New solar umbrellas at the Ardmore Public Library.

The Ardmore Public Library recently installed two solar powered umbrella charging stations in their Inspirational Garden. These stations will provide community members with shade and renewable energy to charge their devices via USB cable.

The charging stations were funded by the Training Opportunities for the Public Grant the Tennessee State Library & Archives awarded the library. The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development supports this grant.

“The grant enabled us to be able to circulate hotspots for our community and purchase the solar umbrellas for charging stations here in our Inspirational Garden,” Library Director Tina O’Driscoll said.

The solar umbrellas will allow community members to have a shaded place to sit and charge their phones.

“You can plug in your laptop. You can plug in any of your devices that require your USB cable and do your work there in a comfortable area that where you can enjoy yourself. So I think that that will be appealing to some of our community,” O’Driscoll said.

The grant also allowed the library to purchase six hotspots to put in circulation. Library cardholders can check the hotspots out for a week at a time.

“People get on the waiting list for the next available ones, so they’re popular, very popular,” O’Driscoll said.