Tag: ebooks

Cord Cutting Tips, E-Books & Democracy & Tablet Sales To Overtake PC Sales By 2015

Linda Reimer

Cord Cutting Tips: The USA Today featured an article over the weekend titled “5 things to know before cutting cable” which offers some helpful hints for those considering ditching their cable TV subscriptions to stream video from the Internet to their television sets. The tips include being aware that live TV access is limited, that you really need to purchase two streaming boxes like the Apple TV and the Roku player to get the best access to streaming video content and that you can, if you’re not careful – actually spend more money on buying digital videos for a family then you might if you simply paid for a cable subscription package.

Here’s a link to the article which offers more in-depth information on the subject of cord cutting:

http://usat.ly/19a3rsu

E-Books & Democracy: The New York Times featured an editorial on e-books earlier this month that I wanted to share – I just didn’t want to overwhelm everyone by going on too much about e-books at one time so I waited to share the editorial article. The editorial is by Anthony Marx and is titled “EBooks & Democracy” and in it the author notes the basic reasons why public library access to e-books for all patrons is essential in a democratic nation. For example, he notes that   “E-book readership is rising much faster than readership of print books; digital books could soon be the most popular book format. Readership of our e-books soared 168 percent from 2011 to 2012; print circulation, while much larger, remained constant;” and that “For those who cannot afford to buy downloads, digital books from libraries are essential to improving literacy, civic engagement and the technological facility necessary for economic success.” And the author further notes, in relation, that public libraries are currently hindered in their quest to offer patrons access to all e-books by two major things:

  1. The fact that some publishers won’t sell e-books to public libraries

&

2. That some of the publishers that do sell e-books to public libraries sell them at an exceptionally high price. And as the Acquisitions Librarian at the Southeast Steuben County Library I can tell you that both points are true and that second point – about the high prices – boy is Mr. Marx right on the money with that – I see Random House titles in particular – new e-book titles that cost $85 – $100 for one e-book!

And that is my mini-stand, and of course Anthony Marx’s too, on the e-book owners/public libraries rights band wagon for today!

Here’s the link to the New York Times editorial:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/opinion/e-books-libraries-and-democracy.html

Tablet Sales To Overtake PC Sales By 2015: Bloomberg Business Week offers an article today titled “Tablets Seen Overtaking Personal Computers by 2015” and it discusses the fact that as the price of tablets comes down more and more people are, and will increasingly be, purchasing inexpensive tablets to surf the web, read their email, Skype and play games upon and that as a result tablet sales will surpass the sales of personal computer by 2015 – so I think that is interesting because it shows a shift in how people access information going from accessing information on a computer (desktop or laptop as home or the office) as has been the case since the late nineties to instead accessing that information on a tablet, or smartphone, from anywhere people happened to be at any time of the day or night.

Here’s a link to the article:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-05-28/pc-market-to-decline-7-dot-8-percent-in-2013-as-tablets-smartphones-gain

Have a great day!

Linda R.

P.S. And don’t forget if you just bought, or received as a gift a new tablet, e-reader, PC or other tech item and would like to know more about how to use it — you can make an appointment at the library for a free On-On-One tech session and a member of our tech team will show you the digital ropes! Call the Reference Desk at: 607-936-3713 to make an appointment! Did I mention it is a free service the library offers? It is! 

References

Komando, Kim. (2013, May 24). 5 things to know before cutting cable. USA Today.

Marx, Anthony. (2013, May 1). E-Book and Democracy. New York Times. Online.

Rapaport, Lisa., & Ricadela, Aaron. (2013. May 28). Tablets Seen Overtaking Personal Computers by 2015, IDC Says (1). Bloomberg Businessweek. Online.  

E-Book News Parts 1 & 2 & Print A 3D Star Wars Stormtrooper Action Figure That Looks Like You!

Linda Reimer

E-Book News Part 1: E-Book Sales Up 44% In 2012 Over 2011: According to the Association of American Publishers & the Book Industry Study Group’s annual report ebook sales rose to comprise 20% of all books sold in 2012. And to give you an idea of why this is a big deal consider that e-book sales rose 44% in 2012 over the 2011 figures and made publishers $3.042 billion dollars in 2012. So we are quickly moving towards the tipping point where more U.S. consumers will read ebooks instead of print books and thus U.S. Publishing companies will make more money on ebook sales than on print book sales.

