover and stuff, maybe even pictures, but no screen, it's made out of like, paper, from like, trees Mike T thanked Jaime for her time, and doing a great job of expressing what we were all thinking - wow, gotta check this out! Pres. Chad added the club's thanks, and wrapped up the meeting. |