The Fredericksburg regional library says it will do more to educate parents on how to safely search its catalog of books, e-books, audiobooks, and videos following a complaint filed by a Stafford County mother.

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Central Rappahannock Regional Library's IdeaSpace: Making+Media is expanding its hours starting Tuesday, July 5, and will be offering high-tech equipment training and independent use of equipment 29 hours/week:

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Libraries in Stafford County and Fredericksburg reverted to curbside-only service this week.

Patrons can no longer enter library buildings to check out books and other materials, reserve meeting rooms, or hold study groups. A recent spike in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the region prompted the change.

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The Central Rappahannock Regional Library has released its quarterly report and according to that report, more patrons have been coming to the library due to the agency's embrace of technology.

To help with this, the library recently received a grant from Transurban, the operators of E-ZPass Express Lanes on Interstate 95, that will be used to extend wifi access in the neighborhoods surrounding the Howell and Salem Church library branches in Stafford and Spotsylvania counties, respectively.

The library will receive $5,500 through Transurban's Express Lane Community Grant Program. The grant falls under the community category of the project's guidelines which would support applications that support the health, economic development, or well-being of communities within the I-95 and I-495 corridor.

Transurban is currently partnered with the Virginia Department of Transportation in the Express Lane extension project that will extend the express lanes closer to the Fredericksburg, extending them south from Route 610 to Route 17.

The report also spotlights the library's expansion of online training platforms after the library had transitioned from Lynda.com to LinkedIn Learning for their video-based online offerings. As a result, thousands of additional online courses have become available to library patrons that come in seven different languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese.

The library has also been able to expand its magazine offerings by transitioning over to the Overdrive eMagazine application. The transition allows for access to more than 3,000 magazines in several different languages from the previous physical collection of fewer than 200 magazines offered.

The library is also continuing its IdeaSpace program, since March the library has circulated media technology equipment through IdeaSpace for those interested in learning how to use and operate items such as camcorders, audio equipment, digital drawing tablet, lighting, and other media related accessories.

IdeaSpace is currently located at 1616 Princess Anne Street in Downtown Fredericksburg.

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The Central Rappahannock Regional Library System recently opened a satellite branch at 1616 Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg called IdeaSpace, and it is far beyond a place to keep a few extra books.

I took a tour of the establishment and saw a glimpse of how libraries could not only survive but prosper in the coming years.

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