Here’s a link to a short paidContent article on the subject titled “Ebooks made 20% of the U.S. consumer book industry in 2012, up from 15% in 2011;”

http://paidcontent.org/2013/05/15/ebooks-made-up-20-of-the-u-s-consumer-book-industry-in-2012-up-from-15-in-2011/

And a link to a New York Times article on the same subject titled “E-Book Sales a Boon to Publishers in 2012:”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/business/media/e-book-sales-a-boon-to-publishers-in-2012.html

E-Book News Part 2: Department of Justice Deems Apple “Ringmaster” In E-Book Anti-Trust Suit: The U.S. Department of Justice has deemed Apple the “Ringmaster” in lawsuit it brought against Apple and five of the six largest publishers in the United States that are collectively known as “The Big Six.” The five publishers Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Penguin all settled the DOJ suit last year leaving Apple as the lone company fighting against the Department of Justice suit. Apple is now asserting, in response to the DOJ judgment that Apple was the ringleader that came up with the plain to collude with the previously mentioned Big Five, that it fact it was the Big Five publishers that came up with the collusion plan to fix e-book prices via an Agency Model. The anti-trust suit will go to trial in June and the outcome may have a great impact on how much publisher charge for e-books – we’ll have to wait and see how the DOJ rules to find out.

Here’s a link to a New York Times article on the suit titled “U.S. Now Paints Apple as ‘Ringmaster’ in Its Lawsuit on E-Book Price-Fixing;”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/technology/us-now-paints-apple-as-ringmaster-in-its-lawsuit-on-e-book-price-fixing.html?_r=0

Print A 3D Star Wars Stormtrooper Action Figure That Looks Like You! Disney, which recently purchased the rights to the Star Wars franchise is hosting a series of events titled “Star Wars Weekends” in May & June and as part of the Star Wars celebration is giving fans a chance to put their faces on a 3-D printed Star Wars action figure. The Stormtrooper figures are called “Star Wars D-Tech Me” and cost $99.95 plus shipping and sales tax per figure. So for $100 you can turn yourself into a Star Wars action figure!

And if you think $99.95 is rather a high price to pay for a cool personalized 3-D Star Wars action figure – not to worry! The cost of 3-D Printers is coming down and Staples will even begin to sell a 3D Printer in June so within just a few years you’ll no doubt be able to “print” a personalized Star Wars action figure at a home, office or public library near you for a much cheaper price.

Here’s a link to the short Mashable article, titled Turn Yourself Into a 3D-Printed Star Wars Stormtrooper,  on the personalized Star Wars Stormtrooper:

http://mashable.com/2013/05/15/3d-printed-star-wars-stormtrooper/

And don’t forget if you just bought, or received as a gift a new tablet, e-reader, PC or other tech item and would like to know more about how to use it — you can make an appointment at the library for a free On-On-One tech session and a member of our tech team will show you the digital ropes! Call the Reference Desk at: 607-936-3713 to make an appointment! Did I mention it is a free service the library offers? It is!

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

Bosman, Julie. (2013, May 15). E-Book Sales a Boon to Publishers in 2012. New York Times. Online.

Hutchings, Emma. (2013, May 15). Turn Yourself Into a 3D-Printed Star Wars Stormtrooper. Mashable. Onlne.

Owen, Laura Hazard. (2013, May 15). Ebooks made up 20% of the US consumer book industry in 2012 up from 15% in 2011. paidContent. Online.

Wyatt, Edward. & Wingfield, Nick. (2013, May 14). U.S. Now Paints Apple as ‘Ringmaster’ in Its Lawsuite on E-Book Price-Fixing. New York Times. Online.

Kindle Romance Podcasts & PBS MediaShift Begins Publishing E-Books

Linda Reimer

Kindle Romance Podcasts: Amazon is launching a weekly romance podcast series this week titled “Kindle Love Stories.” The Kindle podcast will feature reviews, interviews with authors and news on new and exciting trends in the romance book field.

Here’s a link to a USA Today article, Breaking news! Amazon launches Kindle Love Stories podcast, focused on romance books, that offers a link to the podcast and more information on the subject:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2013/05/13/kindle-love-stories-podcast-amazon-laura-roppe-tracy-brogan/2154253/

And here’s a direct link to the Amazon Romance webpage which notes all the new and popular romance books you might like to read!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=lp_283155_nr_n_23?rh=n%3A283155%2Cn%3A%211000%2Cn%3A23&bbn=1000&ie=UTF8&qid=1368475623&rnid=1000

PBS MediaShift Begins Publishing E-Books: If you’re not familiar with it MediaShift is a site established by PBS in 2006, with a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, that studies how citizen journalism, podcasts, social media, weblogs, online video, news aggregators and other digitally created and accessed media items are changing our lives and what we want and expect from online media.

And MediaShift, as an offshoot of PBS, has just launched a new e-book publishing service which will publish e-books and on demand print books based upon the subjects discussed and information found on the MediaShift website.

The first two titles in this new PBS/MediaShift publishing company are 1. “Your Guide to Cutting the Cord to Cable TV (Updated 2013 Edition)” By Mark Glaser, with essays by Dan Reimold and Seth Shapiro and 2. “How to Self-Publish Your Book” by Carla King; both titles obviously delve into tech related subjects. And as anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows – I am all for streaming video and cord cutting! Give me that Netflix subscription, iTunes and Amazon Instant Video and I am all set!

