By Shaun Szkolnik, for the Tribune
PINSON — As the digital world is taking up more and more of people’s lives, local libraries are using the phenomenon to better serve their patrons by adopting platforms that make entertainment and education more readily available to the community.
One such platform is Kanopy, and it is available now for members of the Pinson Public Library.
“Kanopy is a digital streaming service,” said Pinson Library Director Allison Scanlan. “It is a lot like Netflix and Hulu, but it mostly focuses on educational content and documentaries. It is available free with your library card as long as you live in the city limits of Pinson.”
Patrons who are interested in integrating the Kanopy system into their lives will first need to sign up for the service by creating an account at Kanopy.com. The sign-up is easy, but it will require that consumers have their library card, or at least their library card number, and a valid email address available. Once signed on, Kanopy can be used and enjoyed in a variety of ways. Patrons can access the content over their computers, mobile phones, tablets and even their TVs if they have smart televisions.
“Kanopy has movies, films,” said Scanlan. “Its main focus is educational and documentary. They have Kanopy Kids, which is all kids content. You can learn a language there. You can watch films from the Criterion Collection, so it has a more focused collection.”
Kanopy was rolled out by the Pinson Library on April 8. Each account allows for patrons to digitally check out 10 items per month. The response by the public has been enthusiastic.
“It’s been really good so far,” said Scanlan. “We have a lot of teachers that are interested in using it in their classrooms. Our home-school families are one of the main reasons we chose to get that service. We have a lot of home-school families, and they really like the educational content. You can learn a language on there and all sorts of stuff.”
For a library patron looking for a digital platform geared more towards entertainment, the Pinson Library also offers a digital system called Hoopla. Hoopla can be signed up in a similar way to Kanopy. Hoopla offers movies, music, tv shows and audiobooks. Patrons can also access Hoopla, once they have signed up, through their computers, mobile phones, tablets and smart TVs.