Published in the Sept. 16-29, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Peggy Tomasso
Peggy Tomasso
September is Library Card Sign-up Month, and I would like to give you 15 reasons why a Santa Clara County Library District card really is the “smartest card” in your wallet.
Most people know that we have bestsellers, movies, television shows, games, and audiobooks, but I bet that they don’t know about everything the Santa Clara County Library System has to offer.
So look at the list below, see if there isn’t something to surprise and, hopefully, delight you. And if you haven’t yet gotten a library card, I hope you decide now is time to go to the Morgan Hill Library and apply for one. A member of our staff will be happy to help you through the process.
1. Access to 1.9 million items in more than 30 languages.
2. More than 100,000 downloadable e-books which includes free access to Safari Tech, to help you build your technology and computer design skills.
3. Free WiFi.
4. Fight boredom by joining a book discussion group, enjoying a lecture, making a craft, listening to an author speak about his or her book, or attending a class.
5. Get help on your school or college assignment with Brainfuse — the library’s free online tutoring service, or have a librarian help you find the books and information you need to complete your assignment.
6. Great events are happening for children of all ages such as our popular weekly Lego club.
7. Help your child get ready to read. Our storytime programs are designed to introduce the skills your child needs to develop into a reader. The library has five weekly storytimes to choose from.
8. Great place for teens: large variety of programs including crafts, food, movies, college prep and more, as well as a dedicated teen librarian and inclusive collection of books and media.
9. Protect your retirement. Get the investment and business advice you need from one of our many business and finance databases including Morningstar and Valueline.
10. Learn a new language using our database Pronunciator or by borrowing one of our many audiobooks.
11. Free full-service personal Internet computer workstations with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel to help you with that next project.
12. Save money — be green by borrowing instead of buying.
13. Find a job. We can’t find a job for you, but we have the tools you need from preparing a resume to acing the interview to help you land that next job.
14. Research your next big buy in Consumer Reports or in the library with Bay Area Consumer’s Checkbook.
15. I could list more, but why not just come visit the beautiful Morgan Hill Library and “check us out?”
Peggy Tomasso is the head librarian at the Morgan Hill Library located at 660 West Main Ave. She wrote this column for Morgan Hill Life.
