Press Release

MENTONE — Bell Memorial Public Library’s preschool story hour will take place at 10 a.m. Friday, April 16, in the library’s children’s room.

The library has a new phone number. Contact BMPL staff at (574) 893-3200. BMPL is currently holding a book sale in its main lobby daily during normal business hours.

BMPL always offers curbside services. Call (574) 893-3200 to request materials. Patrons can also e-mail Stephen Boggs at [email protected].

Demand has certainly risen for Internet hotspots and the library has just added three new units for patron use. The units are free to use and can be reserved. They can circulate for one week and are only available to residents in BMPL’s tax district, which includes the town of Mentone and Harrison Township, or to patrons who have purchased a library card. The hotspots use the T-Mobile/Sprint network and have exceedingly good download speeds and connectivity. Just contact library staff with any questions.

BMPL now offers wireless printing from smartphones and tablets. Users must use the Mentone WLAN for this to work.

Patrons using wireless printing will need to know how to print from their own devices. Library staff cannot provide support for printing or other issues on patron-owned equipment.

For wireless printing, patrons must be connected to the Mentone WLAN. Open the item to be printed and select the print command. Search for the CANON MF642c series printer. Click on the printer icon to begin the print process.

This is a new service and the library staff are still learning how to use the machine. If there is an issue with the machine, leave a note for Stephen Boggs or e-mail him at [email protected].

Another new service is the patron-use VHS videotape converter to digital. Contact Stephen Boggs at (574) 893-3200 or [email protected] to set up a time to come to the library to learn how to use the machine and begin digitizing homemade videotapes. Users will need to bring their own storage device such as a USB flash drive with a 4 GB minimum or an external hard drive. Copying off-air programs is not allowed.

Plans are also being considered to add a document/photo scanner which will include a 35mm film or slide scanner, a Cricut machine for patron use as well as a 3D printer. Just contact Stephen Boggs at the library for more details.