Two Wonderful Events In One Cold Short Month.

Greetings CLP Teen Blogoshpere!

Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Michael Balkenhol and I am the new Teen Specialist at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Hazelwood Branch.

My first blog post is about two wonderful things that happened for me in February. If you haven’t figured it out yet – The first wonderful thing that happened was getting a promotion! The second was getting the Verizon iPhone!

First off, apologies to anyone who hates the iPhone, or hates that they don’t have one yet! BUT so far this phone is hands down the best piece of technology I have ever purchased. The best feature is access to the 350,000+ applications. Although the first apps I downloaded were Facebook and Groupon, there are also plenty of apps available for the bibliophile that I am going to share with you.

For free books to borrow, you might want to check out what the Library has to offer though Overdrive. With the Overdrive app, you can browse, request, and borrow free materials from the library. It can’t compete with the millions of books on our shelves, but the collection is growing by the month and is worthy of a peek.

For books to keep forever, you should check out iBooks and Google Books. With these apps, you can purchase and download a seemingly endless supply of titles. But the real jewel is that both give you access to thousands of books that are free because the copyright has expired. I like Google Books because you can view your library on any computer by simply logging into your gmail account.

Last but not least is my personal favorite. For the disorganized or forgetful reader, there is an app called Good Reads. Here you can create a free account and keep a book log or wishlist, of books you have read or want to read. By simply taking a picture of the ISBN number located on the back of books, you can instantly add a title to your account. You can view new books lists or link up with friends and share suggestions. It’s another great way to make reading more social. An Android app is in the works.

If you are sans iPhone you can check out the web versions of these apps as well by just clicking the links above!

Please if you have any suggestions for apps, drop a comment below!

P.S. Actually, I should have said three great things happened in February – I also saw Lady Gaga in concert and she was AMAZING. More on her another time.

-Michael B.

CLP Hazelwood