Here’s a link to a PBS/Media Shift page on the new publishing company:

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/e-books

A link to a related article from the paidContent website which offers more information on this new publishing service:

http://paidcontent.org/2013/05/13/pbs-mediashift-starts-publishing-ebooks-first-topics-cord-cutting-and-self-publishing/

And a link to the About page on the MediaShift website just in case you’d like to know more about MediaShift:

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/about

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

About. MediaShift. Online. Accessed May 13, 2013.

E-Books. MediaShift. Online. Accessed May 13, 2013.

Lamb, Joyce. (2013, May 13). Breaking news! Amazon launches Kindle Love Stories podcast. USA Today. Onlien.

Owen, Laura Hazard. (2013, May 13). Amazon Publishing launches Kindle Love Stories podcast, focused on romance books. paidContent. Online. http://paidcontent.org/2013/05/13/amazon-publishing-launches-kindle-love-stories-podcast-focused-on-romance-books/

Owen, Laura Hazard. (2013, May 13). PBS MediaShift starts publishing ebooks; first topics: cord-cutting and self-publishing. paidContent. Online.

Weekend Suggested Reading, Viewing & Listing: Titles from the STLS Digital Catalog

Linda Reimer

Fiction:

Bake Sale Murder, Lucy Stone Series, Book 13 by Leslie Meier: Ever since local developer Fred Stanton and his wife, Mimi, built five modular homes next door to Lucy Stone’s farmhouse, life just hasn’t been the same. With Mimi complaining about everything from the state of Lucy’s lawn to another neighbor’s lovable dog, quaint Tinker’s Cove, Maine, is now entangled in cul-de-sac politics and backstabbing. And when Mimi doesn’t show up for her shift at The Hat and Mitten Fund bake sale, the scent of burnt sugar leads Lucy to a shocking discovery: Mimi, face down on her kitchen floor—with a knife in her back.

While the police start their investigation, Lucy gets busy writing up the murder for the local Pennysaver—and following a few leads of her own. Lucy knows the women in her neighborhood didn’t like Mimi, but they certainly didn’t want her dead…right?

Dottie Flowers and the Skinner Gang by Sheila Gale: Dottie Flowers is a glamorous divorcee in her early sixties who runs a successful real estate business, wears designer clothes, and lusts after Harley-Davidson motor bikes. Her friend, Mabel Scattergood, is a rich widow who drives too fast, shops at discount clothing stores, and eats junk food. Even though they’re total opposites, they have one thing common: getting into trouble with the law.

In this series debut, bells ring and lights flash as Dottie wins the jackpot at a local casino. In the confusion that follows, George Fernandes, a sleaze she’d known in high school, is stabbed to death next to her machine. After being questioned by the police, Dottie and Mabel find themselves on a roller coaster adventure when they’re chased by two of George’s associates on a motor bike. They discover why they’re being followed when Dottie finds emerald jewelry in her coat pocket. It’s not only the pursuers who are after the emeralds: after Dottie’s beloved cat is kidnapped by the Skinner Gang in an attempt to force Dottie to hand over the emeralds, she decides to take action.

Romance enters the scene when Dottie meets a handsome jewelry appraiser who offers to help her by getting the emeralds copied. Despite his charms, Dottie has doubts about his motive. Are her instincts right? Will Enrique double cross her?

Get ready for adventure, thrills, and romance in Dottie Flowers and the Skinner Gang.

No Laughing Matter, Nick Madrid Series, Book 1 by Peter Guttridge: Tom Sharpe meets Raymond Chandler in No Laughing Matter, a humorous and brilliant debut that will keep readers on a knife’s edge of suspense until the bittersweet end.

When a naked woman flashes past Nick Madrid’s hotel window, it’s quite a surprise. For Nick’s room is on the 14th floor, and the hotel doesn’t have an outside elevator. The management is horrified when Cissie Parker lands in the swimming pool—not only is she killed, but she makes a real mess of the shallow end.

In Montreal for the Just For Laughs festival, Nick, a journalist who prefers practicing yoga to interviewing the stars, turns gumshoe to answer the question: did she fall or was she pushed? The trail leads first to the mean streets of Edinburgh and then to Los Angeles, where the truth lurks among the dark secrets of Hollywood.

Non-Fiction:

Blood Sisters: The Women Behind The War of the Roses by Sarah Gristwood: To contemporaries, the Wars of the Roses were known collectively as a “cousins’ war.” The series of dynastic conflicts that tore apart the ruling Plantagenet family in fifteenth-century England was truly a domestic drama, as fraught and intimate as any family feud before or since.

