Library Visit 3

Jasmyne Ford

I’m excited to present the Brownsburg Public Library and some things they use to make a mark in the virtual world:

Website: https://www.bburglibrary.net/

Location: 450 South Jefferson street, Brownsburg, IN 46112

Hours: Seasonal Changes-

https://www.bburglibrary.net/my-library-card

Full Policy: https://32ea3226-d3eb-4624-849a-5172cfe6d163.filesusr.com/ugd/23c523_1eea68d310554dd3a9f5cd98792de6b7.pdf

Article: Caldwell, R. (2021). Summer Reading Realities: Many libraries are entering round two of summer reading in a pandemic. American Libraries, 52(5), 48.

Summary: Exploring virtual and in-person options during a pandemic and afterward

https://web-s-ebscohost-com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=11&sid=fef8eb75-8216-44e1-a343-9c2bbd0343d3%40redis

Citation: https://www.bburglibrary.net/

WordPress: https://bplreadingsuggestions.wordpress.com/bookmarks/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brownsburgpubliclibrary

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/bburglibrary/videos

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bburglibrary

Introduction:

I was mostly drawn to this article because of reading about Brownsburg in a previous American Library article. I also liked that they were talking about coming out of the lockdown portion of the pandemic. The world is pretty split into people who are still kind of locked down and those who are out in the open. I wanted to see how they would serve a full and possibly split community. I’m pleasantly surprised to have gotten my answer.

Resources

The search engine is useful, but I didn’t really find a database like we have here or a really good way to look at nonfiction materials anywhere on the site. There were however quite a few e-books, and these were advertised on the site and on socials. I liked that there were a lot of recommendations based on age with pictures of the book covers included. They have a heavy social media presence, but a lot hasn’t been updated in months especially the Youtube. This suggests that they were busier with the virtual world during the lockdown. At the time there were posting advertisements and storytimes more readily. At present, it seems they are doing more of this online. There were audiobooks which were advertised along with the e-books found here: https://brownsburg.overdrive.com/

I really liked that there were big bold pictures and lettering to help guide those who might be new users during the site. I think the library utilized good flow, color, and details to help multiple levels of individuals who probably couldn’t access the information desk during the pandemic.

The library provided an app called Libby that expands on the library’s vision of online access. The app was primarily for e-books and audio books. This is a very nice touch to modernize especially for a mid-aged crowd. Magazines were also a focus section of the site and they had quite a few like Entertainment, Time, and US Weekly. I have to say that I love that most magazines offer online access nowadays.

The library does offer employment resources, local history, and novels for k-8. They also have some genealogy resources and some special collections focused on past enslaved people. There is a lot more on these things on the website though and not as much on the socials. I wonder if again the socials were more utilized during the pandemic. It does seem suggested in the article as well.

There is a clear contact to the library in both phone and email. I also very much like the app but I didn’t download it because I doubt I have access. It seems there are things you can do with an account that you can’t as a guest. I like that as well because it promotes community and for individuals to work with each other. I didn’t see any curbside assistance, but the virtual classes are a nice touch and feed into the community. I also like the family search and newspaper search options widely available on the site.

In terms of programming, there is both in-person and virtual currently running. Most programs seem geared toward a select group. I didn’t see many that had a wider age range which can be improved upon in the future. Again, there is quite a shift from a lot of outdoor events and storytimes to more hyper-focused genealogy and news-related events. The calendar really only had the Zumba and cooking class outside of that.

Most of the media were in the videos that stopped about 2-3 months ago. They were typically adverts or storytimes. The storytimes did look fun and engaging but probably better suited in the library setting. I didn’t really see any videos or virtual tours which is a shame. I feel like they do a good job explaining things but miss the mark on what could have guided me better around the site and eventually their library.