Libraries aren’t what they used to be. Yes, they are still magical places with thousands of books to browse through, but if it’s been a while since you visited one of Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s branches, you might be surprised at how much is offered now without visiting a branch.
It’s a good time to learn about what a library card offer you from your own home. For free.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library announced that it reached a record-breaking one million digital book checkouts in 2020.
The top 5 e-book titles borrowed through Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s digital collection in 2020:
1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
2. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
3. Educated by Tara Westover
4. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
5. The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
The top 5 audiobook titles borrowed through Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s digital collection in 2020:
1. Becoming by Michelle Obama
2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
3. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
4. Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Virtual Events with Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
Although the branches aren’t fully open, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is still presenting events. These are mostly on Facebook Live. Just go to Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s Facebook page to tune in.
There are also more virtual opportunities, including the chance to book a librarian for a 1-on-1 video call on a variety of topics, workshops, book clubs and more. Visit Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s calendar for a full list.
Get a virtual library card
First of all, if you don’t have a library card, you can get a Virtual Card. In order to get a Virtual Card, you need to attach a photo ID and proof that you are a resident or property owner of Mecklenburg County. A state-issued photo ID fulfills the requirement for both identity and residency.
Once you’ve completed the form, you’ll receive an email with your account information. This Virtual Card can be used immediately for all digital materials and resources, as well as to check out physical items from any branch.
Find more information on Virtual Cards, as well as physical cards, children’s cards, and non-resident cards (which are $45) and apply for a card at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s Get a Library Card page.
At-Home Library Resources for Kids
Here are some of the resources that Charlotte Mecklenburg Library offers for kids.
NC Kids Digital Library
NC Kids Digital Library offers videos, e-books, audiobooks and Read-Alongs for kids in pre-K through 4th grade. You can browse by subject, format, genre and more. You’ll find picture books, youth fiction, youth non-fiction and more.
You can borrow 5 items at a time. No holds are allowed.
Learn more and access NC Kids Digital Library.
Kids Mode of hoopla
hoopla allows you to instantly borrow movies and television shows, as well as e-books, comics, audiobooks and music. Content streams to computers, tablets and smartphones, and can be downloaded to mobile devices for offline viewing.
You can toggle hoopla into Kids Mode to limit content.
You can check out up to 6 items from hoopla each month, per card. In addition, the library has a daily limit on hoopla lending, so if demand is very high and the limit is reached you might receive a message saying to try tomorrow. The spending limit rolls over at midnight EST each night. So in times of heavy demand, the early bird gets the worm.
TumbleBooks
TumbleBooks is a collection of animated, talking picture books. The collection includes story books, books in French and Spanish for language learning, non-fiction books, graphic novels, puzzles and games.
StoryPlace
StoryPlace offers online stories for young children, with accompanying online activities, videos, a reading list, games, and real life activities.
Tutor.com
Get free homework help from a live, online, qualified tutor. Get up to 10 free tutoring sessions a week. It’s available for K-12 students, college students, adult learners, and nursing students. Tutor.com is available in English daily from 4 p.m. to midnight, and in Spanish on Sunday through Thursday, from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. It’s closed on New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
Learn more and access Tutor.com.
E-books, Audiobooks and Magazines
Keep your Kindle, or other reading device, loaded up with free reading material.
OverDrive
OverDrive is how you access Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s collection of e-books, magazines, and digital audiobooks. It’s easy, and you don’t need to sign up for a separate service. When you choose to deliver a book to your Kindle, you’ll be redirected to your Amazon account, but there’s no charge.
OverDrive also offers a mobile app for Android and iOS devices, called Libby, that offers a seamless borrowing and reading experience.
You can borrow e-books for up to 21 days. If an e-book is currently unavailable you can put a hold on it. When you’re done reading, you can return it; or, it will be returned automatically on the due date. You never have to worry about late fees.
Learn more and access OverDrive.
hoopla
hoopla allows you to instantly borrow movies and television shows, as well as e-books, comics, audiobooks and music. Content streams to computers, tablets and smartphones, and can be downloaded to mobile devices for offline viewing.
You can toggle hoopla into Kids Mode to limit content.
You can check out up to 6 items from hoopla each month, per card. In addition, the library has a daily limit on hoopla lending, so if demand is very high and the limit is reached you might receive a message saying to try tomorrow. The spending limit rolls over at midnight EST each night. So in times of heavy demand, the early bird gets the worm.
