Tag: e-Books & Streaming

Picture book read along stories play like a movie and are great for listening practice as well as really fun! You can stream picture book videos free with your IndyPL library card. Illustrations move as you watch the narrated stories. Video picture books are especially convenient for car trips. You can check out several at a time and play them multiple times while you have them checked out. They are perfect for “read it again!”

To stream these videos for kids you will need a Hoopla account. Hoopla is the service the Library uses to deliver these videos to you.

Get Started Streaming Picture Book Videos on Hoopla

Here are a few favorites to get you started, or see Hoopla’s complete list of picture book videos for kids.

Need more help? Ask a Library staff member at any of our locations or call, text, or email Ask-a-Librarian. The Tinker Station helpline at (317) 275-4500 is also available. It is staffed by device experts who can answer questions about how to read, watch and listen on a PC, tablet or phone.

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We have thousands of audiobooks for kids on various platforms. All can be checked out instantly with a library card. Each audiobook platform is unique. You can learn how to use each platform below.

Need more help? Ask a Library staff member at any of our locations or call, text or email Ask-a-Librarian. Additionally, the Tinker Station helpline at (317) 275-4500 is also available. It is staffed by device experts who can answer questions about how to read, watch and listen on a PC, tablet or phone.

Audiobooks for Kids from OverDrive/Libby

You can borrow up to 20 titles using your IndyPL Library card from OverDrive Kids. If you have never borrowed from OverDrive before both app directions and browser directions are available as well as a video tutorial and Overdrive Support.

Here are some quick shortcuts to OverDrive’s audiobook collections for kids.

Skip the Wait!

Hold lines can get very long for new and popular titles. Here are two helpful links for young readers: No Wait, No Problem Audiobooks for Kids and No Wait No Problem e-Books for Teens.

Audiobooks for Kids from Hoopla

You can borrow 10 Items each month using your IndyPL Library card. If you have never borrowed from Hoopla before directions are available as well as a video tutorial.

Here are some quick short cuts to some of Hoopla’s audiobook read along collections:

Skip the Wait!

Hoopla Bonus Borrows Logo

You don’t have to put Hoopla titles on hold, you are allowed to borrow whatever titles you want, up to 10 per month.

However, if you’ve already read your 10 monthly borrows, Hoopla frequently offers Bonus Borrows. Bonus Borrows don’t count against your monthly borrowing limit – look for them on Hoopla.

Audiobooks for Kids from Kanopy Kids

Kanopy Kids has one collection of read along picture books in their Story Time collection. Read them in a computer browser or in the Kanopy app. Videos from the Kanopy Kids section do not require any play credits to view. Feel free to watch as many videos from Kanopy Kids as you’d like without seeing a reduction in your play credits! If you have never borrowed from Kanopy before here are some directions and a video tutorial.

Audiobooks for Kids from Tumblebooks

You can read Tumblebook read alongs in a computer browser or the Tumblebook Library app. If you have never borrowed from the Tumblebook Library before here is a video tutorial to help you get started. Here are three examples of the read along stories you can find in the Tumblebook Read Along Library. See the full list of Tumblebook read alongs here. The best thing about Tumblebooks – there are no loan limits and no waiting!

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Audio Enabled Books for Kids

If your kids like e-book read alongs try our audio enabled book collection – print books that have an audio player permanently attached to them. Children simply push a button to listen and read. The next time you visit one of our libraries, ask where the audio enabled books for kids shelf is or browse the list of all of them.

Free Audiobooks that Don’t Require a Library Card

World Book Day Free Audiobooks
World Book Day’s World of Stories audiobook collection get refreshed frequently. Audiobooks are taken down after 6 months and then are replaced with new ones so check back often for new stories.

Audible’s Free Audiobook Library for Kids
Audible, Amazon’s audiobook library, offers free audiobook streams on a select number of children’s stories. See the Free Audible Library. The books are separated into six categories: “Littlest Listeners,” “Elementary,” “Tween,” “Teen,” “Literary Classics” and “Folk & Fairy Tales for All.” Books are available in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Italian.

