After a few months of waiting, the Harrison County Public Library app is working again! The HCPL app (and many other libraries’ apps) went dark in late October due to unforeseen issues with the contracted app developer.
The HCPL app prioritizes a library user’s needs and places the Harrison County Public Library virtually in their hands. One can quickly see the items that they have checked out or on hold, search the entire online catalog that now includes digital content from OverDrive and hoopla. Library users can view, listen or download titles directly from the app.
The app offers one-stop access to browsing and registering for library activities for all ages, all HCPL eResources, current HCPL news, and links to social media. The app also features a handy virtual library card to present to library staff when checking out items.
“By using the library app, a person only has to look in one place for everything—they don’t have to go to separate websites or browse multiple apps. The app gives users easy access to HCPL services and resources wherever they are whenever they need them,” said Alisa Burch, Library Director. “If you have a phone or mobile device you can easily borrow eBooks and electronic audiobooks, stream movies and locate and reserve traditional print books and DVDs all from one app.”
If you have a question about the app, please visit www.hcpl.lib.in.us and click on “Contact Us”, or call your local HCPL branch.
Julia Phipps, affectionately known by staff as Julie, is HCPL’s first Who’s Awesome! winner. Julia works as a reference assistant and was one of twenty-two staff members nominated in January.
Tiffany Thieneman, public services manager, nominated Julia for the award stating, “Julie was awesome when we had a patron in reference who had a medical issue. Julie’s nursing experience came in handy as she assessed the patron’s condition. Julie stayed calm and was able to provide EMS with information regarding the situation. I was glad Julie was there to help!”
Julia joined the reference staff at Main October 25, 2021.
Each month a winner will be selected by random drawing. A quarterly winner and nominator will receive a small prize in addition to the recognition.
Other staff members nominated in January were Amanda Applegate, Nikki Esarey, Ann Allen, Eden Ransdell, Sandy Harbeson, Melissa Schellenberger, Ann Crecelius, Vee Colantonio, Lynn Hardesty, Bethany Banet, Savannah Wallace, Seren Lindsey, Debbie McClanahan, Steven Schifcar, Liz Dennis, Trevor Smith, Kelly Powell, Alisa Burch, Jessica Stroud, Sarah Dorton and Pat Schwartz.
TALK is made possible by the Indiana State Library and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Harrison County Public Library is excited to provide TALK – Text And Learn for Kindergarten to our residents. TALK is an early literacy texting program for parents and caregivers of young children. Diana Lasky of Youth Services stated, “Our director Alisa Burch has always looked for ways to encourage early literacy practices at home. This is the perfect way to put early literacy tips directly into the hands of all caregivers. Anyone can use TALK, no library affiliation is required.”
Interested adults may sign up to receive 2 messages per week with fun activities to do at home to help prepare little ones, ages 5 and under, for school success.
The self-checkout station at the Corydon branch was made possible by a grant from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
Click image to enlarge
Harrison County Public Library installed a user-friendly station near the entrance of the Corydon branch to enable users to check out their own materials.
To check out, simply:
Scan your library card or user barcode in the HCPL app
Scan the HCPL barcode on each item
Scan the QR code provided to print your receipt
You’re all set!
HCPL staff are happy to help if you would like assistance using the self-checkout station, or if you would prefer that they check out your items at the circulation desk.
A few guidelines for using the self-checkout station:
You may use only your own card for self check.
DVD’s and hotspots must be checked out by staff at the checkout desk.
If you have available holds, please see the staff at the checkout desk so that they may pull them and check them out to your account.
The following steps will assist HCPL users through the installation of the Google Play Store on Kindle Fire tablets to enable the installation of the free new HCPL app. The following instructions are adapted from the How To Geekarticle by Joe Fedewa and Chris Hoffman, updated on
Amazon Fire Tablets restrict users to the Amazon Appstore, but runs on Fire OS, a custom version of the Android operating system. That means that you can install the Play Store to install not only the HCPL app, but all other available Google Play apps as well.
Installing the Google Play Store is simply a matter of downloading and installing a few APK (Android package) files from the Fire tablet itself, and you will be up and running with the Play Store just like your regular Android phone or tablet!
Download the Play Store Files
Before we begin, make sure your Fire Tablet is from 2014 or later. This process may not work with old Kindle Fire tablets as you need to enable “Apps From Unknown Sources.”
