Pictured: A teen enjoying a Launchpad at Selby Library. Photo courtesy of Library Foundation for Sarasota County.

Digital Launchpad tablets are now available at all ten Sarasota County Public Libraries thanks to generous grants to the Library Foundation for Sarasota County from the Bladel Charitable Trust and the Koski Family Foundation. Pre-loaded with educational and entertainment content for children, teens, and adults, Launchpads are mobile learning devices that circulate like books. Requiring no internet access, their curated collection of apps, videos, and games helps to reduce the digital divide, bringing technology to the nearly 50,000 Sarasota County households without high-speed internet. Launchpads are safe, ad-free, and portable. With 100 Launchpads in circulation, as many as 1,700 children and families are expected to benefit each year from this new technology. Since its founding in 2011, the nonprofit Library Foundation for Sarasota County has raised more than $8 millionin private funds for the benefit of Sarasota County public libraries. To learn more about the Library Foundation for Sarasota County and how you can support its mission, please visit SarasotaLibraryFoundation.org or call 941-404-3139.

Pictured: A teen enjoying a Launchpad at Selby Library. Photo courtesy of Library Foundation for Sarasota County.