NC Kids Digital Library
NC Kids Digital Library offers videos, e-books, audiobooks and Read-Alongs for kids in pre-K through 4th grade. You can browse by subject, format, genre and more. You’ll find picture books, youth fiction, youth non-fiction and more.
You can borrow 5 items at a time. No holds are allowed.
Learn more and access NC Kids Digital Library.
Videos and Movies
Your Charlotte Mecklenburg Library card grants you access to several services that include movies. The most movie-focused one is Kanopy, but hoopla and NC Kids Digital Library also include movie, TV and video content, as well as e-books and more.
Kanopy
Kanopy is a video streaming service. You’ll find movies that you can’t find on services like Netflix–more than 30,000 independent and documentary films. You can watch them on your computer, tablet, smartphone and TV apps (like Roku.) You can watch up to 6 films a month, per card.
Kanopy also has a site for kids. Categories include TV Series, Learning Languages, Animated Storybooks, Anime Favorites, Classic Films, and Movies for the whole family. Kanopy Kids offers unlimited plays.
Learn more, and sign up for Kanopy or Kanopy Kids.
hoopla
hoopla allows you to instantly borrow movies and television shows, as well as e-books, comics, audiobooks and music. Content streams to computers, tablets and smartphones, and can be downloaded to mobile devices for offline viewing.
You can toggle hoopla into Kids Mode to limit content.
You can check out up to 6 items from hoopla each month, per card. In addition, the library has a daily limit on hoopla lending, so if demand is very high and the limit is reached you might receive a message saying to try tomorrow. The spending limit rolls over at midnight EST each night. So, in times of heavy demand, the early bird gets the worm.
NC Kids Digital Library
NC Kids Digital Library offers videos, e-books, audiobooks and Read-Alongs for kids in pre-K through 4th grade. You can browse by subject, format, genre and more. You’ll find picture books, youth fiction, youth non-fiction and more.
You can borrow 5 items at a time. No holds are allowed.
Learn more and access NC Kids Digital Library.
Digital Music
The library offers access to more than 10 million songs.
Freegal
Freegal Music lets you download or stream music and video. Its library includes more than 10 million songs and 15,000 music videos. There are limitations, though. You get 5 free downloads (songs are 1 download and videos are 2) a week, and 3 hours of streaming a week.
There’s a Freegal app for iOS and Android.
Learn more and access Freegal Music.
More resources
Your Charlotte Mecklenburg Library card gives you access to tons of resources that you’d otherwise have to pay for. You can find a big list of resources here.
Here are just a few of the highlights.
- Consumer Reports: Free access, in PDF or HTML, to every issue from 1985 to the current issue.
- Charlotte Observer: Free access to an image database of issues from 1892 to 1985, and to a text database of issues from 1985 to today. For the text database, you won’t see images, or the articles as they appeared in the newspaper, but you’ll see the full text, which you can print or save as PDF.
- Charlotte Business Journal: View current issues or pass digital issues.
- Charlotte Post: Free access to a database of Charlotte Post articles from 2006 to today.
- Driving Test Prep: Know someone preparing to take their North Carolina driving test? Here are free practice tests for the North Carolina DMV Permit, Road Sign test, NC DMV Motorcycle test, and access to the NC Driver’s Handbook in English and Spanish.
- Films on Demand Video Collection: Thousands of high quality streaming videos on business & economics, health & medicine, humanities & social sciences, and science & mathematics, as well as travel and fitness programming, home and how-to videos, indie films, and popular music performances. Includes Oscar, Emmy and Peabody award winning documentaries, interviews, instructional and vocational training videos, historical speeches and newsreels. These videos can be cast to your television, if your television has that capability.
- HeritageQuest: A library resource for census data, family records, and local histories. This collection assembles U.S. federal census, family genealogies, local histories, tax lists, city directories, land and probate records, birth, marriage and death records, genealogical and local history serials, and more.
- Transparent Language: Learn 110 languages, at all levels.
- More magazines: Masterfile Premier is a database of full-text magazines, journals and reference books, including Popular Mechanics, Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, Car and Driver and many more.
- New York Times: Searchable full text access to New York Times from 1980 to the current issue, New York Times Magazine (1997 to current) and New York Times Book Review (1997 to current.)
- World Book Encyclopedia Online: For young students to adults. Includes Spanish version, as well as access to e-books for homework help and research projects for grades K-12.
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