It’s Coming!

Many of you are familiar with our eBook, audiobook, music, and video download website from OverDrive (HTTP://ebooks.lvccld.org).  Now we have a chance to take this popular service to our patrons with the Digital Bookmobile, a high-tech tractor-trailer that creates an immersive download experience built around our ‘Virtual Branch’ download website. To preview this exciting vehicle [...]

Reader Advisory

How would you respond to a reader who asked if Guy Gavriel Kay had a new book coming out. Each of the responses below isn’t just about the service we provide. It is about the type of relationship we want to build with a reader. Which of these responses to the Kay question are you [...]

Gadgets in Credo Reference

Today we’re featuring the Credo Reference gadgets, which are right there every time you visit Credo Reference! We’ve got a pretty neat assortment of gadgets, including Define, Person, Images, Pronunciations, Crossword Solver, Quotations, Holidays and Festivals, and Conversions. To highlight a few: Crossword Solver: Get help with your crossword puzzles! For example, you can put [...]

Monday Morning Smile

Do you have any books on Genghis Khan and his Mongrel Hordes? Linda Adams Gibbs High School Corryton, TN Our Gale Virtual Reference Library has a host of information on Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. There are a variety of reference books with information including: The Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia for Students Encyclopedia of [...]

eBooks Out Selling all other Formats

Ebooks have become the single bestselling category in American publishing for the first time in February. The latest report shows that total ebook sales in February were $90.3m. This makes digital books the largest single format in the US for the first time ever, overtaking paperbacks at $81.2m. In January, ebooks were the second-largest category, [...]

Last Day to Vote!

Today is the last day of voting for the Credo Reference Topic Page Contest. (http://corp.credoreference.com/contest)  If you have not already voted please do so today before 9pm PDT (Credo is based on the East coast). Thank you for voting!

Monday Morning Smile

“I need a short summary of the Civil War and World War II. Can I get just the key points?” Will McElhaney The Ohio State University – Newark Newark, OH U.S. History in Context delivers comprehensive, contextual, media-rich search results from the most extensive online collection of historical information available today. Topical essays covering “The [...]

Monday Morning Smile

“Can I sign up for the crackpot program?” (The patron really wanted to sign up for the Crock Pot cooking program.) Cynthia Blietz Alsip-Merrionette Park Library Alsip, IL The Rival Company became a household word in the early 1970s with the introduction of the Rival Crock Pot, a slow cooker that literally changed the way [...]

New Videos

On The Librarian’s Brain – How-to-Videos page I have added additional videos on how to use Gale databases for U.S. History in Context and World History in Context. There are three videos for each database and all of them are very short – less than 3 minutes each.  These videos are great for Library Staff [...]

Monday Morning Smile

“I have a list of books by Lescroart. Can you tell me which ones I’ve read?” C. Sutherlin Mobile Public Library Mobile, AL John Thomas Lescroart (Pronounced “Les – qua”), writer, novelist, music producer and musician, is author of the “Dismas Hardy” mystery series – numbering twelve titles as of 2008′s “Betrayal,” according to Contemporary [...]

Research Database User Survey

Washington State did a survey of library users from a variety of  public libraries in Washington State and asked whAdd Newat they use on the Library Website.  Most used it to search the library catalog and place holds but some did used it for research.  The public library survey results show what users used in [...]

Librarians: Need some last minute ideas for February programming?

From: The Pulse – Health and Wellness Resource Center by jevanchek Jan 7, 2011 7:48 AM – Show original item If you’re focusing on American Heart Month, National Wear Red Day (February 4, 2011), African American History Month, and/or Valentine’s Day in February, here are some Quick & Easy ideas that are not too late to [...]

Traffic and eBook checkout records SMASHED over Christmas holiday

Traffic at ‘Virtual Branch’ websites – Nov. 26-Dec. 31 smashed! If you need any evidence of the popularity of eBooks in the library, all you need to do is look at what happened over the past week. Despite some issues caused by a surge in activity, traffic, checkouts, and new user registration records were smashed [...]

Monday Morning Smile – Wazoo

“What kind of musical instrument is a wazoo?” Wendy Turnbull New Westminster Public Library New Westminster, BC, Canada The “Original American Kazoo” is still made in the city of Eden, New York, and though the factory itself may no longer be toured, there is still a visitors center that explains modern production methods as well [...]

eReader Comparsion

Justin the Librarian has done a good review of most of the eReaders available in the blog post Justin the Librarian vs eBook Readers. Be sure to read the comments for additional insights.

ABCs of eReading

From the WSJ article – The ABCs of E-Reading Technology has brought a range of features to books that wouldn’t be possible in print. Children’s author Lynley Dodd sells a title from her “Hairy Maclary” series as an app for the iPad. It lets parents or kids record themselves reading the book aloud, and a [...]

eBooks Reach the Tipping Point

eBooks appear to have reached a tipping point. Amazon says eBooks for the Kindle outsold hardcover books over the last three months. Over that time, Amazon sold 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcovers, and that pace has picked up in the last four weeks. Sales of the Kindle have tripled since Amazon cut the [...]

Free eAudio Books for Teens

Starting today, teens will have a chance to SYNC YA literature into their earphones with free audiobook downloads. Audiobook Community, a social network for audiobook lovers led by Audiofile Magazine, has officially launched its SYNC campaign. From July 1 to Sept. 1, a weekly pairing of best-selling and classic audiobooks for young adult listeners will [...]

7 Great Tips for Bloggers

Here’s a great article for anyone blogging -  Bloggers: 7 questions to ask before hitting ‘Publish.

New Website and IE8

Those who are using IE8 will need to have compatibility view enabled in order to see some of the features on the new web site. To set compatibilty view: Select  Tools, from the menu bar Select Compatibility View settings Select  Display All Web Sites in Compatibility View. This works to see the databases in the [...]