First, open the “Settings” app from the “Home” tab on the home screen.
Now go to “Security & Privacy.”
Select “Apps From Unknown Sources.”
Find “Silk Browser” and then toggle on “Allow From This Source.” This is what will allow us to install an app from outside of the Amazon app store.
With that out of the way, we can start downloading the Play Store files. There are four APK files we will need to get the Play Store up and running, and they’re specific to your Fire Tablet.
To find out which Amazon Fire Tablet model you have, go to Settings > Device Options > About Fire Tablet. You’ll see your “Device Model” name here. To see your Fire OS version, go to Settings > Device Options > System Updates.
With the device model in mind, we can download the appropriate files below. Simply copy and paste the links from the tables below into the Silk Browser on your Amazon Fire tablet. We’re just downloading the files at this point, DON’T OPEN THEM YET.
Google Account Manager
Note: Ignore the message about a newer version being available.
A tip from Jessica Stroud about downloading the Google Play Store APK file: the July 19, 2022 version of the com.android.vending file would not open, but the July 13, 2022 version of the file could be successfully installed.
Install the Play Store
With all the downloaded APK files to your Amazon Fire Tablet, we can begin installing them one by one. Open the “Files” app from the home screen.
Select “Downloads” from the side menu and switch to the list view for the files. You should see the four files we just downloaded.
It’s important to install these APKs in a specific order. For each APK, follow this process: Tap the file name > select “Continue” > tap the “Install” button. After it installs, tap “Done.” Don’t open the Play Store yet.
Install the files in this order (the file names on your device will be longer):
com.google.android.gsf.login
com.google.android.gsf
com.google.android.gms
com.android.vending
With all the APKs installed, it’s time to reboot the tablet. Hold down the power button and select “Restart.”
After the tablet restarts, you’ll see the Play Store on the home screen. Open it and sign in with your existing Google account. If you do not have a Google [email] account, you will have the option to create one.
Once you’re signed in, you’ll have a functional Google Play Store, just like on any other Android device.
You may experience some problems when trying to use the Play Store right away. The Play Store and Google Play Services will automatically update themselves in the background, so just give it some time. This may take as much as ten minutes.
Download and install the HCPL app
Launch the Play Store app, then search for “Harrison County Public Library”:
The HCPL app prioritizes a library user’s needs and places the Harrison County Public Library virtually in their hands. One can quickly see the items that they have checked out or on hold, search the entire online catalog that now includes digital content from OverDrive and hoopla. Library users can view, listen or download titles directly from the app.
The new app offers one-stop access to browsing and registering for library activities for all ages, all HCPL eResources, current HCPL news, and links to social media. The app also features a handy virtual library card to present to library staff when checking out items.
“By using the library app, a person only has to look in one place for everything—they don’t have to go to separate websites or browse multiple apps. The app gives users easy access to HCPL services and resources wherever they are whenever they need them,” said Alisa Burch, Library Director. “If you have a phone or mobile device you can easily borrow eBooks and electronic audiobooks, stream movies and locate and reserve traditional print books and DVDs all from one app.”
If you have a question about the app, please visit www.hcpl.lib.in.us and click on “Contact Us”, or call your local HCPL branch.
At 1:00pm today, an upgrade of HCPL Web Services will take place that will last approximately 5 minutes.
This upgrade is in preparation for valuable new services that HCPL plans to implement soon.
Please note that this short upgrade will possibly affect access to library accounts through the online catalog, access to OverDrive/Libby and Axis360 accounts, as well as logging on to HCPL public computers.
An organized group of cyber attackers–the same group responsible for the pipeline ransomware attack–are mailing malicious USB flash drives to the public.
Some of the flash drives have contained a message impersonating the US Department of Health and Human Services and claim to be a COVID-19 warning, and other drives were sent with a gift card claiming to be from Amazon. These flash drives install ransomware (malicious software that blocks access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid) on the computer into which they are inserted. Be wary of a USB drive if you do not know exactly from where it came.
Harrison County Public Library is excited to provide TALK – Text And Learn for Kindergarten to our residents. TALK is an early literacy texting program for parents and caregivers of young children. Diana Lasky of Youth Services stated, “Our director Alisa Burch has always looked for ways to encourage early literacy practices at home. This is the perfect way to put early literacy tips directly into the hands of all caregivers. Anyone can use TALK, no library affiliation is required.”