As acclaimed historian Sarah Gristwood reveals in Blood Sisters, while the events of this turbulent time are usually described in terms of the male leads who fought and died seeking the throne, a handful of powerful women would prove just as decisive as their kinfolks’ clashing armies. These mothers, wives, and daughters were locked in a web of loyalty and betrayal that would ultimately change the course of English history. In a captivating, multigenerational narrative, Gristwood traces the rise and rule of the seven most critical women in the wars: from Marguerite of Anjou, wife of the Lancastrian Henry VI, who steered the kingdom in her insane husband’s stead; to Cecily Neville, matriarch of the rival Yorkist clan, whose son Edward IV murdered his own brother to maintain power; to Margaret Beaufort, who gave up her own claim to the throne in favor of her son, a man who would become the first of a new line of Tudor kings.

A richly drawn, absorbing epic, Blood Sisters is a tale of hopeful births alongside bloody deaths, of romance as well as brutal pragmatism. It is a story of how women, and the power that women could wield, helped to end the Wars of the Roses, paving the way for the Tudor age—and the creation of modern England.

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg: Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the college graduates in the United States, men still hold the vast majority of leadership positions in government and industry. This means that women’s voices are still not heard equally in the decisions that most affect our lives. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg examines why women’s progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential.

Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TEDTalk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which became a phenomenon and has been viewed more than two million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.

In Lean In, Sandberg digs deeper into these issues, combining personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research to cut through the layers of ambiguity and bias surrounding the lives and choices of working women. She recounts her own decisions, mistakes, and daily struggles to make the right choices for herself, her career, and her family. She provides practical advice on negotiation techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career, urging women to set boundaries and to abandon the myth of “having it all.” She describes specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment and demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women in the workplace and at home.

Written with both humor and wisdom, Sandberg’s book is an inspiring call to action and a blueprint for individual growth. Lean In is destined to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can.

Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective by Pat Head Summitt: Pat Summitt, the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history and bestselling author of Reach for the Summitt and Raise The Roof, tells for the first time her remarkable story of victory and resilience as well as facing down her greatest challenge: early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Pat Summitt was only 21 when she became head coach of the Tennessee Vols women’s basketball team. For 38 years, she has broken records, winning more games than any NCAA team in basketball history. She has coached an undefeated season, co-captained the first women’s Olympic team, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and has been named Sports Illustrated ‘Sportswoman of the Year’.

She owes her coaching success to her personal struggles and triumphs. She learned to be tough from her strict, demanding father. Motherhood taught her to balance that rigidity with communication and kindness. She is a role model for the many women she’s coached; 74 of her players have become coaches.

Pat’s life took a shocking turn in 2011, when she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, an irreversible brain condition that affects 5 million Americans. Despite her devastating diagnosis, she led the Vols to win their sixteenth SEC championship in March 2012. Pat continues to be a fighter, facing this new challenge the way she’s faced every other–with hard work, perseverance, and a sense of humor.

Albums:

Jazz Profile: Duke Ellington                                                                                                            Digital Audio Download Includes:

1. Satin Doll (Duke Ellington)

2. Stardust (Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra)

3. One O’Clock Jump (Duke Ellington)

4. Stormy Weather (Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra)

5. Take The “A” Train (Live) (Duke Ellington And His Orchestra)

6. 4:30 Blues (Live) (Duke Ellington)

7. In Triplicate (Live) (Duke Ellington)

8. Chile Bowl (Duke Ellington)

9. Janet (Duke Ellington)

10. Happy Reunion (Live) (1994 Digital Remaster) (Duke Ellington)

11. Caravan (1986 Digital Remaster) (Duke Ellington)

12. Wig Wise (1986 Digital Remaster) (Duke Ellington)

Psychedelic Rock Blues, Volume 1 -Practice-Tracks:                                                                                                         Digital Audio Download Includes:

1. Tune Up (Practice-Tracks)

2. All Night Blues in E (In the style of Led Zeppelin) (Practice-Tracks)

3. Strange Blues in D (In the style of Cream) (Practice-Tracks)

4. Wicked Blues in E (In the style of Jimi Hendrix) (Practice-Tracks)

5. Broke Blues in A (In the style of The Bluesbreakers) (Practice-Tracks)

6. Hip City Blues in D (In the style of Tower of Power) (Practice-Tracks)

7. Backyard Blues in E (In the style of The Yardbirds) (Practice-Tracks)

8. Straw Hat Blues in G (In the style of Taj Mahal) (Practice-Tracks)

9. 4 Finger Blues in D (In the style of The Grateful Dead) (Practice-Tracks)

10. Roadside Blues in D (In the style of The Doors) (Practice-Tracks)

11. Blues King Blues in A (In the style of Albert King) (Practice-Tracks)

Videos:

