Military personnel and their family members can now get a library card, download books and movies and find local utility information all in one place at Military Connections at http://military.mypcls.org/.
“We created this website to make getting and using information and resources from Pierce County Library System easier and more applicable to soldiers and their families,” said Neel Parikh, executive director of Pierce County Library System. “The Library’s Military Connections’ website is a tool that has a look and feel for military. It is basically the Library’s main website trimmed down.”
With approximately 100,000 soldiers and their families living in the Pierce County area, the Library System strives to provide library services for military families. Library staff from and in military families collaborated to determine the features and services of most value to military families: getting library cards, downloading books and music, joining book clubs and reserving meeting rooms.
Also, for those with young children, story times were important, and, staff also thought job and business resources were important for people looking for jobs or to boost their job skills.
The Military Connections’ website also links to the Library’s listings of book discussions, computer classes, author presentations and other events. It also links to some other local events and attractions such as museums and zoos, as well as dog parks for pet lovers.
Unique to the Military Connections’ website is information about local utilities to help military families who have recently moved to the area find where to call for electricity, water, garbage and other utility services.
Soldiers and their families can get Pierce County Library System cards for free for use in any Pierce County Library or on the Library’s website. Soldiers who are deployed can get cards directly from the Military Connections’ website and download audiobooks and e-books immediately.
To the Library System’s knowledge it is the only public library that has created a website solely for soldiers and their families—of course anyone can access the site and use the resources.
