Thanks to a grant from the Tolland Public Library Foundation, the Tolland Public Library has renewed the Hoopla digital media service that allows library card holders to borrow movies, TV shows and other media on a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week basis.
The latest grant also allows the library to increase the number of digital media selections from two to three, per patron, a month.
Library patrons can choose from thousands of titles and borrow movies, music, audiobooks, e-books, comics and TV shows and enjoy them on their computer, tablet, phone or even their TV. With no waiting, titles can be streamed immediately or downloaded to phones or tablets to be enjoyed offline later.
Before signing up, they can browse the choices, which include e-books by Joe Hill, Janet Evanovich and Alexander McCall Smith, and movies such as “Before We Go,” “The Forger” and “The Most Magnificent Thing,” at https://www.midwesttape.com/hoopla.
To use Hoopla, visit tolland.org/library and click on the Hoopla icon. Patrons will be asked to create a Hoopla account. Once they have done so, they choose Tolland Public Library and then sign in with their active Tolland Public Library card number. Then they can browse the offerings, just as they would during a visit to the library, and start downloading or streaming content.
For free, Tolland library patrons can download or stream up to two digital media selections a month per active library card. Drop by the library and ask a staff member to show you how to use Hoopla or if you have questions, call the library at 860-871-3620.
The library foundation was established in 1996 to receive donations to benefit the Tolland Public Library and to enhance library services beyond what the town budget provides. Besides Hoopla, it also sponsors author visits and funds library technology and the Ancestry.com and JobNow! databases that are available for use at the library at 21 Tolland Green.

Children’s author Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo, who writes books about kids discovering their inner bravery, will present a free book talk on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 1 p.m. at the Tolland Public Library at 21 Tolland Green.
The talk, which is part of the Tolland Public Library Foundation’s Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series, is free, but registration is required. To register, call the library at 860-871-3620 or visit tolland.org/library.
A representative of RJ Julia Booksellers will be on hand to sell books, which Ferruolo will sign.
A resident of Ellington, Ferruolo is the author of “Ruby in the Sky” and the just-released “A Galaxy of Sea Stars.” Her books are middle grade books aimed at children aged 8 to 12.
“Ruby” was a Washington Post KidsPost Summer Book Club selection that won the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ work-in-progress award, the Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award and the New Voices in Children’s Literature: Tassy Walden Award.
It explored the story of Ruby Moon Hayes, a 12-year-old girl new to Vermont who just wanted to keep to herself. She found that wasn’t easy once a Syrian refugee and a reclusive neighbor each befriended her.
Ferruolo’s latest book is about family, loyalty and the hard choices we face in the name of friendship. It features the tale of 11-year-old Izzy Vitale of Seaside, Rhode Island, who wishes her father would act like he did before he was deployed to Afghanistan. Challenges ensue when he invites his former Army interpreter from Afghanistan and his family, including 11-year-old Sitara, to relocate to Seaside.
Ferruolo is a volunteer with IRIS, the Integrated Immigrant & Refugee Services in New Haven. She has served as a public defender, taught high school English in Czechoslovakia and worked for Sam Gejdenson when he was a Congressman.

Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo

Fans of UConn women’s basketball won’t want to miss a book talk on Jan. 21, 2020 at the Tolland Public Library when sportswriter Jeff Goldberg will discuss “Unrivaled: UConn, Tennessee, and the Twelve Years that Transcended Women’s Basketball.”
The free talk, set for 7 p.m. at the library at 21 Tolland Green, comes just two days before the women’s teams resume their rivalry.
The teams met 22 times between 1995 and 2007, when Tennessee ended the series. The Huskies have won 11 national titles and the Lady Vols have won 8.
A native of West Hartford who now lives in San Diego, Goldberg was the UConn women’s basketball beat writer for the Hartford Courant from 2001 to 2006. Hs is also the author of “Bird at the Buzzer: UConn, Notre Dame, and Women’s Basketball Classic.”
Goldberg is now the editor of sportsintel.com and was the team reporter for the San Diego Fleet in the Alliance of American Football in 2019. He previously covered the Boston Red Sox for the Courant as well.
Goldberg is returning to speak at the library as part of the Tolland Public Library Foundation’s Eaton-Dimock-King Authors Series.
Registration is required. Call the library at 860-871-3620 or sign up online at tolland.org/library.

Author Jeff Goldberg

Congratulations to Rochelle Cormier of Tolland, who won a Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader from the Tolland Public Library Foundation’s drawing at the Celebrate Tolland festival in September.

In an unusual twist, this is the second year in a row that Rochelle won a Nook. Congratulations to her on her good luck.

Nook winner Rochelle Cormier