There is a wealth of information available at the Monroe County Public libraries

Nancy Klingener, the outreach and marketing director for Monroe County Libraries, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the libraries.

The Monroe County Public Library has a monthly email newsletter.

Klingener said, “We have five different branches and there’s a lot going on at each and every one of those branches, regular programs like storytimes, and crafts. Then we have special events like author talks and concerts sometimes and it can be hard to keep track of what’s happening at each branch, even for us. There’s a lot going on. So what we’ve done is come up with a monthly email newsletter, there’s one for each branch, and it lists all the different programs and events happening that month, as well as some information about different services and resources that the library provides. You can get those email newsletters just one of them or if you’re someone who goes to say both the Big Pine and Marathon branches or the Islamorada and Key Largo branches, you could sign up for two of them. If you go to our website, there’s a sign up link right there on the front homepage of the website. You can sign up for as many of them as you want. The good thing is, too, we made unsubscribing really easy with one click. So it’s easy to unsubscribe, we’ll never sell your email. So, give that a try.”

The resources of the libraries can be accessed even if it’s after hours.

Klingener said, “You can get e-books and e-audiobooks from us anytime online. But if you wanted to get a physical book or DVD, but you just can’t make it to the branch at the times that were open, we have three pickup lockers that are outside of the Key Largo branch library, the Marathon Library and at Bernstein Park on Stock Island. So if you go onto our website, go to the catalog, request your item, tell us to send it to your closest pickup locker, we’ll put it in there, let you know when it’s there, and you can just come get it whenever it works for you. We also have two lending machines, which are basically like a vending machine, but for books and DVDs. One of them is at the Murray Nelson Government Center in Key Largo. The other is at Bernstein Park on Stock Island. They are kept stocked with the latest releases in both books and DVDs and whatever you see in that machine, you can check out right there with your library card.”

There are so many resources available through the libraries.

Klingener said, “I always tell people, if you’re paying for an Audible account, stop doing that, because we have e-audiobooks and it’s free to you with your library card. So it’s a way to save money and in the Keys, that’s important.”

Events are always ongoing at the libraries for all ages.

Klingener said, “We also have a monthly newsletter from our Florida Keys History Center. It’s called Island Chronicles, and you can sign up for that in the same place under Florida Keys History Center. Our lead historian Dr. Corey Malcolm is writing a piece of original research every month, where it’s stories from the past of the Keys that we just haven’t heard before. It’s really interesting. He sometimes provides links to the primary resources. So if you really want to dig deeper, you can go into it that way. It’s very cool stuff. The most recent one was about the 1733 fleet that wrecked off the Middle and Upper Keys. The accounts of that in English newspapers were the first newspaper accounts about the Florida Keys. So he transcribed and annotated those. He’s done pieces about the Caribbean monk seal, which was in the Keys until the early 1900s and about this amazing trip down the Overseas Highway, but but the first version of the Overseas Highway, you had to take a ferry between Islamorada No Name Key. These guys decided to drive the whole way including driving over railroad bridges in the 1920s. It’s quite something.”

There are five branches in the library system – at Key West, Big Pine, Marathon, Islamorada and Key Largo.

Klingener said, “I would almost consider Bernstein Park on Stock Island almost like a sixth branch because we have both the lending machine and the pickup locker there. So you should be able to get what you want from the library on Stock Island. Sign up now for those email newsletters because they go out on the last day of the month. So they’ll be going out on Tuesday of next week.”

For more information, click here:  https://keyslibraries.org/