In the United States, we often take our public libraries for granted. The old days of going to a physical location to check out a limited number of books, having to keep track of due dates by hand are long gone, yet many of us seem to forget that all of these institutions have been in the digital age for quite some time.

In my reading journeys last year, over half of my books read either came in eBook or audiobook forms with lots of other free materials to spare (mostly through Libby). You can easily download materials to your eBook reader or listen to audio within the app. In most cases, it isn’t just limited to Kindle devices. Be sure to check the available formats for a specific title before checking it out.

I read 35 books last year and so far in 2026, I’ve completed my third title. This makes it easier than ever to consume relevant and interesting content. I’d still like to keep my goal in that general ballpark.

With lots of us cutting back on spending (I spent incredibly too much money on physical books in 2025), it’s time that we reconsider what we already pay for in taxes. If you don’t use your library, your city, county or municipality will notice and ultimately decrease funding based on lack of use.

Often the benefits go beyond this. I’ll take my library, The Jersey City Free Public Library as an example. Just the other day, I received an email announcing that they had struck a deal with LinkedIn Learning for free use of over 16,000 courses and experiences, with even more on the way as the program rolls out. Currently, my library system also utilizes Udemy and various other learning-on-demand platforms as a service to you.

As many of you know, I’m an advocate of the ABL (Always Be Learning) methodology. If you aren’t constantly learning, you’re falling behind. That affects your job prospects, promotions, and voiding yourself of crucial skills, especially in the era of GenAI.

Between Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, Hoopla, Libby, and various other tools at your disposal, you can arm yourself with opportunities to succeed in today’s rapidly changing global economy. At the very least you can utilize Kanopy to view different films from a variety of genres.

To some of this, utilizing such a public resource may seem like a no-brainer, but if that’s the case, why aren’t more of us doing it? Limited funding and outreach can often to be to blame, so we must continue to do the work to spread the goodwill of these wonderful institutions for ourselves and future generations.

I’m curious to know how you currently use your library’s offerings. Please comment below on tools you’ve utilized or what you’d additions you’d like to see included.

Michael Martinez is a freelance strategic analyst and writer with experience in non-profit, government, and data. He has degrees in business management and intelligence management. He is also an AmeriCorps VISTA alumnus. You can read more of his work at michaelmartinez.co.

This article was originally published as a LinkedIn article on February 14, 2026.