BPL Virtual Resources Spotlight: Birmingham Public Library Online Entertainment

Hoopla is one of the BPL Online Entertainment Resources being spotlighted this week. 

By Caleb West, BPL Director of Collection Management 

 BACKGROUND: Today is the debut of BPL Virtual Resources Spotlight, a new weekly blog highlighting the Birmingham Public Library’s vast free online resources available to serve the public. Thanks to our library partners such as Homework Alabama, Freegal, Hoopla, Kanopy, and Overdrive BPL is able to assist patrons stuck at home or on the go via their smartphones by providing access to free homework assistance, e-books, downloadable music, and free DVDs they can watch from their phones, iPads, laptops and other computer devices.

We welcome your feedback. For more about BPL’s virtual resources, click here http://www.bplonline.org/virtual/ 

 The Birmingham Public Library is ALWAYS open 24/7 through our FREE online digital resources.

The value of our virtual resources has been elevated the past few months during the COVID-19 pandemic. While our buildings have been closed for the safety of the public to prevent coronavirus spread, BPL has continued to serve the public through our free online resources and by creating new virtual programming.

This week’s spotlight will be on BPL’s Online Entertainment Resources, which provides access to free movies, TV shows, music, comics, magazines, eBooks, eAudio, and more.

Birmingham Public Library Digital Online Entertainment

All resources below are also available on the Birmingham Public Library main website page (www.cobpl.org) and on our Digital Library page http://www.bplonline.org/virtual/.

 With exception of OverDrive, these services are restricted to Birmingham city residents with active library cards. For OverDrive services are available to Jefferson County residents with library cards.

OverDrive (eBooks & downloadable audiobooks) 

Borrow (download) and read free eBooks and listen to free audiobooks from your library using your PC, Mac, phone, or tablet. https://jclc.overdrive.com/jclc-birmingham/content 

Hoopla (eBooks, downloadable audio, movies, TV shows, comics, & music) 

Bringing you hundreds of thousands of movies, full music albums, audiobooks and more, Hoopla is a revolutionary digital service made possible by your local library. From Hollywood blockbusters to best-selling artists and authors – not just the hits, but the niche and hard-to-find as well – you’ll soon discover that hoopla provides you the freedom you've been searching for to experience, explore and enjoy what you want, when you want, and where you want. Simple to access and use, without the hassle of having to return the items you've borrowed, all you need is your library card, a web browser, smart phone or tablet to get started.

Hoopla has also expanded the number of items you can borrow from 6 to 9. See below https://resources.hoopladigital.com/success-center/more-hoopla-bonus-borrows/

The freedom you want is here, now on Hoopla. Sign up today by clicking here
 https://www.hoopladigital.com/my/hoopla 

Freegal (music) Unlimited Music Streaming-- FREE

Freegal Music Service includes millions of songs from ten thousand labels including the labels of Sony Music Entertainment. Stream or download music. Music streaming is unlimited. The Freegal Music downloaded files are DRM-FREE, Mp3 files that can be played on any device (including iPods). Even better, the downloaded music file is yours to keep with no due date and no expiration date.

There is a limit of 3 music downloads per week per valid card number. https://bham.freegalmusic.com/home

Flipster (magazines) Read magazines online.

Get access to magazines such as Allrecipes, Atlantic, Better Homes & Gardens, Black Beauty & Hair, Black Enterprise, Consumer Reports Buying Guide, Cosmopolitan, Diabetes Self-Management, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, Essence, Forbes, Good Housekeeping, Health, HGTV Magazine, Kiplinger’s, Motor Trend, My Wedding, O The Oprah Magazine, People, Popular Mechanics, Prevention, Real Simple, Rolling Stone, Slam, Southern Living, Sports Illustrated, Time, US Weekly, and Wired.

To access Flipster, click here http://www.cobpl.org/virtual/databases/default.aspx?p=3&q=243#db


Kanopy (movies) 

Kanopy is a video streaming platform for libraries with one of the largest collections in the world (5x Netflix) - over 30,000 films featuring over 1,000 producers including Criterion Collection, Media Education Foundation, Great Courses, Kino Lorber, etc. Our films are more typically "educative" in nature (documentaries, foreign language films, etc.) and our motto is "thoughtful entertainment" - seeking to provide patrons access to films of social and cultural importance.
To access Kanopy, click here https://birminghampl.kanopy.com/


Mango (languages) 

Mango is an online language learning system that teaches real conversation skills for practical communication. Through fun and engaging interactive lessons, Mango makes learning a new language fast, easy and incredibly effective. The system is completely web-based and remotely accessible, so you can learn anywhere you have an internet connection.

As you listen to and repeat after native speakers, you'll learn more than just words and phrases. You’ll learn how those pieces can be rearranged and combined to make new thoughts, new conversations, and even more practical communication! Language options include more than you can shake a stick at. You can even learn to speak Pirate. Inglés Para Hablantes De Español.

New features include watching full-length foreign films (Mango Premiere) and a native Android and Apple Store application that you can link to your library-authenticated Mango account.

To access BPL Mango link, click here   https://learn.mangolanguages.com/login?gymToken=ZjRjNTliMjk5YTFkYTEwMGI6dXVpZD0tMSxleHA9MTYwNTE4ODc5OSxpcD0xLHVybD0wLGE9NDczMyxjbGllbnRfaXA9MTk4LjQ5LjMxLjMscmVmZXJyZXI9&r=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bplonline.org%2Fvirtual%2Fdatabases%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fp