TORRINGTON – Goshen County Public Library provides a number of resources to those who have a membership card. 

Cristine Braddy, library director, spoke to the Telegram to explain what all the Goshen County Public Library offers to its members. 

Of course, books are available for checkout at our local library, but so are a number of other things. Audiobooks are also available, and they follow the same rules as regular books. They can be checked out for three weeks, and they can be renewed twice. They will automatically renew as long as there is no hold on the book. 

DVDs can also be checked out at the library along with a DVD player. They can be checked out for seven days. Only five DVDs can be checked out at a time, and there is a limit of two seasons for each series checked out. 

Another thing available for check out at Goshen County Public Library is magazines. Magazines can be checked out for one week. Local newspapers can be read in the library.

The public also has access to computers and printers at the library. They are available to be used during business hours. Members can also be check out a laptop for three days. Laptops cannot be renewed. Hotspots can be checked out for a week with no renewals for devices at home. 

The local library has a number of online digital resources available for members. 

Libby, an online library, is also available from home. It is similar to audible or kindle, but free with a Goshen County library card. 

Members have access to GoWyld.Net, a database with the entire state’s resources. If it is available anywhere in the state, it is available on GoWyld. 

“That combines all of our state resources together to get databases. So, between the University of Wyoming and then all the public libraries and community college libraries, we have combined to get these databases,” Braddy shared. 

GoWyld has things like auto, ancestry, health, grant writing and other databases. Encyclopedias, business resources, and so much more. 

With Wyoming being a statewide lending library, this also means you can request a book from anywhere else in the state, if your town does not have it. It also means you can use your Goshen County library card at any other library in the state. You can even bring the book you checked out in another town, home, and your local library will mail it back to the original library for you. 

 “One of the great things about Wyoming, is Wyoming has a statewide lending library so you can access books from all over the state. Or you can show up, if you’re traveling for sports and you’re in Riverton, you know, you just go into the library with your Goshen County library card but it is tapped into the whole state so you can check out what’s there,” Braddy said. “So, you can check out books and return here and we’ll mail them back. As well as you can request books here from us that we don’t have but you can get them out of another library in the state so that’s also a great perk with your library card.”

The Goshen County Public Library has made a few health resources available to the public. The library now has a Telehealth space for members to attend appointments. A new thing they have also added, is blood pressure kits available for checkout. 

Goshen County Public Library also does not do fines. When an item is 21 days overdue, they are considered lost and the person who checked out the item will have a fee placed on the account. Until the item is returned, they will not be able to check out any new items. The fee will be assessed for damaged materials.

Members are also able to place holds online at goshencountylibrary.org. 

The library will notify members by email. Two days before you need to return, you will get an email. Then again when the item is seven and 21 days overdue. If the library does not have an email on file, a letter will be sent in its place. 

All you need to become a member, is some form of ID, and proof of residency in Goshen County, typically being mail. However, because we are so close to the Nebraska state line, the library offers library membership to people who live there but work in Goshen County. 

You can fill out the form online or in person, and then bring in your ID to get your physical card. All the library really needs is your address, your email, and your phone number and then you’re set. 

The final thing our library does, is they host so many events throughout the month. These events are not just limited to members and can be found on their website. 

“You know, the value for the individual is you get all these things because as a community, the more a library is used the more we can get for people to use,” stated Braddy. 

These resources are available for all. And the more they are used, the more can be made available.