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by Jennifer Leigh
Get Carded GET YOUR GED
It’s like a one-stop learning shop. At the Molino Community Complex, you can take GED classes hosted by the West Florida Public Library, George Stone Technical Center and the Molino Mid-County Historical Society. Classes are $30 per semester and are on-going; you can enroll anytime during the semester. To get started, call George Stone Technical Center at 941-6200 ext. 2127.
LET THE BOOKS COME TO YOU
West Florida Public Library / Main Location There are some things that an e-reader can’t do. Like take you back to your childhood years pulling out your library card from your Velcro wallet and checking out the latest “Goosebumps” book. Sure, digitized books may save time— and paper—but even as an adult, there’s still joy in walking into the library, finding a new favorite book with the plastic cover and returning it so that someone else can share it, too. And since September is Library Card Sign-Up Month (as well as Better Breakfast Month, Fall Hat Month and Blueberry Popsicle Month, to name a few) it’s the perfect time to sign up for a library card. Already have one? Sign up a friend or any other human you care about. Today, libraries are more than rooms of books. Here are 10 more uses for your library card.
E-BOOKS
Libraries aren’t afraid of technology. You can access e-books and even e-audio books on the West Florida Public Library website. Be warned, once you fall into the rabbit hole, there’s even more access to other sites that have even more books in all 020 2
genres. You can also check out e-reference books, which are much lighter than their tangible counterparts.
JAZZ
Anyone with a WFPL card in good standing (pay your overdue fees!) can check out material from the bookmobile, which makes stops Tuesday through Friday around Pensacola. The Bookmobile carries thousands of items, plus you can also hold books online and have them delivered to the stop closest to you. That’s service.
Everyone has the chance to read thanks to The Talking Book Service, a free national program for adults and children that provides eligible library card holders digitallyrecorded books and magazines. Readers can choose from best sellers, westerns, classic novels, romance, nonfiction, biographies and more—even a variety of cookbooks. Children’s titles are also available.
EXPLORE YOUR ROOTS
Look up your roots at the West Florida Genealogy Library. Located near Pensacola State College, the library has a collection of local history resources, as well as subscription services to Ancestry and Heritage Quest, which you can access for free with your library card. You can also pour through the microfilm catalog of Escambia County records, as well as old magazines and newspapers. {in}
GET YOUR CARD Residents, property owners, and business owners in Escambia County, as well as city and county employees and students going to school in Escambia County, are eligible for a library card. Non-eligible individuals can still sign up for an annual fee of $50. To get your card, bring in a valid ID and fill out an application at a one of the libraries.
RESEARCH
For some, jazz and books are like coffee and books, they go together well. Inside the appropriately-titled Jazz Room at the West Florida Public Library, there are more than 800 books, CDs and movies covering the American music genre.
If you’re stressing out over a research paper or perhaps you’re just curious about a particular subject and don’t know where to start, WFPL librarians either know the answer or know where to look. You can even email or text librarians 24/7 through the Ask a Librarian website.
JOIN THE CLUB
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Contrary to pop culture belief, you can socialize at a library. Adult book clubs— book clubs for adults, not clubs about adult books—can introduce you to new people and new stories. At the West Florida Public Library, the Fiction Club meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 10:30 a.m. The Molino Branch Library has two clubs. One, the Genre Chat, meets on the last Monday of the month at 6 p.m.; another, The Day Dreamers Book Club, on the second Thursday of the month at 11:30 a.m. At the Tryon Branch Library, the Books to Film Club meets on the last Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. Book titles and dates can be found online at mywfpl.com
TALKING BOOKS
Don’t have Netflix? Upset that Red Box increased its prices? Did you know that you can rent DVDs at the library for free? And not just random titles, but new and old releases, as well as TV shows. This way you can watch the movie after you’ve read the book.
MEET AND GREET
Meeting rooms at the main library, Southwest Branch, Tryon Branch, Molino Community Center and Theophalis May Neighborhood Resource Center are available for non-commercial purposes. Just submit a meeting room application online at mywfpl.com.
LOCATIONS West Florida Public Library Main Location 239 N. Spring St. Tryon Branch Library 1200 Langley Ave. Southwest Branch Library 12248 Gulf Beach Hwy. Westside Branch Library 1301 W. Gregory St. Century Branch Library 7991 N. Century Blvd., Century Molino Branch Library 6450-A Highway 95A, Molino Genealogy Branch Library 5740 N. 9th Ave.
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