Meeting Room Info
Following the latest Michigan Health Department order which eases capacity limits on gatherings, the Petoskey District Library meeting room’s guidelines have been updated to accommodate larger numbers.
Large meeting room: groups of 4 from multiple households can reserve the space.
Lower level classroom: groups of 10 from multiple households can reserve the space.
Carnegie Building: groups of 25 can reserve the space. To reserve the Carnegie, please call Sarah Biskup, 231.758.3144
All groups must adhere to social distancing and mask requirements. At this time, library programs will meet virtually, with some small in-person programs coming this spring. For more information about reserving meeting room space, please visit here or call 231.758.3100
Library FAQ
Please click on the following links to read about Petoskey District Library’s services and plans:
Curbside Service
Virtual Library Cards & Digital Services
Pandemic Response Opening Procedures
Workplace Preparedness Plan
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Spring Newsletter
The Library’s spring newsletter is available here. Continue Reading
PDL Page Turners Book Club
Our library-led book club is back in session! Our next virtual meeting is Tuesday, March 16 at 5:30 p.m. on Zoom, when we will discuss The Women in Black by Madeleine St. John. New members are always welcome. Registration and an email address is required for Zoom access. Visit our Reading List to see which titles are coming up, to request library copies on hold, and to see what we have read in the past.
All the Small Things: A Writing Workshop
How short can a story be? What about a poem? And what’s the difference? Join Good Hart Artist Residency writer-in-residence, Steph Sorensen, on Thursday, March 18 at 6:30 p.m. as she presents a writing workshop examining the very short form in fiction and poetry. Through close-reading of published short-form pieces, students will work to understand what makes brevity successful, uncovering what is truly necessary in writing, and practicing the art of paring down through generative exercises.
Open to adult writers and readers of all ages and levels of experience. Registration and an email address are required for Zoom access. The Zoom meeting ID and passcode will be emailed to you with your registration confirmation.
Teelightful Teesigns with Karen Bonnici
Virtually join artist, singer, and storyteller extraordinaire, Karen Bonnici, and learn how to transform old tee shirts into creative new art and wearables on Saturday, March 20 at 11:00 a.m. We will provide the tee shirts and you will make them into something new and awesome!
Audience: 8 – 13 years old. Registration and an email address are required for Zoom access. Please swing by the library after you register to pick up the supplies you will need on the day of. Hope to see you there!
The Titanic: Unsuspecting Participants
Lives were dramatically changed among those who survived the Titanic disaster. Join David Kaplan, Titanic historian, on Monday, March 22 at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom for the biography of six people that were aboard the ship’s maiden voyage. David will start from their early years, their coming together on the Titanic for five days, and each one going back to their normal lives with the memories of the tragedy. Four passengers are selected as well as two crew members, one of which only survived several hours after the ship sank.
Registration and an email address are required for Zoom access. The meeting ID and passcode will be in your registration confirmation email. Hope to see you there!
PDL Podcast Club
Are you an avid podcast listener but wish you could talk to people about all those great episodes you’ve spent hours listening to? Join our virtual monthly podcast discussion group to get you talking! Our club meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month and the next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 23 at 7:00 p.m. and the theme is: The Largest Unsolved Art Heist in History.
Registration and an email address are required for Zoom access. The meeting ID and passcode will be in your registration confirmation email. Once you register for this event, you will be emailed a thematic listening list with 1–5 hours of podcast episodes. Simply listen and come ready to have a great chat!
Material Recommendation Forms
Book Stack is a book recommendation form for kids or grown ups of kids to use. The youth services staff will pick out five titles we think you’ll love and email you the list! You can choose to place the items on hold or come into the library to pick them up. If you need us to put the books on hold, let us know! Try it out!
Book Match is a book recommendation form for teens and tweens. Are you stuck, trying to figure out your next read? Then you have come to the right spot! Let us help you out, fill out the simple form and we’ll help pick out your next read.
PDL Stack is an item recommendation form for adults to use. Are you short on time? Want to try something new? Fill out the form and we will pick a stack of items (books, DVDs, CD music, etc.) just for you!
