“Jack and Jill” Get their New Library Card

By Lance Hickerson, Reference Department

Originally published on September 16, 2016

A brother and sister in the county recently decided to get their first library cards at WCPL.   Let’s call them Jack and Jill for short.   It is not known why they waited so long to get a card, but it turns out that Jill needs a rare and costly book that the library has on the shelf.  Using the library for free (that’s right, free) saves Jill from having to buy the book with the equivalent of half her weekly grocery budget.

Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz

Soon Jack comes by the library to pick up Jill’s rare book as well the five movies his sister has reserved online from home.  Since this is his first time in the library, Jack takes his own tour to see what’s here.  He sees a huge collection of childrens’ books, and notices the Launchpads which could occupy his niece for hours.  He browses shelves and shelves of entertainment DVDs, locating several older movies that are hard to find.   Nearby is the large area holding an extensive fiction collection and Large Print books.

by Jeff Stahler

Jack thinks to himself, “Surely, there is more to the library than this,” and he is right.  He sees the stairs and heads up to the second floor.  Jack uses his card to access the public computers which offer the range of Microsoft Office software as well as photo editing and more.  He discovers that there are nonfiction and documentary type DVDs on the second floor and locates two which ignite his interest.

Meanwhile, Jill is thinking about their family dinner party and texts Jack requesting two cookbooks, Rachel Ray’s Look + Cook, and The Best of America’s Test Kitchen   Little did Jack know, but the Library has over 50 shelves of cookbooks upstairs, including one entire 27 foot long wall.  He finds both books available, with the recipes Jack and Jill both love cooking.

Before leaving, Jack sees the Reference Desk and asks them a question regarding data for his business.  Jack makes guitar pedals and wants to be sure he is speaking to every music place within 50 miles.  He asks if there is a database that could help him.  Jack gets back on the library computer and the librarian takes him through several databases available for library users.  Most helpful is Reference USA, which lets him mine and correlate the very information he is seeking.

Frazz by Jef Mallett

Jill texts again to remind Jack to schedule time for the winter family trip to Switzerland.  This prompts Jack to think how he needs to learn more about his digital camera, while also brushing up on his French and German.  To save time, he asks the librarians at the Reference Desk for help.  They show him how to take advantage of the several eBook connections through the library, especially READS and R. B. Digital.  With his new card, Jack is able to download on his ipad, David Pogue’s Digital Photography: The Missing Manual.  The librarian also shows Jack the photography E-magazines available to check out free through the READS and Flipster apps.

Jack tells the librarian, that if he ever worried the library would go out of business, he doesn’t now.   “Are you as up-to-date on language learning?  I need to refresh my French and German.”  The Reference Desk librarian  shows him the library learning site called Transparent Languages, and gets him into the German and French programs  using Jack’s library card as the login.

On his way out, with books, DVDs, and electronic downloads in hand, Jack texts Jill, “There’s a lot here at the library.  More than I realized.  You say  you like the newly designed card; I know you’ll like even more, using it.  You’ve got to come check this out!”

07.15.2020 updated to change mentions of Zinio to Flipster.