Edmonton Public Library's future involves more than books

The Edmonton Public Library was once solelyabout books new and old, but this is 2016 and nowyou can borrowenergy efficiency kits and the Internet.

It'scomes as no surprise that the library has had to switch their focus from physical copies of books to digital versions.E-readers are a popular item and many of thelibrary'sbooks can be found on their website.

The library has had to get creative about "non-traditional" libraryitems. They're so popular that all of theseitems are already spoken for when they're returned after a threeweek borrow period.

• Read More|Edmonton Public Library lets you take home the internet

The latest is PENpal, a pen that reads books out loud for the reader with the option to translate the text intoother languages like French, Mandarin and Arabic.

Energy efficiency kits include an infrared thermometer, a kilowatt meter, books and DVDs about how to use them. They're so popular, there's already a year-long waiting list to borrow one of the 22 kits.

It could take upto two years to borrow one of the library's take home WiFikits, which allows users to have free wireless internet.

Sharon Day, the library's director of branch services and collections, says the switch to kits started fiveyears ago, and has picked up in popularity.

"The more we do it, the more ideas we get on different things we can loan," said Day.

Air monitoring kits are expected to hit library shelves within the next sixmonths. Future directions could include lending out items such as tools or musical instruments, which is something other libraries across North America have done, but nothing is definite yet.

"Those are areas we're investigating. We're in the middle of a revitalized plan for the new Stanley A.Milner Library. We're keeping in mind of doing investigations of how that would fit."

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