We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: The East Hampton Library is the pearl in our town’s cultural crown. We’ve become so acclimated to having it that it’s easy to forget how lucky we are to have such a fine library (with, for starters, the Long Island Collection, a research archive with a specialized staff on par with that at a fine university) just waiting for our visit, an open door in all seasons. But have you taken any time to delve into all the resources the library offers remotely, to entertain and educate you homebodies out there from the comfort of your own PJs, under your own duvets, on a frosty morn when it’s too icy to leave the house?
If you’re feeling like a bear snuggled up deep in your warm cave this month, we recommend you use your library card number to sign up for Kanopy, a free platform, like a free Netflix, that offers streaming of an endless number of interesting movies, especially art-house flicks and documentaries. Kanopy is nirvana for the sort of customer who’d rather watch “Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah” from PBS, or a documentary about the photographer Garry Winogrand, or an oldie like Cary Grant in “The Bishop’s Wife,” rather than the latest episode of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Click on the Free Books, Movies, and Music button on the library website for access to Livebrary for free audio books for adults and kids. Even just scrolling through the options is a treat in itself, as the librarians have curated the titles into amusing themes: “Cozy Up With Holiday Romance” (for titles like “Snow Kissed,” “Christmas in a Cowboy’s Arms,” and “A Man Like Santa”), “Dive In If You Dare” (thrillers about sharks, orcas, and shipwrecks), and “Freedom to Read Banned Books,” just to scratch the surface. There is a Great Courses collection, too, if you’re in the mood to edify yourself with, say, a university-level lecture series on Victorian Britain or Jewish intellectual history in the 16th century (or George Orwell, or how the human brain works, and on and on). There’s something called Pronunciator, for free lessons in 163 languages. Tagalog, anyone?
You can read The New York Times, Newsday, and The Amsterdam News on Livebrary. You can scroll through digital versions of 160 glossies, from Architectural Digest to Yankee magazine. Hint to bored children: You can read unlimited manga and comic books under the Comics Plus button. There’s even something called Brainfuse, which allows you to sign up for free sessions with live tutors, whether you need help with grade-school math or assistance with college counseling or LSAT prep. Well, okay, maybe not Brainfuse, while you’re trying to enjoy your holiday break. But the tutors will still be there when vacation’s over in January.