Thinking of Loaning Kindles?

Don't reinvent the wheel! Thanks to Buffy Hamilton for creating a marvelous LibGuide called Kindles at The Unquiet Library. She is a librarian at Creekview High School in Canton GA. In November of last year they began loaning Kindles to the students. She just posted a great step by step description of her LibGuide on the Learning Round Table's blog. Be sure to read through it and see how it's done!

OverDrive Video Tutorials from KCLS

From the ALA Learning Blog's 2/24/11 post titled: "Video Tutorials for Downloading eBooks From OverDrive"...

"The King County Library System has created a video tutorial to walk users through the process of downloading Adobe Digital Editions and transferring a title to their device. This is useful for staff to familiarize themselves with the process and patrons who can watch the video repeatedly until they successfully download a book on their machine.

Patrons can also watch video tutorials on downloading to Apple and Android portable devices or using NetLibrary. These can be found on the KCLS YouTube channel playlist Using the Library".

This is a great way to SEE how OverDrive works. KCLS has done a great job putting these together. For readers from the Library System of Lancaster County, be sure to check out the page I put together on LILLY where you can watch all of the videos.

My Help Beta is now live in OverDrive!

In OverDrive's ongoing effort to improve the user experience for downloading eBooks, audiobooks, and more, they have released a new tool called My Help. The image above appears on the front page of our OverDrive Site near the top of the left navigation bar. It was added on 2/23/11. Click the image to go directly to the new My Help Beta.

My Help is the first phase of improvements for OverDrive's help system. The My Help wizard provides ‘custom’ getting started information based on the formats that a customer wants to use (audiobooks or eBooks) and the type of computer or device the customers has (Windows, Mac, Android, NOOK, etc). Customers are shown targeted information about the software they need, formats they can use, steps they need to take to get titles, and a list of popular related questions.
If you have feedback for My Help, please email feedback@overdrive.com

For readers from the Library System of Lancaster County, be sure to check out the page I put together on LILLY about My Help Beta.

Filter Your Google Searches by Reading Level

Google has added a cool function to its advanced search. You can now Filter your results by reading level. Go try this out by goint to advanced search and selecting an option from the "reading level" dropdown. I chose the "annotation" option which annotated each result as either basic, intermediate or advanced and put a distribution graph at the top of the results page. You can then choose only the basic, intermediate or advanced results by clicking on those links in the graph. Very nice!

25 Years of Windows

Hard to believe that the first version of Microsoft's Windows was released on 11/20/1985 - 25 YEARS AGO!!! I guess I'm showing my age when I admit the first version I ever used was released in 1990: Windows 3.0. Felt like a time warp as I paged through the photos of this Visual Tour from Computerworld! Did any of the screenshots take you back to a particular moment in time?

Keep Your Eye on Net Neutrality

I've been following the Net Neutrality issue over the last few years, but it has always seemed so confusing. Well, the 12/2/10 episode of Rocketboom, The Case for Net Neutrality, really sums this issue up nicely and makes it understandable. Watch it below and keep your ears and eyes open to this issue.

Boost Morale in Your Library

I was priveleged to attend the Morale Issues in Your Library webinar, a part of WebJunction's Serving the 21st Century Patron Online Conference. This was a wonderful session packed with lots of useful information and ideas. Be sure to watch the archive and see a host of other resources available on the webinar page. Also, make this image your next desktop wallpaper. Thanks to Lori Reed and Maurice Coleman for this well planned presentation!

OverDrive eBook app for iPhone Almost Here...

How cool, looks like the OverDrive app will combine audiobooks and eBooks together!



They mention that an iPad app and Android app will follow soon after. Yeah!

Quote for the Day

“If you think your local library shouldn’t be funded because you haven’t used it in a while, think of it this way: Would you want the government to close your local hospital because you’ve been healthy for a while?”

—U.K. researcher John Kirriemuir, “Are UK Public Libraries Expensive to Run?” in Use Libraries and Learn Stuff, Oct. 31.
-Seen in November 3rd's American Libraries Direct.

We Will Survive

Libraries are definitely taking a hit, but who isn't these days. I love the attitude behind this video from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library in VA. I think many in libraryland would agree this is exactly what every library out there is doing, We Will Survive!