Campaigns that started with criticizing school board members and librarians have now turned their attention to tech companies such as OverDrive and Epic that have operated for years without drawing much controversy.
E-reader apps that became a lifeline for students during the pandemic are now in the crossfire of a culture war raging over books in schools and public libraries.
In several states, apps and the companies that run them have been targeted by conservative parents who have pushed schools and public libraries to shut down their digital programs, which let users download and read books on their smartphones, tablets or laptops.
Some parents want the apps banned for their children, or even for all students. And they’re getting results.
A school superintendent in a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, pulled his system’s e-reader offline for a week last month, cutting access for 40,000 students, after a parent searched the Epic library available on her kindergartener’s laptop and found books supporting gay pride.
In a rural county northwest of Austin, Texas, county officials cut off access to the OverDrive digital library that local residents had used for a decade to find books to read for pleasure, prompting a federal lawsuit against the county.
Free Graphic Novels (DC, Marvel, Image, etc), Music, TV shows, and music on HOOPLA.
Free music that you can KEEP onFREEGAL
You are PAYING for all this with your tax money - USE THEM. Most likely systems will have all 3 or 2 out of 3, so if you aren’t sure call your local library’s reference/information desk and how you can get set-up or started.
PROTECT YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY
A lot of libraries also have KANOPY which includes the criterion collection and a bunch of other Cinematically Important™ type movies, as well as a lot of the great courses/teaching company lectures!
I use all of these services and they offer what they say on the tin: FREE ACCESS to current movies and books, as well as classics. Easy peasy, library squeezy! GO!
USEFUL INFO: OverDrive is now called Libby.
QUESTION: Can you use Libby to take out books from libraries other than your own?
I use Libby to access audiobooks from my local library, where I have a library card. Unfortunately, my local library has almost none of the audiobooks I want to listen to, and the ones it does have generally have wait lists several weeks long.
Pride and Prejudice Audiobook Narrated by Kate Kellgren
I love audiobooks!
I never was really interested in audiobooks until I downloaded overdrive (now MeetLibby) to become better familiar with it, in order to assist library patrons. However, I started listening to them when getting ready in the morning, traveling, cleaning, etc.; and was hooked.
My book club met last month and my pick was Pride and Prejudice. I lent out my copies to the book club…
Free Graphic Novels (DC, Marvel, Image, etc), Music, TV shows, and music on HOOPLA.
Free music that you can KEEP onFREEGAL
You are PAYING for all this with your tax money - USE THEM. Most likely systems will have all 3 or 2 out of 3, so if you aren’t sure call your local library’s reference/information desk and how you can get set-up or started.
PROTECT YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY
A lot of libraries also have KANOPY which includes the criterion collection and a bunch of other Cinematically Important™ type movies, as well as a lot of the great courses/teaching company lectures!
I use all of these services and they offer what they say on the tin: FREE ACCESS to current movies and books, as well as classics. Easy peasy, library squeezy! GO!
PSA! You’re not “screwing over the man” by shitting on independent authors. You’re just taking their livelihood. And we’re not talking about KU books.
[Image ID: A screenshot of a tweet by username @KBrombergDriven. The text reads:
“½ Every time you return an ebook at Amazon, the author is charged back more than what they were paid for the sale. Yes, that means we could owe Amazon at the end of the month. Since TikToks went viral saying ‘it’s okay to return ebooks’
2/2 most authors returns have skyrocketed. Reading and returning a book is stealing. If you want free books, try the library app, Libby (among others) #AmazonisNotALibrary”
PSA! You’re not “screwing over the man” by shitting on independent authors. You’re just taking their livelihood. And we’re not talking about KU books.
[Image ID: A screenshot of a tweet by username @KBrombergDriven. The text reads:
“½ Every time you return an ebook at Amazon, the author is charged back more than what they were paid for the sale. Yes, that means we could owe Amazon at the end of the month. Since TikToks went viral saying ‘it’s okay to return ebooks’
2/2 most authors returns have skyrocketed. Reading and returning a book is stealing. If you want free books, try the library app, Libby (among others) #AmazonisNotALibrary”
