St. Charles Parish residents who have a library card now have access to thousands of movies and television shows that can be streamed to computers, phones or tablets.
The library has teamed with hoopla, a service that allows people to borrow video, music and audio books for free. Unlike other services offered by the library, all titles are available at all times so you don’t have to worry about a favorite TV show or movie being checked out.
Lauren Campo Pitz, the librarian for the parish’s East Regional Library, said the service offers something for everyone.
“There are a lot of documentaries, kids’ movies, exercise videos and shows about food,” she said. “It’s really a great service and it allows people to use it at the library, at home or on the road.”
To use the service, those with a St. Charles Parish library card can visit www.hoopladigital.com and download the app on their computer, smartphone or tablet.
Once on the site, titles can be browsed by topic, including classic movies, action and adventure, educational programs, cartoons or dramas.
TV shows cover everything from the educational Ken Burns documentary “The Civil War” to short films by “The Three Stooges.”
Up to six movies and TV shows can be downloaded per card per month. The videos and television shows lend for 72 hours each and everything borrowed can be watched as often as you want while it’s checked out.
“As soon as you start using hoopla, you can stream the content immediately,” Pitz said. “You can also download the content to view later in case you are in an area with no wifi.”
Pitz said that the library system has been looking to offer streaming video for a few years until they found hoopla.
“We knew that streaming video was something that we wanted to offer, but it took some time to find a service that would work for a public library,” Pitz said.
Though the library only began offering hoopla last week, Pitz said the response has been positive.
“It’s a little too early to get numbers of how many are using it, but we have gotten a good response for our staff,” she said. “We are really looking forward to seeing how many people take advantage of this service.”
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