The North Battleford Public Library is one of a number of branches in the Lakeland Library Region. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Virtual success

Lakeland Library Region seeing positive numbers for online use

May 7, 2020 | 5:10 PM

Lakeland Library Region is seeing a healthy uptick in numbers for its online services and digital resource use while the library’s branches remain closed to the public during the province’s COVID-19 restrictions.

While people are not able to visit the libraries in person or withdraw books due to the precautions, they can still access online library content and programs.

Caroline Popadick, interim director for the Lakeland Library Region, said online participation has surged in the last couple of months.

“We’ve just tailored our services to meet the demand for the public out there for library services,” she said. “So we’ve moved all our programming to an online format.”

That also includes children’s and adults’ programming as well.

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“It’s been excellent; we’re getting quite a few views on our Facebook North Battleford Library Page and our YouTube channel as well,” Popadick said.

To meet demands and increased circulation numbers additional resources have been added, she said.

As an example, PressReader, an online platform for viewing newspapers, saw a jump to 15,000 reads in April, and 11,000 in March, while in February there were about 7,000.

“That’s a pretty significant increase for us,” Popadick said.

The Regional Resource Centre, North Battleford Public Library, is posting videos of children’s story-time and other activities. Some programs are broadcast live, such as trivia night. Lakeland Library Region reports some posts have been viewed by more than 2,000 patrons.

For people borrowing e-books, two platforms, Overdrive and Hoopla, are available. Overdrive in particular saw quite an increase, with close to 7,000 borrows in April for the region, up from 6,000 in March and close to 5,000 in February.

“We’re receiving on average about a thousand more reads since February per month,” Popadick said.

The region is also seeing an increase in online memberships. Applications are available through Lakeland Library Region’s website.

People can participate in several online programs from their own homes coming up. A virtual trivia game event is offered Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m., a poetry club targeted for adults is available Saturdays at 2 p.m., and kids’ story-time events are held three times a week – Wednesdays and Fridays at 11 a.m. and Thursdays at 3 p.m.

Popadick said the response from the public is positive.

“I think it’s a matter of convenience for people,” she said. “They are at home so they have time to tune in…. It’s been a pretty strong turnout.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW