By Greg Archer | Contributing Columnist
The digital age continues to spawn technical advancements. One of the most refreshing perks is how well modern libraries have adapted, somehow making these treasured institutions all the more hip and fun by how much they now can offer the public.
Riverside Public Library has emerged as one of the giants in the area. Recent grants from Inland Empire Community Foundation through the Maxine Tate Library Fund, The Gladys Pedlow (Wilcox) Memorial Fund, and the Margaret Morgan & Mary Morgan Pedlow Memorial Fund enabled the library to dedicate new dollars toward the purchase of materials and books for the community.
“One of the things that’s important to know is that the grant funds go not just toward physical books, but also toward our e-books and our e-resources,” said Erin Christmas, city of Riverside library director. “Now, you can check out ebooks, audio books, you can stream videos. All of those services are available using our cloud library and our hoopla account.”
In fact, hoopla has many offerings beyond just books — everything from comic books to music and magazines. All that is required is a screen, whether it be a computer, smart phone, television, or even one’s car. Designed to sync across all your devices, hoopla has become popular for providing more content in more places than most digital library platforms.
A library card is required for user access.
“We’re also adding two new resources this year, Kanopy and OverDrive with the Libby app,” Christmas said. “We’re going to give our community even more ways to access the library through our digital resources.”
Kanopy stands out as it provides streaming of classic films, world cinema, documentaries, and popular movies. The Libby app is one of the library system’s signature apps, providing access to a great deal of content.
Christmas is quick to note other new additions to the library, which expands access to materials, “we’re going to be adding seven library lockers at various locations across the city, where customers can have books held and pick them up and return books, making the library even more accessible to everybody.”
Christmas has been with the city of Riverside for more than eight years and served as its library director for just over six years. From 2018-2020, she led the Riverside Reads campaign, the Toy Lending Library project, and the CENIC upgrade projects for the Riverside Public Library.
With 2025 on the horizon, she’s candid about further progress.
“We’re not your grandparent’s library anymore,” she said. “We also check out iPads and toys. Soon, we’ll be launching a tool lending library where people will be able to come into the library to check out basic tools to do projects around their home or their business.
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“We really do offer a lot of things that you may not have seen in libraries, say, 10 years ago,” she said.
Ready to record your next video or short film? The library may be your next go-to, thanks to a sound recording booth.
“We’ve created an opportunity for people to use green screens to film their newest videos,” Christmas said. “Many teenagers can film their newest videos. We have also sewing machines that our customers can use. They just have to bring the physical supplies to go with it.
“Mostly,” she added, “we’re really trying to make sure we’ve moved from a place where you simply acquire and access knowledge to a place where you’re learning the skills you need to create knowledge.”
Learn more about Riverside Public Library at riversideca.gov/library/library-services.
The Inland Empire Community Foundation works to strengthen Inland Southern California through philanthropy. Visit iegives.org.
