From the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS Op-Ed:
A RECENT OPINION piece called into question the Free Library’s place in our digital world. A quick stop on freelibrary.org — our “online branch,” which receives 8 million unique visits annually — immediately highlights just how relevant and digitally savvy the Free Library is. There, users will quickly and easily find access to:
More than 30,000 e-books for checkout. Streaming and downloadable popular music. Hundreds of podcasts from our renowned Author Events series, which are downloaded at a rate of 26,000 per month. Digital databases that help our customers do everything from trace their family trees to learn a new language online. Digital exhibitions and thousands of images from our special collections.
In addition, free Wi-Fi is available in every one of our 54 locations (we are working on getting more laptop plug-ins) as well as 1,000 public-access computers. Each branch also provides computer-training programs covering topics that range from using social networking to market your small business to applying for a job online. (In fact, our Workplace Wednesdays job-training workshops teach customers about all aspects of finding and thriving in a job in today’s digital world!)…
Click here to read the full article.
