Military Personnel Appreciate Playaway

Playaway is very popular with members of all four branches of the U.S. military.  Each month, by arrangement with the Department of Defense's Family Morale, Welfare, and Recreation program, we send approximately 16,000 Playaway units directly into the hands of troops in the field in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The titles selected range from literary classics and military reading list titles, to contemporary best-sellers, to Middle-Eastern language learning programs, to stress relief and relaxation.

Playaways are also available at no cost to families of enlisted military personnel through the Department of Defense's Military OneSource website.

For deployed troops, Playaway can seem like a godsend -- providing much-needed distraction, entertainment, education, and relaxation in environments where Internet access and even electricity are not givens.

So don't be surprised if returning service men and women and their loved ones come walking into your library already familiar with and enthusiastic about Playaway.

Meanwhile, Playaways are also becoming very popular on military base libraries around the world.  One of our favorite contacts is Sabrina Honda, of Hurlburt Field Air Force Base in Ft. Walton Beach, FL.  Sabrina was the 2006 recipient of the Special Library Association's "Federal Library Technician of the Year" award.  Here she is on Miltary OneSource's "TroopTube," starring as Commando Librarian, complete with cammo bookcart.  See her spring into action the moment she receives an "information distress call".  [Note the cameo appearance by the Playaway edition of The Kite Runner.]

  http://www.trooptube.tv/videos/1957

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Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy