Winter weather can’t dull allure of a good book

Bitter cold, bleak and blustery— adjectives that describe our winter of 2018. Would you like to find free activities this winter to keep everyone in the family occupied? Bartholomew County Public Library can help you find fun and interesting things to do while you are spending more time indoors.

Begin a new hobby. Winter is a great time for that. Some popular hobbies to consider are knitting, crocheting, painting, photography, writing and cooking.

The library provides the necessary resources to help you begin the hobby of your choice. “America: The Cookbook” by Gabrielle Langholtz has 800 recipes from all 50 states, celebrating the wonderful diversity of American food and food culture. “DK’s Artist’s Painting Techniques” gives step-by-step instructions for watercolors, acrylics and oils.

Learn to download eBooks and eAudiobooks using your computer, tablet or cellphone. Borrow free eBooks, audiobooks and streaming video online from the library’s large digital collection from OverDrive. Titles are available for children, teens and adults, and are available in English, Chinese and Spanish.

Build your family tree. Discover numerous genealogy resources from the Indiana Room and online. Ancestry.com and newspapers.com are in-library resources to help you find your family history.

Volunteer with the Bartholomew County Library Associates. Established in 1964, the Bartholomew County Library Associates is a non-profit volunteer organization. Monies raised from their ongoing book sale support library programming. See more info at mybcpl.org/associates.

Discover Hoopla, a free online streaming service. Enjoy movies, music, audiobooks, ebooks, comics and TV shows on your computer, tablet or phone, and even your TV! You may stream or download up to eight titles a month.

Take advantage of the library’s free programs for all ages, all year. Receive our monthly program guide in your in-box by signing up for our email newsletter at the bottom of our homepage at mybcpl.org. February features a Family Formal on Feb. 12 and Presidential Trivia on Feb. 19.

Check out a new book or read a classic. There are more than 200,000 regular print and large print books in our collection. Can’t find what you are looking for? Our Reference Department can help you with that. The library also maintains collections of Spanish and Chinese fiction and nonfiction.

Read free digital magazines from RB Digital using your library card. Download popular magazines and read them instantly from the device of your choice. Choose from more than 80 popular magazines in full-color.

Learn a new language through the library. Muzzy is an online children’s language program with lessons and interactive games taught in eight languages. For adults, try learning a new language with Mango Languages. Mango is an online language-learning system that is free to Bartholomew County Public Library patrons. You can learn more than 70 languages with interactive tutorials that focus on vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and culture.

Download new music from Freegal that you can keep. Freegal is a free, downloadable music service from BCPL’s website. Patrons have access to hundreds of thousands of songs and artists from more than 100 music genres. Take advantage of downloading up to six files per week with music videos counting as two files.

Your library has you covered this winter and all year long.

Kathy Campbell is a reference librarian at the Bartholomew County Public Library and can be reached at [email protected].