Mary Lee

Health Information Made Plain

Providing medical information is always a challenge. Adding to the difficulty is the mismatch between medical terminology and the average reading skills of many Americans.

According to a study conducted last year by the U. S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, 32 million adults in the U.S. can’t read. And 21 percent of adults in the U.S. read below a 5th grade level.

The National Library of Medicine has been working hard to provide medical information that uses plain language to describe medical issues. Plain language substitutes everyday words for medical jargon, uses short sentences, and highlights key points.

medlineplusTo access the easy-to-read medical literature that the National Library of Medicine has developed, visit MedlinePlus (available on the Find Articles and CLP database pages) and click on the “easy-to-read” tab in the bottom right-hand corner. (“Easy-to-read” articles will also appear whenever you are reading about a topic that has also been written about in plain language.)

MedlinePlus is a great resource. It contains drug information, interactive tutorials, and late-breaking stories about medical issues. The spelling, definition, and pronunciation of medical terms are always a click away.

It has links to health information in 44 languages. It has medical information in plain language. And it’s free.

Mary Lee (Northland)

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Kindle FreeTime: Now With OverDrive

Great news for parents!! OverDrive e-books are now available for use with Kindle FreeTime!

What is Kindle FreeTime?  According to howtogeek.com, Amazon’s Kindle FreeTime is “the most sophisticated and comprehensive parental control suite available for any tablet.” Unlike other parental control suites, FreeTime “outright reskins the device and turns it into a completely self-contained and kid-friendly tablet.” Furthermore, each child in the home can have their own age-appropriate profile that offers an interface, a separate application, and a media list.

OverDrive’s post on the topic provides additional details:

FreeTime content is separated into educational or entertainment categories. Parents are able to set daily educational goals for reading and learning, and with ‘Learn First’ can require that those goals are met before their child is able to watch cartoons or play games. In addition, parents can set how much time may be spent on any given activity – video, games, or reading – or an overall amount of time a child may use the device. Kids are unable to exit FreeTime without a password.

Now parents and kids can borrow OverDrive e-books and add them to a Kindle FreeTime profile, taking advantage of the same parental controls and educational goal-setting that FreeTime offers for other activities.

Library e-books may be added to FreeTime profiles by following these instructions, or through the “Manage Content & Subscription” section in FreeTime by taking the following steps:

  1. On the Start screen for FreeTime, tap “Manage Content & Subscription.”
  2. Tap “Add titles to [name of profile]’s Library.”
  3. Select “Books” from the dropdown menu.
  4. Check the box next to the desired title and tap “Done” in the upper right corner. The title will be added.

Be sure to share this with patrons who might be interested, and don’t forget to tell them about the eReading Room for kids too!

Mary Lee (Northland)

 

Continue ReadingKindle FreeTime: Now With OverDrive

Drive Your Patrons to Auto Repair Reference Center

I used this EBSCO support site to make some pretty nice bookmarks for the Auto Repair Reference Center.  (You’ll find promo materials for other Ebsco products too.)

Just click on “Auto Repair Reference Center”; then “ARRC bookmark A4.pdf”. Their template only allows for three lines on the back of the bookmark, so there’s not a lot of room for instructions, but they are great for pointing people in the right direction.

Check out my bookmarks here: AutoRepairReferenceCenter bookmark A4

Mary Lee Hart (Northland)

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eReference Goldmine

Do any of you own the History of World Trade since 1450? How about Terrorism: Essential Primary Sources? Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders?   In fact, we all own these, and about 1350 more excellent reference titles because they are included in our online electronic resources. From the well-known, such as The Encyclopedia of World Biography to the more obscure, such as Beacham’s Guide to Endangered Species, we are sitting on a goldmine of excellent information. Here’s a handy spreadsheet of many of the titles and the databases to which they belong.

Mary Lee (Northland)

Continue ReadingeReference Goldmine