The Art Of Acoustic Blues Guitar: Early Roots with Woody Mann: Teaches the song forms and techniques of early American folk and blues guitar styles. Acclaimed blues performer and educator, Woody Mann, teaches five blues songs based on the playing of such originators as Charley Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Scrapper Blackwell, and Tommy Johnson. Written for the near beginner to intermediate student, each song illustrates the techniques and approaches of these innovators in a clear and easy to understand arrangement of a classic theme in Open G, Open D, and standard tuning. Woody teaches techniques including rhythmic fingerpicking, left-hand dumping, brushing and percussive right-hand techniques, and syncopating a melody. Included is a Technique and Variations section where Woody further explores the subtleties of dynamics and phrasing and shows how to create variations within a tune. Early Roots offers the student the tools needed to understand and play the music of the early masters – the roots of today’s acoustic fingerstyle guitar music. Each song chapter includes introduction, performance, explanation and slow performance with split screen. Songs include: Delta Blues For Patton, Jackson Moan, Blue Daze, Shuffle Blues In G, and Bullfrog Groan.

Easy Guitar: Let Easy Guitar get you started on your musical career! Even with zero experience, you’ll be playing & singing House of the Rising Sun and more at the end of your studio sessions. Whether you want to jam in a band, or just chill with your friends, Easy Guitar will teach you the skills you need to play like the pros. Get maximum support as you work on your guitar techniques. A personal tutor shows you how to play it right, whether acoustic or electric. The demos give you easy-to-follow, clear, close-up views to make sure you’re learning the correct way to form chords, pick, and strum. Plus, written insets let you learn by ear and learn to read music at the same time. From stringing and alternate tunings to effects and amps, you can quickly go from beginner to intermediate level.

The STLS Digital Catalog may be found on the library’s homepage of SSCLIBRARY.ORG

Or via the following link:

http://stls.lib.overdrive.com/FE5904CF-8A91-4688-A592-7A046C7988D3/10/536/en/Default.htm

And if you have an app device look for the OverDrive Media Console app in your app store – it is the app that will allow you to check out free library e-books and audio books.

Digital Catalog music and video titles must currently be downloaded to a Windows computer to enjoy.

Have a great weekend!

Linda R.

 

Weekend Digital Catalog Suggested Reading, Viewing & Listening Titles April 19-21, 2013

Linda Reimer

Here is a list of select Digital Catalog e-books, audios and videos s you might enjoy reading, viewing or listening to over the weekend!

Suggested E-Books:

The Andalucian Friend: A Novel by Alexander Soderberg: A Monumental International Crime Thriller That Brad Thor Calls “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets The Sopranos.”

Enemies Are Everywhere…

When Sophie Brinkmann–nurse, widow, single mother–meets Hector Guzman, her life is uneventful. She likes his quiet charm and easy smile; she likes the way he welcomes her into his family. She quickly learns, though, that his smooth façade masks something much more sinister.

Guzman is the head of a powerful international crime ring with a reach into drugs and weapons that extends from Europe to South America. His interests are under siege by a ruthless German syndicate who will stop at nothing to stake their claim. But the Guzmans are fighters and will go to war to protect what’s rightfully theirs. The conflict quickly escalates to become a deadly turf war between the rival organizations that includes an itinerant arms dealer, a deeply disturbed detective, a vicious hit man, and a wily police chief. Sophie, too, is unwittingly caught in the middle. She must summon everything within her to navigate this intricate web of moral ambiguity, deadly obsession, and craven gamesmanship.

The Andalucian Friend is a powerhouse of a novel–turbo-charged, action-packed, highly sophisticated, and epic in scope–and announces Alexander Söderberg as the most exciting new voice in thrillers in a generation.

Frankie’s Letter by Dolores Gordon-Smith: A thrilling World War One spy story from the author of the acclaimed Jack Haldean series. “There’s a spy in England. Frankie’s letter. Read Frankie’s letter . . .” The last words said by a dying man to Anthony Brooke in Kiel in Germany during the height of World War One. But who is Frankie? With his cover blown and the German army at his heels, English secret agent Anthony Brooke’s search to discover the truth leads him to an innocent-seeming country house. Here, deep within the English countryside, as Anthony uncovers a web of spies, treachery and terrorists, the war becomes close and very personal.

A Night Like This (Smythe-Smith Quartet, Book 2) by Julia Quinn: Anne Wynter might not be who she says she is . . .

But she’s managing quite well as a governess to three highborn young ladies. Her job can be a challenge–in a single week she finds herself hiding in a closet full of tubas, playing an evil queen in a play that might be a tragedy (or might be a comedy–no one is sure), and tending to the wounds of the oh-so-dashing Earl of Winstead. After years of dodging unwanted advances, he’s the first man who has truly tempted her, and it’s getting harder and harder to remind herself that a governess has no business flirting with a nobleman.

Daniel Smythe-Smith Might be in mortal danger . . .

