Not a lot of people fall in love with books, regardless of the kind, but a very special bunch among us do find great joy in reading. With the COVID-19 crisis, however, it's changed everything and caused numerous closures, including public libraries.
A recent study conducted by the Public Library Association found that 98% of the 2,500-system respondents had to close their buildings due to quarantine guidelines. However, 76% of them actually managed to continue their services by making uses of the internet.
For example, LA County's public libraries are all shut down in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but it's now offering books, magazines, movies, music, and other learning resources through its web portal. The San Francisco Public Library, meanwhile, is now offering a chock full of online classes and workshops aside from its numerous e-books and e-magazines. Its virtual library also allows users to stream music, read newspapers, and hosts storytimes for younger audiences.
Chicago's approach is quite different. Its public library system may be closed, but now you can have ebooks directly delivered to your Kindle. And don't bother returning them either. The system will automatically "return" the books once your time for borrowing is up. The public libraries of New York and Boston are also following the same model.
The thing about online public libraries is that the books are just as free to use as their brick-and-mortar counterparts. It's worth noting though, that many library systems don't actually manage their online versions; they're partnering with digital streaming platforms to outsource content curation instead.
For example, Libby is largely focused on audiobooks and e-books, while Hoopla has all sorts of comics, movies, and music. Users can access each site's content by directly proceeding to these platforms or through their local library's portal.
If you're up for the challenge, Project Gutenberg has over 60,000 e-books that you can download to your heart's content, while Internet Archive's Open Library houses an equally vast array of titles as well. Most of these books are no longer covered under U.S. copyright law. Similarly, Manybooks offers a mix of classic and contemporary some 50,000 titles strong.
Of course, nothing compares to the feeling of holding and smelling (yep) a real book, and there's an unspeakable kind of joy when looking at neatly arranged books in a library or a bookstore. But with everything shut down due to COVID-19, online resources are essentially heaven-sent.
