Library Offering Temporary Free Memberships

Library Offering Temporary Free Memberships

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

Libraries are a source of so much valuable information. Even though they are closed to the public because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have found alternate ways of delivering services to patrons. The Vegreville Centennial Library is no exception.

Library Manager Donna Williams said the board voted in favour of offering temporary free memberships to residents of the Town of Vegreville and the County of Minburn last Wednesday. “We endeavor to get the membership processed and email their barcode and password in approximately 24 hours during the work week. If an individual doesn’t live in these areas they can go to the Northern Lights Website and fill out the membership form there and still get one.”

Williams went onto say, “With these free memberships it allows patrons to access our amazing e-resources. This is one way we can continue to deliver services to our residents while the physical library is closed to the public.”

Some of the e-resources include: books, videos, movies, sound recordings, large print, novels, Canadian news publications, streaming service, consumer reports, resume service, language learning, education and curriculum-based resources for students and teachers, home improvement, fitness, hobbies and crafts, auto repair, ancestry, and more.

Feedback has been extremely positive to date, said Williams. “So far I’ve heard that citizens are thankful that we are providing the service and I’ve heard that some adults are taking advantage of it to access the e-resources specifically targeted to students, such as Solaro and Tumblebooks as well as e-books to keep kids reading.”

To date, the library has issued 20 temporary memberships. “We will continue to offer the memberships until such time as we are open again or we need to re-evaluate based on information from the government stating that we will be closed longer than June 30.”

Residents who would like a temporary free membership are to go to the library’s website: www.vegrevillelibrary.ab.ca/temporary-freemembership People who reside outside the jurisdiction can go to: www.nlls.ab.ca