Virtual Tricks and Treats

Happy Halloween!  Here’s hoping that the weather doesn’t get too grim for those who will be out and about this evening, seeking treats and celebrating.

where_the_wild_things_are_by_noeldickover-d31j0iwOf course, weather conditions won’t be a concern for those trying to win treats and prizes in the upcoming eResources Challenge Lite.  And, at the risk of sounding sanctimonious, since knowledge is its own reward everyone will be a winner.

As you may have already heard, starting on Monday, November 3rd we will post a monthly eResource Challenge here.  To participate, all you have to do is complete the challenge and post your answer and/or thoughts on the resources you used in the comments section of the blog post by the end of the week (no costume required).

The week following the challenge the Digital Resources Committee will select a response at random and award a playful, useful, or possibly delicious prize to the author of that response.  Look for a new challenge on the first Monday of each month.

Enjoy,

Lisa (CLP)

p.s. We’re also soliciting suggestions for challenges to pose to the group, so if you have some tricky questions up your sleeve, please share them with anyone on the Digital Resources Committee.

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Morningstar Webinars

Morningstar

One of our most consistently popular databases, Morningstar Investment Research, contains mutual fund and stock ratings and reports, including detailed analyst reports. Morningstar is a respected and reliable source of independent investment analysis for all levels of fund and stock investors, ranging from inexperienced beginners to sophisticated experts.

Morningstar has implemented quarterly interactive webinar workshops for 2014 which can be tied into PA Forward’s Financial Literacy initiative[http://pala.affiniscape.com/associations/9291/files/LITERACYfinancial.pdf]

These workshops are hosted by a Morningstar Specialist and will cover different investing concepts. Sessions can be used for your own in-library viewing party or used to leverage your educational programs.

Below are the dates, presenters and topics for the series.

  • March 27th: Christine Benz: Retirement Planning – completed, click here for playback
  • June 19th: Josh Peters: Dividend Paying Stocks – completed, click here for playback
  • September 25th: Adam Zoll: Financing a College Education completed, click here for playback
  • December 11th: Christine Benz: : Give Your Portfolio a Checkup @ 5:00 PM CST & 6:30 PM CSTClick to Register! Christine Benz, Director of Personal Finance, will help you check into your portfolio to see how healthy it actually is or if you need to evaluate new opportunities. She will help to assess and align asset allocation and then take corrective actions to improve your portfolio.

Debi Ryder

ACLA

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Awesome updates to OverDrive!

OverDrive has made some changes recently that will make patrons, librarians, and library staff members’ experience easier and more user-friendly.  Here are some of the highlights:

Teen and Kids eReading rooms: We now have separate pages for Kids and Teens! This gives a different layout than the main page.  These pages highlight different collections for kids and teens. Check out OverDrive for Kids here and OverDrive for Teens here.

No More Adobe ID: One of the most helpful changes is that with the most recent version of the OverDrive app (3.2) users will no longer need to create an Adobe ID when setting up their account.  Instead, they will be prompted to create an OverDrive account. Users under the age of 13 can anonymously authorize the OverDrive app without creating an OverDrive account.  Existing users will not need to do anything, even if they upgrade to the new app.  This should eliminate a confusing step for patrons and library staff members alike!

OverDrive READ format enhancements:  On October 15th OverDrive is launching a new version of their Read format. The update will move the menu from beside the pages to behind the pages and offers a two-page display on large screens and a single-page view on smaller screens. Patrons will still be able to read offline, bookmark, make notes, search through the book, and customize some settings.  There is still no software to download, no device registration, and the format can be used in any “major modern web browser.”

However, any versions of IE older than version 10 are not considered modern and will not support the READ format. According to OverDrive, less than .2% of OverDrive Read format usage is from a version of IE earlier than 10, so this should not be much of a problem.

If you have patrons that do experience a problem please recommend that they upgrade to a newer version of IE or use the most current version of another major browsers. OverDrive is offering demonstrations and Q&A sessions for staff through their Learning Center.

Suspending a hold: OverDrive users can now suspend a hold on a specific item.  Why is this a great new feature?  If you have a few items on hold and they all appear to be coming in at the same time, you can suspend your hold and keep your spot in line for that book!

Auto-checkout: When a user puts a book on hold, they now have the option to have the book checked out to them when it becomes available.  They can find it right under their bookshelf!

Cover images & maturity settings: Under Settings in OverDrive there is an option to hide adult cover images so they are not displayed.  This makes for a more kid-friendly browsing experience.  Also, users now can select what content is displayed and can pick from: Juvenile, YA, General, and Adult.

– Pam/Baldwin Borough Public Library

 

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Anatomy of a Big Library Read

Remember the Big Library Read?  It’s OverDrive’s “global ebook club.”  Offered several times a year for a two week period, the Big Library Read offers unlimited simultaneous access to a specific title.  This time the selected title will be displayed prominently on our OverDrive site(s) from Oct. 13 – 28, 2014.

The latest Big Library Read comes just in time for Teen Read Week, a national adolescent literacy initiative created by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).  Teen Read Week, running from Oct. 12 – 18th, “began in 1998 and is held annually during the third week of October. Its purpose is to encourage teens to be regular readers and library users.”  Fittingly, the upcoming Big Library Read features a YA title, Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes.

anatomyofamisfitAccording to the annotation on our OverDrive site: In this Mean Girls meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower tale, narrator Anika Dragomir is the third most popular girl at Pound High School. But inside, she knows she’s a freak; she can’t stop thinking about former loner Logan McDonough, who showed up on the first day of tenth grade hotter, bolder, and more mysterious than ever. Logan is fascinating, troubled and off-limits. The Pound High queen bee will make Anika’s life hell if she’s seen with him. So Anika must choose–ignore her feelings and keep her social status? Or follow her heart and risk becoming a pariah. Which will she pick? And what will she think of her choice when an unimaginable tragedy strikes, changing her forever? An absolutely original new voice in YA in a story that will start important conversations–and tear at your heart.

Anatomy is already available as an ebook (Kindle, EPUB, and OverDrive Read formats) on our site following the single copy/single user model. The audiobook will become available during the Big Library Read program.  Remember, during those two weeks (Oct. 13 – 28) both formats will be available for unlimited simultaneous use.  After the program both formats will continue to be available, but will revert to the single copy/single user model.

teenreadingroomWe’ll also be launching our new Teen eReading Room just in time for this YA-focused Big Library Read.  You may have noticed that this new specialized site is already available from our main OverDrive site via a graphic (at left).  We’re working on getting a direct link to this site up on the countywide eResources page and various CLP pages.  In the meantime, you can let patrons know about this new site and encourage them to access it from our main OverDrive site.

For those of you who link directly to e-resources, please add the new Teen eReading Room where appropriate.  You can find the graphic above, as well as individual graphics for the Kids eReading Room and Teen eReading Room by accessing the eReading Room Marketing Kit.  You’ll also find additional promotional materials such as Facebook graphics and print-ready materials.

If you want to promote the Big Library Read there is a Marketing Kit for that too!

Charmaine (CLP)

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