TumbleBooks for iPad

Susan from CLAV offered an overview of TumbleBooks in her November 11th blog post, Tumble Into Reading.  As she noted, stories, informational texts, puzzles and games are available 24/7 from any ACLA library’s website. The good news is that TumbleBooks has just announced that our patrons will be able to access the TumbleBooks picture book collection on the iPad and iPhone 4. The bad news is that so far, at least, things don’t always work quite as smoothly as they should, at least not in my limited explorations.

To get to the currently available iPad-compatible TumbleBooks, go to your library’s website on your iPad and click on the TumbleBooks link. (At CLP, you’ll find the TumbleBooks icon at the bottom of our Kids Page: http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/.) Click on Story Books then on the phrase “Click here for iPad-compatible titles.”

Select a title and click on the “iPad” button to launch the book of your choice. The book will appear in a small window at first. To expand, tap the “full screen” button. The books aren’t as interactive as some apps, so they may disappoint some savvy iPad aficionados. Still, it’s another way to make the engaging stories, animation and audio that TumbleBooks offers available to our users. And the fact that it’s all free should appeal to plenty of parents.

Currently there are 44 iPad books to choose from. Eventually TumbleBooks plans to create iPad content for the entire animated picture book collection by making non flash videos especially for the iPad. Unfortunately if you click on the green button that says “iPad Books” you’ll be taken to a page the features only a few of the iPad compatible titles. Hopefully that’s a glitch that will be corrected soon, but for now be aware that some users may be confused (and even cranky).

Another potential problem is that while some books played perfectly, others were quite buggy—including, ironically enough, Ace Lacewing, Bug Detective. Frequent pauses required pressing “play” repeatedly, though this may have been attributable to a weak Wi-Fi connection rather than an actual defect in the programming.

Lisa, Coordinator of Children’s Collections, CLP

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Visual Search Feature in GreenFILE

Database search results can be overwhelming.  Especially when users are searching a broad topic.  A search for solar power in EBSCO’s GreenFILE database returned a list of 6,275 results.

GreenFILE Basic Search Results

Thankfully, there is a feature in the left-hand sidebar which allows users to filter by subject to refine their search.  However, users may find that once they choose a subject it is not what they were looking for and must backtrack!

GreenFILE Visual Search


GreenFILE’s visual search feature cuts down on backtracking and makes it easier for users to filter their search results.  In visual search, the results are immediately broken down into subject categories.  This clean display makes it easy for users to browse article titles and their related subject headings in order to choose the best subject filter, or filters.

In visual search, the resulting squares are only big enough to display the article title (or a portion of it) and the publication date.  Clicking on a square lets users view the article title, date, journal, author, and abstract without navigating away from the search results page (pictured below)!

-Kelly R, Sewickley Public Library of the Quaker Valley School District

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Citation Matcher in MasterFile Premier

In MasterFILE Premier it is always useful to search under “Publications” to find an issue, or an article in a particular publication.
Another way to do this though, and sometimes a faster way, is to search for it by using the Citation Matcher search. The link to the Citation Matcher page from the MasterFILE homepage is found by putting the cursor over the arrow next to the “More” button located on the horizontal menu bar that is located near the top of the page.

A good example of a search on the Citation Matcher page would be if someone would want to see the latest Consumer Reports “Annual Auto Issue” which each year is the April issue.
You can get to the issue by typing Consumer Reports in the “Publication Box”, the date April, 2011 (typed this way: 201104) in the “Date Box”, and clicking on “Search”.

Tom

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Tumble Into Reading

Whenever a resource comes along to support kids and reading, it’s worth taking a look at. If it happens to be an e-resource, available 24/7 and free to library patrons, what’s not to like?

I had become a fan of Scholastic’s BookFlix (loved the pairing of fiction with relevant nonfiction titles and all the educator resources) only to learn it was being replaced with TumbleBooks. Having a distinctly different appearance, the Tumblebooks format simulates using a handheld e-device vs. turning the pages of a book. From making your own “Playlist” (preloaded selections also available) or choosing Audio Books, navigation is kid friendly. The animated illustrations are full screen and text is highlighted while being narrated. Six sections to choose from include: Story Books (the best selection), Read-Alongs, Tumble TV (new), Puzzles & Games (aids reading comprehension), Language Learning (Spanish & French) and Nonfiction Books. There are popular titles by well-known authors and the collection keeps growing. (I was excited to see Graphic Novels in the Read-Alongs, only to see that none are available yet.) To sum it up, TumbleBooks provides a fun, engaging and interactive way to connect kids with reading.

I use summer reading at our library as an opportunity to introduce young readers to TumbleBooks, as I did with BookFlix. My goal is to keep the children interested and involved with reading. After all, there are many ways to enjoy a book. Both databases achieve this goal. Along with author, illustrator and publisher information there is reading level, reading time, book reviews and accelerated reading information provided. On another note, it is a valuable literacy tool to promote for classroom use as well!

Susan
Youth Services
CLAV

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