Friday, March 22, 2013

Help Patrons Prepare for National Park Week

             

Free eBooks and audiobooks from your library should automatically rank highly among the best ideas ever, but the claim that the national parks are “America's Best Idea” does hold some merit. This year’s National Park Week runs April 22 – 26, where every one of the 398 national parks waives the entrance fee (although 265 of them are always free!).

 

Thousands of nature-loving patrons will be taking advantage of the opportunity at parks like Yellowstone, Everglades and Badlands national parks, and to help them prepare for their trip, they can also borrow titles from their local library. Lonely Planet's ”Discover USA's Best National Parks” is a great starting point, but there are many others that explore America’s beautifully unique terrain including “The Rough Guide to Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon” and “Frommer’s National Parks of the American West.”

 

While you can certainly gain practical information from an eBook guide, it takes a video to really see the breathtaking wonder of the national parks. A few visual guides that truly convey the wonders of the parks include: “National Parks of Alaska,” “Glacier National Park” and the six-part PBS series “The National Parks: America's Best Idea” from Ken Burns. For those having difficulty finding someone to join them on a road trip, these videos make a convincing argument.

 

Personally, one of my favorite trips included driving from Las Vegas to Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon. At a normal price of $25 per car for each park, who wouldn't want to save $75 during such a trip while seeing some of the most spectacular scenery this world has to offer?

 

Inspire your users to explore “America's Best Idea” with eBooks and videos from the library! To find these and other awe-inspiring titles, visit Content Reserve.

 

Beau Livengood is a Training Associate at OverDrive.

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