National Library Card Sign Up Month

September is National Library Card Sign Up Month.  Wow, that’s a mouthful.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not possible for you to apply in person for a library card at Birmingham Public Library locations, however, you can apply for a library card online.  Lynn Hutchins of the Circulation Department prepared a great blog post in June on just how to do that.  Birmingham Public Library offers online services 24/7 through our website and registering for a library card gives you access to all of this excellent content.  Here are a few examples of the great content you can access using your library card. The descriptions of the databases are from the BPL website. The Overdrive description is from its website. 

                                            

Kanopy - 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.

Freegal - 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.

                                           

        

Hoopla - 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. The freedom you want is here, now. Sign up today!

Flipster - Read magazines online. Get access to Atlantic, Better Homes & Gardens, Cosmpolitan, Ebony, Entertainment Weekly, ESPN Magazine, Essence, Field & Stream, Forbes, Good Housekeeping, Health, HGTV Magazine, Motor Trend, O The Oprah Magazine, People, Prevention, Real Simple, Rolling Stone, Slam, Southern Living, US Weekly, The Week, and Wired.

Overdrive - OverDrive is a free service offered by your library or school that lets you borrow digital content (like ebooks and audiobooks) anytime, anywhere. Every OverDrive collection is slightly different because each library or school picks the digital content they want for their users. Through OverDrive, you can borrow Kindle Books to read on Kindle devices or Kindle reading apps. Both Libby and the OverDrive app allow you to borrow and read the same digital content from your library.