But that’s not going to stop the young earl from falling in love. And when he spies a mysterious woman at his family’s annual musicale, he vows to pursue her, even if that means spending his days with a ten-year-old who thinks she’s a unicorn. But Daniel has an enemy, one who has vowed to see him dead. And when Anne is thrown into peril, he will stop at nothing to ensure their happy ending . . .

The Burgess Boys: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout: Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,” wrote The New Yorker on the publication of her Pulitzer Prize–winning Olive Kitteridge. The San Francisco Chronicle praised Strout’s “magnificent gift for humanizing characters.” Now the acclaimed author returns with a stunning novel as powerful and moving as any work in contemporary literature.

Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a sleek, successful corporate lawyer, has belittled his bighearted brother their whole lives, and Bob, a Legal Aid attorney who idolizes Jim, has always taken it in stride. But their long-standing dynamic is upended when their sister, Susan–the Burgess sibling who stayed behind–urgently calls them home. Her lonely teenage son, Zach, has gotten himself into a world of trouble, and Susan desperately needs their help. And so the Burgess brothers return to the landscape of their childhood, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed their relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever.

With a rare combination of brilliant storytelling, exquisite prose, and remarkable insight into character, Elizabeth Strout has brought to life two deeply human protagonists whose struggles and triumphs will resonate with readers long after they turn the final page. Tender, tough-minded, loving, and deeply illuminating about the ties that bind us to family and home, The Burgess Boys is Elizabeth Strout’s newest and perhaps most astonishing work of literary art.

E-Books For Kids:

Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters (Alvin Ho Series, Book 2) by Lenore Look & LeUyen Pham: Here’s the third book in the hilarious Alvin Ho chapter book series, which is a Kirkus Reviews Best Continuing Series.

Alvin Ho back and his worst fear has come true: he has to go camping. What will he do exposed in the wilderness with bears and darkness and . . . pit toilets? Luckily, he’s got his night-vision goggles and water purifying tablets and super-duper heavy-duty flashlight to keep him safe. And he’s got his dad, too.

Lenore Look’s touching, drop-dead-funny chapter book about an Asian-American second grader–with illustrations by New York Times bestselling illustrator LeUyen Pham–is perfect for beginning and reluctant readers alike, and has tons of boy appeal.

Beswitched by Kate Saunders: A magic spell has spun Flora into the past. She’s mysteriously swapped lives with a schoolgirl in 1935! No iPod? No cell phone? No hair products? How will she survive?

Now Flora’s a new girl at St. Winifred’s, where she has to speak French at breakfast, wear hideous baggy bloomers, and sleep in a freezing dormitory.

But lots of adventures in the past are amazing even if they are not forever. How will she find her way back to the 21st century?

Ghost Town, Seven Ghostly Stories by Joan Lowery Nixon: Stagecoach robberies. Shoot-outs. Striking it rich. Throughout the Wild West small towns were formed, thriving with men and women from the East and gold from the mines. Notorious outlaws, desperadoes, and gunslingers rustled up trouble in town after town. When the gold disappeared, the outlaws, as well as the local folks, abandoned their towns. Or did they?

There are still sounds, not just the paint peeling from the deserted storefronts, or the tumbleweeds whispering as they somersault down the empty streets. There are voices, whispering stories–are they real or imagined? Stories like the one about the Lost Mine in Maiden, Texas, or the Bad Man from Bodie, California, who’s still searching for his lost finger. . . .

Suggested Albums:

Acoustic Guitar Blues, Volume 1: Library Staff Note: This is actually a how-to album – if  you have a guitar you can listen to this album and play along with the tracks to improve your blues guitar skills!

Here are the practice track listings:

1. Tune Up (Standard Tuning) (Practice-Tracks)

2. Tune Up (Open C Tuning) (Practice-Tracks)

3. Tune Up (Open D Tuning) (Practice-Tracks)

4. Claps Blues in G (Practice-Tracks)

5. Swampdog Blues in D (open D tuning) (Practice-Tracks)

6. Backwoods Blues in A (Practice-Tracks)

7. Minor Slow Hand Blues in A minor (Practice-Tracks)

8. Stevie’s 16 Bar Blues in E (Practice-Tracks)

9. Zepp Blues in C (open C tuning) (Practice-Tracks)

10. Levy’s Blues in E (Practice-Tracks)

11. Rainy Day Blues in E (Practice-Tracks)

12. Mr. V’s Blues in G minor (Practice-Tracks)

13. Acoustic Funk Blues in D (Practice-Tracks)

The Westminster Choir Sings Familiar American and British Folk Songs:

Digital Audio Download Includes:

Part 1:

