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I recognize the irony of me (middle-aged woman) telling you (tweens and teens) how to use an app, yet here I am, about to do it anyway. Forgive me, tweens and teens. I know if you were locked in a room alone with this app you would totally figure it out in under three minutes, but since I am currently unable to lock you in a room, writing this article is my next best option.

I want to tell you about the free OverDrive app—also known as Libby—available to A.K. Smiley Public Library cardholders either through the library’s website or the app store. Once you’ve downloaded the app onto your device, the first time you use it you will need to select the A.K. Smiley Public Library as your home library and then enter your library card number and pin (your pin is the last four digits of the phone number used to open your library card account). Once you have done this, you are golden, and a treasure trove of teen titles—and adult and kid titles too—will be at your dexterous little thumb-tips.

When I say a treasure trove of titles, I mean it. I would not engage in false advertising at a time like this. Titles like Karen M. McManus’ One of Us is Lying (and its sequel One of Us is Next), Melissa De La Cruz’s The Queen’s Assassin, Angie Thomas’ On the Come Up, Lamar Giles’ Not So Pure and Simple, Jack Heath’s The Truth App, Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why, Ransom Riggs’ Tales of the Peculiar, Marissa Meyer’s Supernova, Phil Stamper’s The Gravity of Us, Jenny Han’s entire To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy (and her other books too)…I could go on and on and on. Your eyeballs would glaze over as I continued naming all of the incredible titles you could (and totally should) check out RIGHT NOW.

If you don’t have a specific book you’re looking for, no problem. Just select “Teen” from the explore page and browse the categories. Dystopian, coming-of-age, horror, paranormal, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, nonfiction, humor, suspense, mystery, poetry, graphic novels—there’s a little bit of everything (just not all in one book…but how freaky/amazing would that book be? You should totally write it.).

Did I mention there are over 1000 teen titles to choose from?

Did I mention there are also more than 500 teen audio books to listen to if that is your thing?

Teens, why are you still reading this article? Go forth and lock yourself in a room, get this free app (with your parents’ permission, of course) and stare at your phone or Kindle or tablet and make the adults in your life think you are mindlessly addicted to technology while you secretly become more brilliant by reading beautiful, terrifying, funny, relatable literature. And if you are a resident of Redlands and you don’t have a library card yet, you may be eligible to get a free temporary electronic card…visit the A. K. Smiley Public Library website (www.akspl.org) for more info. We look forward to the day we will see you once again in the library.

New items continue to come into the library during our closure to the public, so there will be plenty of new books, audio books, DVDs, and art waiting for you to check out when our doors reopen! In the meantime, we have been highlighting our electronic databases for your ongoing use from home.

“NewsBank” is a valuable resource for all things newsworthy. There are 2,673 information resources to choose from covering a wide array of topics and interest. Local and national newspapers, magazines, journals, videos, transcripts, newswires, blogs, and web-only sources are only a couple of clicks away with many options as to ways of searching.

Subject searches are available in current events and hot topics in business, science, sports, people, health, technology, economics, government, and arts and literature. Sign up for “Create Alert” so you will be notified about new information in your areas of interest.

Newspaper options include current and past issues of local papers like the “Redlands Daily Facts,” “Press Enterprise,” and the “San Bernardino Sun.” State and national papers are also included, so if you want to know what’s going on in San Francisco, San Diego, Honolulu, Houston, Miami, Boston, Bakersfield or your old hometown, look in the A-Z Source List for current or past newspapers from those areas.

Transcripts of shows like “60 Minutes,” “20/20” and “Nightline” are available, as are the web-edition articles of “NPR” and “NPR’s” blogs. “Hispanic PR Newswire” is accessible in Spanish and English.

NewsBank also has 48 sources in their America’s News Magazines search. “Air & Space,” “The Atlantic,” “Field & Stream,” “Harvard Health,” “Mother Earth News,” “Newsweek,” “Parenting,” “Popular Science,” “Smithsonian,” and “Working Mother” are just a few of the titles. Check our “Flipster” database for more magazine titles.

Explore this Smiley Library database and more at www.akspl.org and keep expanding your interests and knowledge.

