World Book Online – Going Away Soon!

What?
Library subscription access to World Book Online will end for all Allegheny County libraries.

When?
November 2, 2023

Why?
Because our stalwart patrons currently have access to digital resources which provide comparable reference content. These include:

Gale in Context: Elementary 

Gale in Context: Middle School

Gale OneFile High School 

Gale PowerSearch

Science Reference Center   


For library staff: Make sure your patrons are made aware of the World Book Online cancellation and that they know about the other relevant resources listed above. Plan on removing links and advertisements from your websites.

For patrons: If you’re ever in need of assistance navigating your library’s digital resources, you can always reach out to your local library!

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at nuzumd@einetwork.net!

— Derek, South Park Township Library

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Finding the Right Manga

For those unfamiliar, anime (American usually pronounce “a-nuh-may”) is the wild and wonderful world of graphic novels and animated series from Japan, often for adult audiences. Printed Japanese comics are referred to as manga (American usually pronounce “maang-guh”). People sometimes use these terms interchangeably, but by definition anime is animated and manga is printed. Unlike American comic books, manga is read top right to bottom left, with the whole book being read right to left.

Manga is usually released in volumes of consolidated comics, especially if the series is older or complete. Additionally, there can be separately titled spinoffs in the same universe that usually has a subtitle to differentiate it. A great example of this is the popular manga My Hero Academia (MHA), which has many different volumes and spinoffs. Here are the Sierra results Sierra when you search “My Hero Academia”:

So, someone comes in looking for MHA, you would have to ask what the title or volume is. Now, they’re looking for Volume 23 of the original MHA… where’s Volume 23?

For multi-volume manga, you need to drill down further into the item because volumes are only listed as separate individual items, not entries in Sierra. Additionally, no uniform call number system exists across all libraries, so here is a smattering of Volume 23s I found for MHA:

The last entry is not V23, but you get the gist.

Just remember to drill down into the manga series, select the correct volume at the item level, and hold selected item!

Another fun (aggravating) twist of searching for manga can be the art’s three different names. I’m getting a little tired of MHA, so let’s go to another manga mainstay, One Piece (the typical English/Anglicanized name) . There is, of course, the original Japanese name/characters: ワンピース (which I had to copy from Wikipedia). Fortunately, we do not have to worry about this, but we may have to worry about the second version, the romanized name Wan Pisu. Some entries in Sierra can be under this romanized version, or the patron could ask for it by this name, as well. Be on the lookout!

So as you can see, finding the right manga can be a bit of a chore, but better to be more familiar with it now than when you have a crowd of patrons and all they want is volume 23 of My Hero Academia!

Any comments, questions, concerns, please drop me a line at smithc2@coopersiegelcommunitylibrary.org.

Cameron R.S. Smith | Cooper-Siegel Community Library

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Free Legal Documents for Library Users

How many times have you been asked to help a library patron download/print a legal form, only to hit a paywall? While many sites advertise legal forms, few of them offer any for free. (And can patrons even trust the ones that are free??)

Fortunately, Gale Legal Forms provides FREE, TRUSTWORTHY forms specifically for Pennsylvania residents.

What forms can you find?

  • Wills
  • Affidavits
  • Rental Agreements/Leases
  • Contracts of Sale
  • Healthcare Directives
  • Power of Attorney
  • Divorce
  • Invoice Templates
  • and so much more!

You don’t have to have a law degree to know where to find trusted forms! Gale is your go-to for US Legal Forms.

Richelle @ Sewickley Public Library

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New updates for Magazines in Libby!



Libby will soon introduce the following enhancements to how users discover and enjoy magazines:
One tap to read: When a reader discovers a magazine anywhere in the app, they can open it and start reading with one tap.

Streamlined access: Instead of appearing alongside eBook and audiobook loans, magazines will be moved to a new dedicated section of the Shelf summary, called the Magazine Rack. From the Magazine Rack, users will see the latest issue of their magazine subscriptions and any other issues they choose to check out.

Easier subscriptions: Users can subscribe to magazines via a new, convenient Subscribe option from magazine search results and title details pages. When a new issue is released, it will automatically be added to the user’s Magazine Rack.

Improved discovery: From the Magazine Rack, users can navigate to the Newsstand, a new view of a user’s recently opened issues and other popular magazine titles in your collection.

Hope these changes roll out soon, because they all sound GREAT!

–Heather Auman, Western Allegheny Community Library
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