1. Bamboula (1992 – Remaster) (Leonard Pennario)

2. My Old Kentucky Home (2011 – Remaster) (Salli Terri)

3. Beautiful Dreamer (Thomas Hampson)

4. To a Wild Rose (No. 1 of Woodland Sketches Op. 51) (Dame Moura Lympany)

5. The Liberty Bell (Timothy Foley – The Great American Main Street Band)

6. The Entertainer (Joshua Rifkin)

7. At the River (Marni Nixon/John McCabe)

8. Rhapsody in Blue (jazzband version): Opening (Wayne Marshall/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle)

9. Three Preludes: No. 2 in C sharp minor (Leonard Pennario)

10. Symphony No. 2 “Romantic”: II. Andante Con Tenerezza (Leonard Slatkin/Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra)

11. Mood Indigo (I. Mills – A. Bigard) (Mills Music, Inc.) (Barbara Hendricks – Monty Alexander Trio)

12. Grand Canyon Suite (1997 Digital Remaster): On The Trail (Felix Slatkin/The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra)

13. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Roberta, 1933) (1996 – Remaster) (Barry Tuckwell/Sir Richard Rodney Bennett/Ensemble/Neil Richardson)

14. Anything Goes: Overture (London Symphony Orchestra/John McGlinn)

15. Adagio for Strings Op. 11 (London Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas)

16. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (Pal Joey) (Frederica von Stade/London Symphony Orchestra/John McGlinn)

Part 2:

1. Take the ‘A’ Train (Sir Simon Rattle/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Lena Horne/Clark Terry/Bobby Watson/Joshua Redman/Joe Lovano/Regina Carter/Geri Allen/Lewis Nash/Peter Washington)

2. Fanfare for the Common Man (1999 – Remaster) (Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México/Enrique Bátiz)

3. Appalachian Spring (1999 – Remaster): Very Slowly (Leonard Slatkin/Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra)

4. Appalachian Spring (1999 – Remaster): Allegro (Leonard Slatkin/Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra)

5. Annie Get Your Gun: Overture (London Sinfonietta/John McGlinn)

6. Annie Get Your Gun, Act I: Doin’ what comes natur’lly (Annie, Kids, Wilson) (Kim Criswell/London Sinfonietta/John McGlinn)

7. Annie Get Your Gun, Act I: The girl that I marry (Frank) (Thomas Hampson/London Sinfonietta/John McGlinn)

8. Annie Get Your Gun, Act I: You can’t get a man with a gun (Annie) (Kim Criswell/London Sinfonietta/John McGlinn)

9. Annie Get Your Gun, Act II: Anything you can do (Frank, Annie) (Kim Criswell/Thomas Hampson/London Sinfonietta/John McGlinn)

10. The Little Horses (Lullaby) (Bruce Hubbard/Orchestra of St Luke’s/Dennis Russell Davies)

11. The Dodger (Campaign Song) (Bruce Hubbard/Orchestra of St Luke’s/Dennis Russell Davies)

12. Long Time Ago (Ballad) (Bruce Hubbard/Orchestra of St Luke’s/Dennis Russell Davies)

13. Simple Gifts (Shaker Song) (Bruce Hubbard/Orchestra of St Luke’s/Dennis Russell Davies)

14. Candide (Overture) (Leonard Slatkin/St Louis Symphony Orchestra)

15. Symphonic Dances from West Side Story: II. Somewhere (Paavo Järvi/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra)

16. Façades (London Chamber Orchestra/Christopher Warren-Green/John Harle/Simon Haram)

17. Vermont counterpoint (Ransom Wilson)

18. Short Ride in a Fast Machine – Fanfare for orchestra (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle)

Suggested Audio Books:

Capitol Murder by Phillip Margolin: Private investigator Dana Cutler and lawyer Brad Miller have overcome more than a few daunting challenges and powerful enemies to see justice done. Against tremendous odds, they successfully unmasked a president’s involvement in serial murders. They also saved the life of a Supreme Court justice while foiling a plot by rogue members of the CIA to fix a case headed for the Court. Now, nefarious threats old and new are about to bring them together once again. As a group of terrorists plot to blow up a football stadium, Clarence Little, the convicted serial killer from Executive Privilege, escapes from death row. In Capitol Murder, this master of suspense delivers another  high-octane thriller set in Washington’s legendary corridors of power filled with startling twists that will have fans racing from first word to last.

Chilling Horror Stories – Volume 2: A collection of six classic chilling horror stories including The Three Strangers, The Phantom Coach, The Open Window and The Travellers Story of a Terribly Strange Bed.

Private Berlin by James Patterson: Private, the world’s most respected investigation firm, has branches around the world, each staffed with the smartest, fastest, and most advanced agents, who have cutting-edge forensic tools that not even the most powerful governments possess. At Private Berlin, agent Chris Schneider has disappeared. Chris had taken a secretive personal leave and hadn’t spoken to anyone from the office in days. The Private team retraces his footsteps to the cases he was investigating before his disappearance: a billionaire suspected of cheating on his wife, a world famous soccer player accused of throwing games, and the owner of a seedy nightclub. They were the last people to see Chris – and they’re all suspects. And someone is lying. The Private team is led to an abandoned Nazi slaughterhouse where all hope vanishes. As Private digs further into Chris’s past, a terrifying history is revealed, and they begin to suspect that someone very dangerous and very depraved is responsible for Chris’s disappearance. And he’s not finished in Berlin. Private: Berlin has more twists, action, and deception than any other James Patterson thriller ever.

