Ever wanted to try a Roku but unsure about buying one? Several local libraries are now allowing members to borrow a Roku 1 a week at a time.
The idea came out of a brainstorming conversation between Brandt and Ephrata Director Penny Talbert. Brandt says, “We were talking about how we love our Rokus, and it just came up. ‘Why aren’t we circulating these?’”
Currently five libraries are offering Rokus to their members including Ephrata, Pennsylvania; Kent, New York; Bitterroot, Montana; Hingham, Massachusetts; Liverpool, New York; Darien, Illinois; and Sandusky, Ohio. Some, such as Bitterroot, Indian Prairie, and Sandusky.
“The Roku is giving us an opportunity to not only expose our patrons to new and emerging technologies but also to help supplement our physical collection by giving them access and a discovery tool to content that they may not have found on their own,” says Samantha Chada, director of communications and technology at Sandusky. The program has been so popular at Sandusky they plan to buy 12 more Rokus to help grow the program and hopefully cut down on the long wait lists for Roku boxes.
Some libraries, such as Ephrata, even include a Netflix subscription with the Roku devices; however, if you are overdue, Ephrata will use the Netflix device manager to disable the Netflix access.
Hopefully this program shows more people how online streaming works and encourages some to buy their own streaming device and try other services.
Checkout American Libraries Magazine for the full story and even more details on the program.
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