Although Dare County Libraries are currently closed to the public, convenient “no staff contact” curbside pick-up of requested library materials such as books, DVD’s and magazines is available. Hundreds of library users each week have been making use of this free and convenient service.
There are two options for requesting materials for curbside pick-up. You can call library staff anytime during weekday hours to request specific titles, authors, subjects or genres. Parents can request materials for their children as well. Not sure what you want to read next? Call us and we’ll ask a few questions about other books or authors you’ve enjoyed and we’ll be happy to pick some titles for you. You can also check out our new webpage www.darenc.com/reading for more information about recently added book titles you may wish to read.
Library customers can also request library materials from home using our online catalog at www.earlibrary.org. It’s easy to do but if you have questions, you can call us, or visit our website www.darenc.com/reading for step-by-step directions. When your requested items are available, library staff will call you to schedule an appointment so you can pick up your items at the library using our curbside pick-up. If you have items to return, the book drop in front of your library is always available, as well as book drops in Southern Shores, Nags Head and Rodanthe. We ask everyone, please, no donated items in our book drops at this time.
Weekly preschool story hours will resume “virtually” for the month of September. Every Wednesday beginning September 9, parents can call and schedule a time to pick up a story hour activity packet to take home and enjoy with their child. Story hour packets will be available at all three Dare County Library locations starting Wednesday mornings at 10 am through 5 pm on Friday. The following Wednesday morning a new kit will become available.
For children in grades 1-12, we are offering a brand new “Fall Into Reading Challenge”. We want to encourage reading by Dare County Students while they are learning from home. Children who track their reading for pleasure can be entered into a prize drawing consisting of 20 prizes county-wide, courtesy of the Dare County Library Foundation. Participating children need to read for pleasure for at least 15 minutes for 40 days between September 1 and October 23, 2020. To get a tracking form and all of the details, you can call the library during weekday hours, or you can print out the “Fall Reading Challenge” tracking form from our website at www.darenc.com/library.
A reminder that the Dare County Libraries offer a full array of digital content such as eBooks, eAudiobooks, Digital Magazines, and online non-credit courses all available 24/7. To find out more about all of these resources please visit www.darenc.com/VirtualLibrary.
Recent additions and enhancements to our digital offerings include the all-new Creativebug, an online collection of over 1,000 award-winning online videos by top designers and artists. You can learn drawing, lettering, painting, printmaking, sewing, quilting, paper, knitting, crochet, jewelry, food, plus party and holiday ideas, and over 100 classes designed for kids. Free Creativebug classes vary from several minutes to several hours depending on the techniques or project demonstrated. Each class comes with downloadable PDF instructions, materials list, patterns or recipes. Closed captioning and transcripts are also available.
RB Digital Magazines (formerly Zinio) now offers hundreds of magazine titles to our borrowers instead of only a few dozen. Browse and you will find Digital Magazines on almost any subject that may be of interest to you. You can read your favorite magazine from cover to cover including the latest issue and back issues on your computer, tablet, or mobile device.
The Library has also made available thousands of additional titles in our Cloud Library collection of eBooks. Browsers will now see a much, much larger collection of classics, nonfiction and children’s titles than were available last year.
You’ll need a library card account number to access these resources. If you do not have a library card account, you can apply from home, while we are closed at www.darenc.com/Online-Library-Card For more information or assistance, please visit our website at www.darenc.com or call your branch of the Dare County Library during weekday hours: Manteo 252.473.2372, Hatteras 252.986.2385, or Kill Devil Hills 252.441.4331.
