Small Engine Repair Reference Center

Does anyone remember how hard it used to be stock lawn mower repair manuals? And small engine repair manuals? And motorcycle repair manuals? Now we don’t have to. We have the Small Engine Repair Reference Center. It looks just like the ChiltonLibrary for car repair, but it includes repair information for ATVs, lawnmowers, jet skis, snowmobiles, tractors, generators and other small engines, boat motors, and motorcycles. It provides routine maintenance (tune-ups, brake service) as well as extensive repairs (engine and transmission disassembly) and allows users to search by product type, brand, model/engine type, specific area of model/engine type and model numbers. PDF full text is available for all documents. Check it out. Your patrons will thank you! –Mary Lee Hart, Northland

 

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Databases for Students – Info Right Now!

School is starting along with assignments and papers.  The library has some impressive databases that can help students with their projects, especially when they come in right before closing and say they need help with a paper due tomorrow morning.  Databases can provide full-text, reliable information along with citation help.

Following is just a sample of the databases we can recommend.  Information is easily discoverable as most of the databases are searchable by topic, subject and/or publication.

  • Academic One-File:  This database offers full-text, peer-reviewed articles from the world’s leading journals in the areas of the physical and social sciences, technology, medicine, engineering, the arts, technology, literature, and more.
  • Biography in Context:   In this database, students will find contextual information on the world’s most influential people.  They will get the life stories of thousands of famous people and full-text biographical articles from many popular magazines.
  • GreenR:  Gale In Context: Environmental Studies – This database offers news, background information, video, commentaries, primary source documents, and statistics in areas such as energy systems, healthcare, food, climate change, population, and economic development.
  • LitFinder:  Students can explore world literature and writers throughout history.  This database offers a wealth of literary works, including poems, short stories, speeches, and plays — with plot summaries, what the writing means, pictures, and stories about the authors.
  • Opposing Viewpoints in Context:   Students can explore current issues from various viewpoints.  Topics include Business & Economics, Energy and Environment, Health & Medicine, Law & Politics and many more.   There are also educator resources and curriculum standards.
  • Science Reference Center Students can research from hundreds of full-text science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, and other reliable sources.  They can view more than 280,000 high-quality science images from sources such as UPI, Getty, NASA, National Geographic and the Nature Picture Library.

These are just a few of the databases available.  Take a few moments to browse through them and the rest of the collection.  By recommending databases, we can offer help to students when they need it – usually right now!

Lisa DeLucia, Upper St. Clair Township Library

 

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Common Sense Media Can Help

CommonSenseMedialogo

Common Sense Media is a great resource for helping patrons with making informed decisions about what media is appropriate for themselves and their families. Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization that rates different types of media (games, movies, books and more) based on their content (violence, drug use, sexual content, etc.) This resource is excellent for patrons to utilize so that they can dig deeper into whether they would like to consume these different forms of information and entertainment. Parents and caregivers in particular may find this resource helpful in understanding an assessing the media that their children are coming into contact with and determining if it is appropriate.

CommonSenseMediaParents

Common Sense Media has an option at the top of the home page that allows you to choose either your media type or you can choose to look at all of the newest media reviews based on an age range. There is also a search function at the top of the page is a patron has a specific type of media in mind. “Parents Need to Know” is great section of the site for a parent or caregiver who has come into the library with concerns about both technology and different types of media – don’t forget this area when a stressed caregiver stops at your desk!

Common Sense Media also has areas for educators and advocates to help reaching larger communities. These tabs are worth looking into if your patrons are interested in Common Sense Media’s work in media and technology safety. Hopefully this resource helps both you and your patrons stay safe and happy!

~Adrianne

Northland Public Library

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Creating Book Lists in “Books and Authors”

I really like the “My Reading Room” feature in “Books and Authors,” but I discovered that it is not very intuitive to navigate.  I wanted to create a book list; however, you can’t just click on the “My Book Lists” link and add titles.  You first have to search for a book and when you get the result, there is an option to “add to my marked list.”

Book search add to my marked list

Once you select the box, you can go to “My Reading Room” and see the book has been added to “My Marked List.”

view books in my marked list

From there you can create your own book lists.  (Of course, I had to repeat my initial steps to add a few more titles to My Marked List.)  You name your list, and then you are required to add a description.  I just re-typed the name of the list into the Description field.  Then you select the titles you would like to add to the list and click submit.

True Crime booklist

Now you can go to “My Reading Room Home” and see your book list.  Clicking on the title of your book list will display your books.

Titles in my Booklist

I hope you enjoy creating book lists in Books and Authors!

Kate Straccia, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh- Main

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