Bonjour! Comment allez-vous? Have you ever wanted to learn another language but thought it would be too time consuming, or not have enough patience to sit through a lecture that reminds you of your high school Spanish classes? Well, lucky for you, A. K. Smiley Public Library has a fantastic database that you can access through our website with your A. K. Smiley Public Library card called Pronunciator. Since we are social distancing ourselves and staying home, let’s make the best of it and explore learning a new language or brush up on a language you may already know. I have been practicing my French and Spanish, while my fiancé is just practicing his Spanish. Someone is a bit on the overzealous side.

Pronunciator has a whopping 75 languages to choose from. It has American Sign Language, Mexican Sign Language, Estonian, Irish, Latin, Tibetan, Urdo, and many more! Pronunciator is a very user-friendly database, giving the learner a wide range of learning options. It has a variety of fluency levels that range from the basics, using postcards with simple words and phrases, to more advanced options where you can listen to plays, poetry, or even listen to music. I found myself listening to the play “Cyrano de Bergerac” in the French language course. If you want a more personalized course, Pronunciator lets the learner custom build their own lesson plan. It offers many topics and lets the student choose the subject matter and for how long they want the course to last.

Instead of binging the next show that Netflix has to offer, why not expand your skill set and learn a new language, all you need is your A. K. Smiley Public Library card. Check out our website, www.akspl.org to access this database and many more. While we may be physically closed at this time, we are open 24/7 online. Hope to see everyone soon. Au revoir!

Since we’re all currently spending a lot more time inside, here’s a way to be able to still enjoy your favorite books, all from the comfort of your own home. A.K. Smiley Public Library’s eLibrary provides both eBooks and eAudio books, available to our registered borrowers for download to their devices through Overdrive. For more information, visit our website at www.akspl.org and click on eLibrary. You’ll find a lot of options available in both fiction and nonfiction. Here are a few digital titles on my favorite subject, animals.

I grew up around animals. Not only were my days filled with caring for and playing with my furry, feathered, and scaly family, they were my confidants and co-conspirators. Their personalities were as unique and varied as was their species. Ginger, the big red hound who loved to howl at fire engines, Mildred, our sweet long-haired grey and white cat, our Pekin duck and resident court jester who found great enjoyment in chasing us around the backyard, rabbits, lizards and lovebirds inevitably found a place in our home. I hold a very special place in my heart for all the animal family who have graced my presence over the years. Here are some titles celebrating these gentle and beautiful souls.

From debut novelist Mara Wells comes the light read, “Cold Nose, Warm Heart” the first book in the Fur Haven Dog Park series. This cute and funny romance is sure to put a smile on your face. Set in Miami Beach, Riley Carson is building manager of the run-down apartment building named “The Dorothy” where her grandmother currently resides and tells Riley that she owns. All the senior residents and their dogs, including Riley’s poodle LouLou, love gathering in the adjacent lot they use as a dog park. Change may be around the corner though, when Caleb Donovan shows up ordered by his grandfather, who claims he is the owner, to tear down this very same apartment and replace it with new condos. Caleb’s mission is to make sure the place gets turned into a money maker with a huge parking garage right where the “dog park” is now located. Who actually owns the building? It would make sense that Riley and Caleb would be outright enemies, so why does there seem to be a spark of mutual attraction? Available as an eBook, this entertaining book is full of quirky and fun characters, both human and furry.

Listening to titles is another great way to get your “book fix.” Available to download from the Overdrive Library in eAudio format, as well as eBook format is the popular nonfiction read “Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World” by Vicki Myron. When an abandoned kitten is left in the book slot of the Spencer Public Library, no one could have guessed how much this little ball of fur would end up touching their lives. Meet Dewey Readmore Books and learn the charming story of a little ginger cat who made a big impact on a small town.

There are even titles for your kids to enjoy. “A Wolf Called Wander” by Roseanne Perry, available in eAudio format, is about a young wolf cub named Swift that is separated from his wolf pack family after an attack by a rival pack. Based on a true story, this novel follows his thousand mile perilous journey across the Pacific Northwest to find a new home.

If you haven’t checked out our eLibrary yet, now’s the perfect time.