Get Local with Apps and the Web
A lot of our patrons come into the library looking for local information, which can be surprisingly difficult to find online. Many sites are driven by national news, events, and corporations so what is happening in your own neighborhood can be a bit tricky to track down. Below are a few suggestions for keeping up with what is going on in your community.
Find Area Events with Burbio
Mercer County Library System recently joined with Burbio to list our events on their site, giving you an extra way to find out what is going on at your local branch. Burbio is a free website and app that lists local government, school, and other organization events all in one calendar. The Burbio app is available for iOS and Android devices, and there is a skill for devices running the Alexa personal assistant. You can create personalized event feeds and even sync events to your Google or iPhone calendars. The site also pushes out notifications if event information changes. It is a great starting point to plan long weekends, find something different to do, or just keep up with your kids’ sports schedules.
All towns in Mercer County are included; find yours on the Burbio website or get the Burbio app from your phone’s app store. You can also go directly to the Mercer County Library System listings on the Burbio site.
Communicate with NextDoor
NextDoor was started as a social media site designed to share neighborhood news and has expanded to topical areas as well. The primary set-up is still geographically-based, so when you sign up for a free account on the site or in the app, you do need to pick your neighborhood or agree to start a new group. If you start a group, you will need to get a small number of people to join you, but that should be easy once people begin sending out invitations. The concept of the site is reminiscent of Facebook in the layout, with people in the neighborhood posting information. But, the information is general, including postings about yard sales, fundraisers, news about utilities and road issues. Postings can also be shared with area neighborhoods and can be given a category, such as lost and found, pets, or recommendations.
The latest change to the site is the ability to focus on certain interests. Users can select from a list of topics that include walking, hobbies, a specific school, event, or even harvest sharing. The interests are something you follow and can meet other locals so you could say, form a regular pickleball night, work on classic cars together, or set up a chat about local history.
Read Local News Online
Almost all of our branches used to subscribe to newspapers printed by The Packet Group. Most of those papers have either folded or combined with other area papers, while others have been reduced to smaller versions that you can pick-up for free at area businesses. But, you can still find all that local news collected on the publisher’s website, Central Jersey. The main page has all the local news combined, but the drop-down under news lets you select a specific paper and links at the bottom of the site take you to specific sections, like sports or business, as well as the electronic version of their print editions.
Local Information on Social Media
Lastly, you can certainly stick to the standard social media sites for local information, as almost all of them will have a variety of groups, pages, and hash tags dedicated to local content. Facebook and twitter, in particular, have a variety of resources focused on everything from local yard sales to breaking news. Just search by keyword with your town’s name or even look for Mercer County and you should get a list of pages to follow or groups to join.
Find Area Events with Burbio
Mercer County Library System recently joined with Burbio to list our events on their site, giving you an extra way to find out what is going on at your local branch. Burbio is a free website and app that lists local government, school, and other organization events all in one calendar. The Burbio app is available for iOS and Android devices, and there is a skill for devices running the Alexa personal assistant. You can create personalized event feeds and even sync events to your Google or iPhone calendars. The site also pushes out notifications if event information changes. It is a great starting point to plan long weekends, find something different to do, or just keep up with your kids’ sports schedules.
All towns in Mercer County are included; find yours on the Burbio website or get the Burbio app from your phone’s app store. You can also go directly to the Mercer County Library System listings on the Burbio site.
NextDoor was started as a social media site designed to share neighborhood news and has expanded to topical areas as well. The primary set-up is still geographically-based, so when you sign up for a free account on the site or in the app, you do need to pick your neighborhood or agree to start a new group. If you start a group, you will need to get a small number of people to join you, but that should be easy once people begin sending out invitations. The concept of the site is reminiscent of Facebook in the layout, with people in the neighborhood posting information. But, the information is general, including postings about yard sales, fundraisers, news about utilities and road issues. Postings can also be shared with area neighborhoods and can be given a category, such as lost and found, pets, or recommendations.
The latest change to the site is the ability to focus on certain interests. Users can select from a list of topics that include walking, hobbies, a specific school, event, or even harvest sharing. The interests are something you follow and can meet other locals so you could say, form a regular pickleball night, work on classic cars together, or set up a chat about local history.
Read Local News Online
Almost all of our branches used to subscribe to newspapers printed by The Packet Group. Most of those papers have either folded or combined with other area papers, while others have been reduced to smaller versions that you can pick-up for free at area businesses. But, you can still find all that local news collected on the publisher’s website, Central Jersey. The main page has all the local news combined, but the drop-down under news lets you select a specific paper and links at the bottom of the site take you to specific sections, like sports or business, as well as the electronic version of their print editions.
Local Information on Social Media
Lastly, you can certainly stick to the standard social media sites for local information, as almost all of them will have a variety of groups, pages, and hash tags dedicated to local content. Facebook and twitter, in particular, have a variety of resources focused on everything from local yard sales to breaking news. Just search by keyword with your town’s name or even look for Mercer County and you should get a list of pages to follow or groups to join.
- Laura N., Information Technology
Comments
Post a Comment