Free Video Read Alouds Online
Children also shouldn’t miss these outstanding opportunities to hear old classics like Where the Wild Things Are or a newer favorite like Little Jumbo, often read aloud by the book’s author or a celebrity reader. It isn’t library story time…but you will still hear “I want to hear it again!”

If you love learning, The Library can provide many opportunities. You can read books and e-books, listen to audiobooks, and watch movies on practically every topic imaginable. You may not know that you can also learn from some of the world’s leading experts via The Great Courses offered through Kanopy. Kanopy is an on-demand video streaming service available to IndyPL library card holders. Have you explored this fantastic learning opportunity?

The Great Courses are college level classes you can enjoy on your own schedule. The classes are designed for people who want to learn without working toward a degree. There are no deadlines or tests to worry about. Some of the classes include supplemental materials, so be sure to download the PDFs, where available. The classes are completely free. You don’t even need to spend any of your monthly Kanopy credits to watch them, so dive in and start learning!

For example, The Great Courses offers The National Geographic Guide to Birding in North America. This class can help someone become a skillful birdwatcher.

There are episodes about bird anatomy, habitat, behavior migration, and more. The program even goes on a virtual journey to some of the best birding sites in North America. If you don’t have time right now to do the entire 24 episode class, you can take as long as you’d like or skip ahead to something that interests you. That’s not something you couldn’t do if you were enrolled in a class that met in person each week! Kanopy has wonderful flexibility.

The Great Courses cover Finance, Health, Hobbies, Food and Wine, History, Literature and Language, Math and Science, Music and Fine Arts, Philosophy, Professional and Personal Growth, Travel, Programs for Young Learners and more. See some of our Staff’s favorites!

How to Get Started on The Great Courses in Kanopy

Have questions? Call the Tinker Tech/Device Helpline at 317-275-4500 or call, text or email Ask-a-Librarian.

TIP: Many of The Great Courses are also available on DVD, Audio Book CD, or as a downloadable audiobooks through Libby. Search “The Great Courses” in our online catalog.

Barbara Ann O’Leary, a Computer Lab Assistant at Central Library. Barbara has a voracious appetite for exploring a wide range of topics and enjoys helping people use digital technology to expand their horizons.

We think outside the box and outside Library walls. The Library promotes the joy and power of sharing books by providing access to books and resources outside our buildings and electronically, 24/7.

“Monument” Art Installation and Book Share Station at Central Library

“Monument,” an art installation and book share station originally located at Monument Circle, is now located outside Central Library. “Monument” was created by Brian McCutcheon for The Public Collection, a public art and literacy project developed by Rachel M. Simon with support from the Herbert Simon Family Foundation. It was installed on Monument Circle between August 2015 and September 2019.

The art exhibit doubles as a book share station. The books are free and available to everyone. Borrow and return books supplied and stocked by The Library at your leisure. No library card is required.

Quote across the top, “A public library is the most enduring of memorials: the trustiest monument of an event or a name or an affection; for it, and it only, is respected by wars and revolutions, and survives them.” ~Mark Twain, 1894
                                                                                                                 
The reinstallation was made possible by the Herbert Simon Family Foundation, Buckingham Foundation, and Friends of the Library through gifts to The Indianapolis Public Library Foundation.

Ruckle Street Pocket Park Storywalk®

In partnership with the Mapleton-Fall Creek Development Corporation, the InfoZone branch placed a StoryWalk® in the Ruckle Street Pocket Park as a unique way to encourage families to read and exercise together. Laminated story pages are available at various points along the path, following the natural progression of the story. Learn more about how to take a walk, and read a story as you go!

Download & Stream

Take us with you anytime, anywhere with millions of e-books, movies, music, and more to choose from! Download & stream instantly for free with your Library card!

Learn on Demand

Did you know the Library offers free on-demand video streaming classes and learning modules? Add a new skill, polish a skill that needs an update, or just try something for fun! Learn at your own pace. All you need is a Library card! If you have not explored these fantastic learning opportunities yet, get started right here! Don’t have a Library card yet? Find out how to get one here.

Research Databases

Do homework, research your project or hobbies, take an online class, or learn a language with our Research databases anytime, anywhere with your Library card!