Borrowed Books, Curious Minds, and a Digital Library

For growing bookworms and movie aficionados, a library card can save oodles in the family budget. Add homeschooling to the equation and a library card becomes a lifeline, and quite possibly a rite of passage. As soon as each of our children was old enough to write his/her name (and responsible enough with books), I gave them a bookbag and took them to receive a library card. Childhood is full of such simple pleasures. 

In their early years, we relished our local library’s Storytime, pretend play, and puppet theater. In the preschool and grammar school years, we often brought along snacks and lingered a full morning a week while each of us browsed shelves and ideas, from fiction and graphic novels to biographies and recipe books. In more recent years, the library has become a place for us to discover new writers and learn more formal styles of research, especially in science and history. The elder ones are now learning how to build arguments, connect ideas from multiple sources, and construct bibliographies on different topics. The library has an ever-evolving role in our home, a treasured one at that, yet ironically, as the years of speedy reading and academic research have arrived in our home––giving us more reason to be at the library––it is becoming more difficult to consistently get there.

I was recently introduced to hoopla digital, a service that partners with thousands of libraries across North America to offer free digital content to library patrons. When hoopla offered our family the opportunity to try out their services, clearly, I was interested in how it might serve our home’s diverse learning needs. I quickly learned that with hoopla, patrons have access to thousands of e-books, audiobooks, comics, music, and movies via their computer, tablet, or phone. For more tech-savvy homes, the app can even connect with Alexa and smart TVs. And did you catch that it is free?

Like the library itself, we have used the hoopla app and website to borrow books for a limited time, yet unlike the library, hoopla will automatically return the content on the appointed due date, meaning no late fees or lost books! I also particularly love the “kids mode” option in the account settings for my younger children to browse books and audiobooks that are appropriate for their ages and curiosities.

Over the last few weeks, we have enjoyed the simplicity of having hoopla in our routine. It is as though the library has come to us! Earlier this week, Olive found a caterpillar among the leaves and, as most children do, suddenly had the utmost interest in learning about it. By typing moth or butterfly or caterpillar into the hoopla search bar on my phone, she and her cousin instantly borrowed science books and began flipping through them, learning about the moth caterpillar in their hand. There have been dozens of moments like that over the years, and although we have a wonderful home library collected, I was keen on them having more independence in their young research.

Blythe, on the other hand, who has been recently frustrated with using a drawing compass, was inspired to use one to draw a Fibonacci spiral after flipping through a STEAM project book for kids on the hoopla app. Although her work did not turn out quite as she hoped, I loved her playful willingness to respond with a pencil and paper right at that moment. The boys have appreciated the large inventory of STEAM content for their science research just as much as they have relished access to an assortment of comics. Wink.  That said, not every activity with hoopla has been strictly academic. We have also borrowed movies and audiobooks.

Although hoopla will not replace the library experience for us, it has been a gift of time for our busy household and homeschool. In years where I am bridging many learning interests and topics, it could be the learning tool I need most to help me keep up with it all. To see if your own local library partners with hoopla digital, you can check this map here. You only need an email address and your library card number to register. Some libraries may offer you a pin to use as well. If you do not notice hoopla services in your local library, reach out to you librarians to request hoopla. I already have in our own library.

This post is sponsored by hoopla digital. All thoughts and images are my own. To learn more about hoopla, visit their Facebook and Twitter pages. Thank you for supporting the businesses that help keep this space afloat.