We now have a separate OverDrive page for children’s content. All children’s titles can still be found from our primary site, but patrons who wish to limit their search to materials for children can visit the eContent for Kids page.
The eContent for Kids page offers a visually engaging, simplified site with three basic categories across the top: Subjects, Collections, and Levels. Each of these categories offers multiple options for focusing the patron’s search or browsing experience.
You will soon notice the image above on our main OverDrive page. It will take people to the eContent for Kids page. You are also encouraged to link to it directly from your library’s site. Take a few minutes to explore!
Questions? Leave them in the comments section below.
Mango has been busy with enhancements to their language learning product. In this post Mary Lee (Northland) and Sarah (CLP) share the details.
One of the most exciting upgrades is a fascinating new way to engage language learners. It is called Mango Premiere, and it is learning language through film. Right now, there are 20 movies in seven different languages.
There are two different ways to watch the movies: in movie mode or engage mode. In movie mode you watch the movie without interruptions, and you decide what, if any, subtitles you want. In engage mode, the movie is broken into scenes. Each scene is introduced with general background, words that will be introduced, and cultural notes. The scene is further broken down, with interactive content.
I have been watching Jerichow, a German movie starring German leading man and heartthrob Benno Fürmann. Jerichow has a 100% top critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It is an excellent movie for adults and I love hearing, and repeating to myself, how people really talk.
For those of you who love movies, who are interested in sharpening your language skills, and who want to know more than “Where is the train station?” I highly recommend Mango Premiere.
— Mary Lee
Whether you use Mango Premier or not, you can start managing your Mango activity, tracking your progress, and learning about newly available content with the new Mango Connect™ interface. It reportedly offers a more intuitive user experience, an updated dashboard and course organization, and a customizable profile page. For now users can choose whether they use the new Mango Connect™interface or stick with the old dashboard. On June 2nd, 2014, all accounts will be upgraded to Mango Connect™.
New Mango Connect interface
As part of the shift to Mango Connect™, the Basic and Complete 2.0 courses are merging into a single product: Mango Conversations. All the content will still be there, it’ll just be housed under the new name. As for the Complete 1.0 courses that are currently a part of our Mango offerings, those will no longer be available following the June 2nd upgrade date. For those patrons who need to make the shift from a 1.0 course to a Mango Conversations course there are newly available language placement tests for the 17 most popular languages. Not only will these help patrons making the transition from 1.0 to Conversations, they will also come in handy for patrons just starting out with Mango.
A hearty thank you to everyone that participated in the first ACLA eResource Challenge. We say first, because there might be more. That’s up to you!
Please fill out our brief survey and let us know what you liked and didn’t like about the Challenge. We’ll use your comments to determine whether to develop similar training opportunities and, if so, how to improve them.
Also, we’ll be sending out CE hour confirmation emails soon!
Yours in eResource Awareness,
The EREC and ACLA Downloadables Committee
P.S. Don’t forget, you can learn how to say “thank you” in lots of languages by taking advantage of our language learning database, Mango.
“Thank You” image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/4759535950/
We hope you all feel like winners for participating in the first ACLA eResource Challenge. Everyone gets the prize of knowing more about our county-wide electronic resources. We did, however, promise actual prizes, and we have randomly drawn winners for the three grand prizes (Google Nexus tablets) and the participation prizes for one member of each team (a $10 gift card). We’ve also compiled the results and can announce which team will get bragging rights!
Our three grand prize winners are:
Leah D. – CLP – Downtown & Business
Karen H. – Shaler North Hills
Kathy B. – Community Library of Allegheny Valley
The individual team member prizes go to:
Mk D. (CLP) – The Aggregators
Suzi W. (Northland) – The Annotation Annihilators
Elizabeth S. (Mt. Lebanon) – Authority Control
Debbie B. (Shaler) – Bibliographic Bruisers
Marie J. (Shaler) – Boolean Blasters
Karen B. (CLP) – Classification Crushers
Whitney W. (Northland) – Copyright Defenders
Mindy D. (Monroeville) – Database Devourers
Stephanie A. (Carnegie Library of McKeesport) – Dewey Decimators
Mary P. (CLP) – Free-source Fanatics
Tracey O. (Brentwood) – Full Text Exterminators
Joelle K. (CLP) – Information Domination
Amy E. (CLP) – Information Mavens
Linda R. (Shaler) – MARCWreckers
Caroline H. (Shaler) – Metadata Maulers
Terry L. (CLP) – Raging Ranganathans
Rachel S. (CLP) – Reference Renegades
Morgan S. (CLP) – Shelf Bleeders
Pam F. (Pleasant Hills) – Shushinators
BrieAnn A (Northern Tier) – The Special Collection
Theresa W. (Shaler) – Tough Cutters
Jeanne N. (CLP) – Wiki-Whackers
We’ll be getting in touch with each of the winners to coordinate prize delivery.
As for bragging rights, The Wiki-Whackers dominated this eResource Challenge! They had a participation rate of nearly 100%! Team members included Kristin M. (Brentwood), Debra S. (CLAV), Leah D. (CLP), Jeanne N. (CLP), Suzy W. (CLP), Lauren Z. (CLP), Cindy R. (Mt. Lebanon), Betty K. (Shaler), Joy H. (Shaler), and Bob M. (Wilkinsburg). CONGRATULATIONS Wiki-Whackers!
Other teams with impressive participation include The Aggregators, Bibliographic Bruisers, Classification Crushers, Metadata Maulers, and the Tough Cutters. Authority Control and the Free-Source Fanatics weren’t too far behind either.
Congratulations to all the winners, and a big thank you to everyone who participated!
We now have a separate OverDrive page for children’s content. All children’s titles can still be found from our primary site, but patrons who wish to limit their search to materials for children can visit the eContent for Kids page.
