6 Cozy Ways to Spend Winter at Your Library (Mostly) Online

This winter, get inspired to explore the natural world or get cozy indoors. Check out library resources that pair perfectly with the long nights of the season and the start of a new year.

Cook something simple and satisfying.

Looking for fresh ideas to add to your dinner rotation? Find tips and recipes to try in food and cooking books, eBooks, and digital magazines. Make busy weeknights more flavorful with easy dinner ideas from your library.

Browse all new cookbook eBooks.

Browse all of our picks in food and cooking.

Browse all food and cooking digital magazines.

Mix up your exercise routine with streaming fitness videos.

Warm up with barre or kickboxing workouts. Unwind with yoga, pilates, or tai chi. Find videos for many abilities that you can watch anytime, on demand. Borrow and stream up to 10 titles from hoopla each month.

Log in to hoopla with your library card and PIN to find your next workout. 

Browse all health and fitness streaming videos.

Add something new to your streaming queue.

Do the colder days make you crave the escape of comedy? Or do you embrace the season with moody dramas? Whatever your mood, turn to Kanopy for your movie night needs. Choose from thousands of films from independent filmmakers. Download the Kanopy app for your mobile device or Roku.

You can also find a soundtrack to set the right mood for any winter day. Borrow and stream up to 10 titles from hoopla each month.

Log in to Kanopy or hoopla with your library card and PIN to start streaming. 

Browse all staff picks in streaming movies and tv.

Spruce up your space with home and garden books.

Refresh your space and keep your garden growing all winter long. Settle in with home and garden books, eBooks, and digital magazines. Embrace the simple pleasures of cozy at-home hobbies. Get into gardening, embroidery, and making tea. Create a capsule wardrobe or get chic ideas for your home. Get tips for keeping healthy houseplants in our picks in indoor gardening.

Browse all staff picks in home and garden.

Browse all home and garden eBooks.

Browse all home and garden digital magazines.

Get outdoors with eBooks about the natural world and Washington State Park passes.

Find accessible places to enjoy the colder days safely. Borrow a Discover Pass with your library card to enjoy state parks for free.

You may not need to leave home to enjoy nature though! Attract backyard birds. Learn about what's growing in your neighborhood at this time of year.

Browse all outdoor guidebook eBooks.

Browse some of our favorite guides to getting outside this winter.

Browse a list of books about the benefits of being in nature.

Get a head start on your goals for the new year.

Support your New Year's resolutions at the library. Find inspiration to help you meet your financial goals. Look to books about saving, managing, and understanding money. Enjoy armchair travel with travel memoirs by authors of color. Check out self-help eBooks by women of color. Try our picks in books that celebrate health and happiness at every size.

hoopla Streaming Music Frequently Asked Questions

  • If you've replaced your library card or updated your PIN/password you'll need to update your Library Settings in hoopla.

  • Please visit the hoopla site, opens a new window for more instructions or contact Ask KCLS, opens a new window for help.

  • Titles return automatically at the end of the lending period.

    To return a title early, click return now, located next to the date the title expires on the title information page. Please note that returning a title early does not give you additional borrows for the month.

  • hoopla works on a pay-per-checkout model, which means that the library system pays a small fee each time a title is checked out. Limiting checkouts to 10 per month helps us stay within our collection budget.

  • If you are using the hoopla app on a mobile device, you can download titles for offline access. If you are using hoopla in a web browser on a computer, you must have an internet connection to access titles.

Kanopy Streaming Movies Frequently Asked Questions

  • To check out streaming videos on Kanopy, you need the following:

    • A King County Library System card in good standing
    • Internet access
    • For mobile devices, the Kanopy app for iOS, Android, AppleTV, Chromecast, or Roku
    • For PC or Mac users, any current web browser (Supported browsers)
    • A Kanopy account (You can create a Kanopy account on the Kanopy login page.)
  • Please visit the Kanopy site for more instructions or contact Ask KCLS for help.

  • Kanopy uses tickets to check out videos. You will receive 10 tickets every month. Each title displays how many tickets are required to view and how long you have to watch a show. 

    Once you press play on a title, you will use the number of tickets required to view. To avoid using tickets unnecessarily, consider watching the trailer on YouTube first. 

    Kanopy Kids titles do not cost any tickets to view. 

  • The checkout period depends on how long the series is.

    Length of Show Checkout Time
    1-4 hours 3 days
    4-10 hours 5 days
    10 or more hours 7 days
  • Kanopy is changing the checkout times because content providers want shorter checkout periods. Content providers sell movies and series to Kanopy to offer on their platform. Kanopy cannot offer these shows unless they shorten the checkout time.

Updated 12/10/22