Such a short sweep of time; such an enormous sweep of change.

When I came to work at the library very few people had computers in their homes or any real contact with computers. These days I listen to grandmothers on devices they carry in their pocket talking to a grandchild and watching a live feed of that grandchild’s birthday party being held halfway around the world. Broadcast television, which once seemed to be an irreplaceable medium for entertainment, has been replaced in some homes with shows watched on the network’s website or through computer-based subscription services.

Twenty years ago I came to work full-time at the library and asked to be put in charge of the computers as an addition to my work in the reference department. The library’s enormous collection of computing resources consisted of three standalone single purpose computers for the public. Just as the public’s relationship with computers has grown, so has the library’s. We’re now talking about more than 100 computers for public and staff; a dozen servers; gigabit connections between all four branches; phones that run over a computer network; a library catalog you can use to put library resources on hold from anywhere in the world; and digital books, audio and video available for download to smartphones, tablets, and home computers.

As these changes have taken place, Boyd County Public Library has always worked to make the best use of its resources to meet the needs of its patrons, and we continue to do so by staying aware of changes in the field of technology as it applies to libraries. We’ve also tried to control the costs of maintaining and replacing public computers on a regular basis while trying to keep sufficient computers available for public use.

An experiment we’re trying in our newly remodeled Catlettsburg Branch, to manage costs while still providing dependable computing access for the public, is the installation of a zero client computer network. Zero client computing involves not putting an electricity-guzzling computer at each station. Instead we’ll install a computing server and just place a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and a small electricity-sipping box the size of a paperback book with no moving parts at each station.

The small box (zero client) will transfer all the keyboard and mouse input back to the server for processing and then display the processed information at the station – just as if the patron was sitting at the computer. This green initiative will also let us keep the computers more up-to-date with things like the latest versions of Adobe Reader. If the operating system does need to be updated, it’s simply done on the server and all the zero clients are instantly updated.

I was watching an interview a few years back with someone who’d worked on one of the first computing projects for the U.S. government who was asked to tell something about this first amazing breakthrough in computers. His reply, which may have been a bit exaggerated, was that what had been the size of a house and all its computing power could now be put into a watch and given away with the purchase of a box of cereal.

Times change, our lives change, and libraries continue to change.

The theme of Teen Tech Week 2013 is “Check In @ your library.” It’s a time where libraries nationwide throw open their physical and virtual doors to teens to showcase all the neat stuff we have for them.

Teens’ use of technology has increased dramatically in recent years. So much so, in fact, that teens hardly need to leave their homes for anything these days. A recent survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 93 percent of teens go online, with many using social networking sites, finding news and information, and sharing content they create.

Teens know that the library is a trusted resource for accessing information and that librarians are the experts who can help them develop the skills they need to use electronic resources effectively and efficiently.

From e-books, audiobooks, music and movies, to games, databases, homework help and more, BCPL is the hub where teens can plug in and stay connected.

So, what do we got?

For starters, we have Tutor.com, an online resource offering free homework help from 2 to 9 p.m. each day. Just clock on the Tutor.com link on this site. Enter your library card number and get started. Qualified tutors are at your fingertips for one-on-one help with algebra, trigonometry, calculus, earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, American history, world history, political science, essay writing and more.

You can upload a problem to the interactive whiteboard and solve it together with your tutor. You can share documents and proofread your essays in real time. You can use the shared web browser to find resources. And you can save files to your online “locker” to work on them later.

Students who use an iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad can download the Tutor.com To Go mobile app, and get help whenever and wherever you need it.

This site, thebookplace.org, features other helpful sources for teens, such as Learning Express Library. It’s a great resource to help you study for an upcoming standardized test, like the ACT, SAT or GRE. You can read the online study guides and take practice exams, all from the comfort of home. The program will score the practice exams, and then offer study tips to help you score better the next time.

If you are already out of school, or nearly finished, Learning Express Library is also a great resource for job seekers. It can help you determine what type of job is best for you, what training or education is required for that job, and even create a resume to help you get that job.

Just like Tutor.com, Learning Express Library is free. All you need is your library card.