COMING SOON: New Digital Magazine Collection
COMING SOON! Ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines all in one place! We are excited to help streamline your reading experience by offering magazines in the popular Libby app you are already using for our collection of ebooks & audiobooks. Magazines will not count against your checkout limits and can be renewed, or borrowed again at any time. A vast variety of titles like US Weekly, National Geographic, Good Housekeeping Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone, to name a few, will be available mid-March. When the migration to the new collection is complete, the RB Digital app will be retired. Stay tuned for more information!
Service of the Month
For the Month of March, Ask Us About … Niche Academy
Niche Academy is an online learning platform that gives Petoskey District Library patrons their own online academy. The platform includes ready-to-use tutorials for common library services like Ancestry Library Edition, Kanopy, and OverDrive/Libby, to name a few. Look for the blue Tutorials tab on the right-side of the webpage (or the blue arrow on your mobile). Start any tutorial right away, or create a free account to track your progress. You can also reach the tutorials and login page here.
TumbleBook Library
PDL has a TumbleBooks subscription that can be accessed online through this direct link. Explore, read and have fun! TumbleBooks are animated, talking picture books which teach kids the joy of reading in a format they’ll love. TumbleBooks are created by taking existing picture books, adding animation, sound, music and narration to produce an electronic picture book which you can read, or have read to you. TBL also includes National Geographic videos and games. Users can also access TBL from any smartphone or iPad/Android tablet by downloading the app. Subscriptions are unlimited, meaning your kids can read as much as they want, when they want, with no wait times, check-outs, or downloads.
Tax Form Information – Petoskey Library now has 2020 IRS and MI forms!
IRS (Federal) Tax Forms
The 2020 IRS 1040 Forms and Instructions are available in the reference area on the second floor. We will gladly assist you in downloading and printing forms or ordering forms by mail at the Reference Desk on the second floor. The following list contains links to some common IRS tax forms, instructions, and publications. Other forms and publications are also available at the IRS website.
Tax return preparation and filing options include Free File and e-file can be found here. Continue Reading
Value Line at Home
Now with your Petoskey District Library card (barcode), enjoy remote access to Value Line, the most complete guide to investment research and a full array of products including the Research Center, Value Line Investment surveys (standard edition, plus edition, small & mid-cap edition), the Selection & Opinion newsletters, Value Line Mutual Fund Surveys and many more. Value Line is one of the most highly regarded and widely used independent investment research resources available. Create your own custom reports; use the screener tool to understand profit and risk; and gather incomparable data, news, and analysis all from home. Library cardholders can access this premium investment tool from any location with Internet access, while non-cardholders can access Value Line from a Petoskey Library computer. The library’s print subscription of Value Line Investment Survey will continue until October 2020.
Genealogy Research from Home
Need a fun activity to do while social distancing? Why not try some genealogical research from home? The Petoskey District Library is providing Ancestry.com (Library Edition) to you remotely. Remote access is available to PDL cardholders until June 30, 2021. Log in to our online catalog to access the link. Here are some directions to get you started.
Another cool resource is The Greenwood Cemetery website. Here you can access full newspapers from Emmet County, dating back to the 1870s. This site is always expanding, and it now has thousands of historical photographs and documents, all accessible from your home computer. We are very fortunate to have such a unique resource available to us.
Did you know that the Library of Congress has digitized a ton of Sanborn Fire Maps? Currently, you can access maps from over 3000 U.S. cities. These detailed maps are historical snapshots that tell a vivid story of our past. Beware! This site can take you down some rabbit-holes, and you may lose track of hours of your time.
Fine Free 2020
If overdue fines have kept you or your family from using the Library, we have great news for you! Petoskey District Library (PDL) is proud to join fine-free libraries across the country and we look forward to welcoming back many patrons who have stopped using the library because of overdue fines. What started on January 1, 2020, overdue fines are no longer charged on most items. Most patrons’ existing overdue balances were wiped clean to give them a fresh start to the year. Continue Reading