Want to learn a language – or just get help with one you are already studying? Try Mango Languages, an online language-learning system teaching actual conversation, grammar and cultural skills for 52 languages. And there’s an app for that.

It’s not all about homework and studying, though.

You can download free tunes with Freegal Music – up to three  free MP3s per week. And the songs are yours to keep – forever. There’s also a mobile app for Freegal, just as there is for Freading – a way to check out popular ebook titles quickly and easily.

OverDrive has even more ebooks and audio-ebooks available for digital checkout. There are tons of young adult titles, and all books can be checked out for three weeks, just like the physical ones on the library’s shelves.

Inside the library, we also have music, movies and video games available for checkout. Don’t have an eReader? Then check out one of our Nooks. Each one features a different genre, including popular fiction and young adult books.

BCPL has video games for the three major consoles: Xbox, PlayStation and Wii, including the new Wii U games. The games range from the classics to current popular releases, from rated “E” for Everyone, to “M” for Mature.

At the Kyova Branch, there is an Xbox gaming system in the teen space, available for use at any time. You can bring your own game, or borrow one of ours (it can’t be a rated M one.)

To reserve a copy of any game, movie, music CD or book, just use the library catalog.

For more information on anything library related, just give me a call at 606.329.0518, ext. 1130.

Boyd County Public Library is committing about 20 percent of its materials budget to the purchase of ebooks and downloadable audiobooks.

We purchase them from a few different providers. First, there’s OverDrive, which is the ebook provider for Kentucky Libraries Unbound, a consortium of libraries in the Commonwealth which BCPL joined in 2006. Through OverDrive, BCPL patrons currently have access to more than 12,000 ebooks and 10,000 downloadable audiobooks.

Earlier this year, we added Freading to our digital book offering. The Freading collection includes more than 20,000 titles, with about 600 new ones added each month. A nice thing about Freading is the multiple copies, so there is generally no waiting, even for new releases.

OneClickdigital is the library’s audiobook provider, which gives our patrons access to about 4,000 always available audiobook titles published by Recorded Books.

Links for all of these services can easily be found on this web site. All you need is your library card.

Believe it or not, electronic books are more than 60 years old. Well, sort of. The first thing resembling an electronic book dates to the late 1940s, when Roberto Busa published a heavily annotated electronic index to the works of Thomas Aquinas. But the general consensus is that Michael Hart invented the first true ebook when he typed the Declaration of Independence into a computer in 1971.

Those first ebooks were generally written for specialty areas and had a limited audience – technical manuals for hardware and manufacturing techniques, to name a couple of the early subjects.

Sony introduced the first electronic book reader in 1992 – the Data Discman – that could read ebooks that were stored in CDs. But soon, the Internet exploded, which made transferring electronic fil

es, including ebooks, much easier.

Libraries in this country started offering free ebooks to the public in the late 1990s, but their offerings were still mainly scholarly. In 2003, libraries began adding popular fiction and non-fiction to their downloadable choices. By 2010, more than two-thirds of U.S. public libraries were offering ebooks.

So what does all this mean for BCPL card holders? It means that our customers can “check out” an ebook for free, just as they would a print copy. Digital checkouts are automatically returned to the digital catalog, so there are never any late fees.

With all of our downloading services, you can transfer the item to a computer, smartphone or any reading device. Instructions are available at each branch and online, and staff can answer any questions.

As technology advances – by the second, it seems – we see changes that make ebook downloading easier. For example, just last month, Barnes & Noble added the OverDrive Media Console app to its Nook Apps storefront. This means those who read on any of the Nook devices can now wirelessly borrow ebooks and MP3 audiobooks from the library – instead of having to sideload the files from a computer.

OneClickdigital, the audiobook supplier, announced a similar upgrade last month for the Kindle Fire. It already offers apps for the iPhone and all Android devices.

You don’t have a way to read ebooks, or aren’t interested in downloading yourself? No problem. At BCPL, you can check out a Nook, complete with a selection of books. All you have to do is pick the genre you like.

There’s no way we can know what’s coming next. But we are definitely excited to find out, and we will be ready to bring it to you.