Suggested Videos:

Mayan Renaissance: “Mayan Renaissance” is a feature length documentary which documents the glory of the ancient Maya civilization, the Spanish conquest in 1519, five hundred years of oppression, and the courageous fight of the Maya to reclaim their voice and determine their own future, in Guatemala and throughout Central America. This elegant, beautiful, and thought provoking film will share their vision for the future, their call for a long-foretold renaissance of Maya culture and wisdom, and their 100 year plan to lead humanity forward, from the year 2012 on.The film stars 1992 Nobel Peace Laureate and Maya leader Rigoberta Menchu Tum. All of the images, voices, expert commentary and music in the film come directly from Central America, from the heart of the Mayan world.

Young Scientists: Twenty highly motivated students and their teachers at two New York City area high schools conduct serious independent research in anticipation of the world’s largest science fair, Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair. These students are dedicated to their fields of interest—which are as diverse as cancer research and carpenter ants—along with physics, chemistry, and biology projects.

The STLS Digital Catalog may be found on the library’s homepage of SSCLIBRARY.ORG

Or via the following link:

http://stls.lib.overdrive.com/FE5904CF-8A91-4688-A592-7A046C7988D3/10/536/en/Default.htm

And if you have an app device look for the OverDrive Media Console app in your app store – it is the app that will allow you to check out free library e-books and audio books and download them to your tablet or smartphone.

Digital Catalog music and video titles must currently be downloaded to a Windows computer to enjoy.

Have a great weekend!

Linda R.

 

Weekend Digital Catalog Suggested Reading, Viewing & Listening

Linda Reimer

Here is the list of suggested digital reading, viewing and listening titles for this weekend!

Suggested E-Books:

The Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin: Onetime underground journalist Sandy Blair has come a long way from his radical roots in the ’60s–until something unexpectedly draws him back: the bizarre and brutal murder of a rock promoter who made millions with a band called the Nazgûl. Now, as Sandy sets out to investigate the crime, he finds himself drawn back into his own past–a magical mystery tour of the pent-up passions of his generation. For a new messiah has resurrected the Nazgûl and the mad new rhythm may be more than anyone bargained for–a requiem of demonism, mind control, and death, whose apocalyptic tune only Sandy may be able to change in time . . . before everyone follows the beat.

Edwin of the Iron Shoes: Sharon McCone Mystery Series, Book 1 by Marcia Muller: The book that launched the massively popular series! It’s Sharon McCone’s first case as staff investigator for All Souls Legal Cooperative. She knows nothing about antiques, yet she has an affection for Salem Street with its charming mix of antique and curio shops. Now elderly dealer Joan Albritton has been found dead, stabbed with an antique dagger. Her neighbors are shocked. Recurring vandalism has them frightened. And McCone’s introduction to Lieutenant Gregory Marcus doesn’t help matters. Ferreting out the facts will take Sharon from the chaotic jumble of the junk dealer’s establishment to a museum where San Francisco’s most elegant socialites gather.

Silverlock: Silverlock Series, Book 1 by John Myers Myers: Clarence Shandon was just an MBA from Wisconsin before a shipwreck transported him to the shores of the fantastic Commonwealth of Letters. He journeys through history and myth, meeting unforgettable names from Circe to Robin Hood along the way. But the journey changes him from the studious, conceited academic to a legend in his own right: Silverlock.

Suggested Album:

Almanac Singers: Talking Union (1941-1942) by various artists including Millard Lampell, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, et. al. (Note: this is classic American folk music!)

Digital download includes the following songs:

1 The Strange Death of John Doe

2 Plow Under

3 Ballad of October 16th

4 Liza Jane

5 Billy Boy

6 C for Conscription: ‘C’ for Conscription

7 Washington Breakdown

8 Talking Union

9 Union Train

10 Which Side Are You On?

11 Get Thee Behind Me, Satan

12 Union Maid

13 All I Want

14 Song for Bridges

15 Babe O’ Mine

16 Dear Mr. President

17 Belt-Line Girl

18 Round and Round Hitler’s Grave

19 Side by Side

20 Deliver The Goods

21 The Sinking of the Reuben James

Suggested Audio Book:

Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History (unabridged) by Antonio Mendez, Matt Baglio, Dylan Baker: “The true account of the 1979 rescue of six American hostages from Iran

On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the American embassy in Tehran and captured dozens of American hostages, sparking a 444-day ordeal and a quake in global politics still reverberating today. But there’s a little-known footnote to the crisis: six Americans escaped. And a midlevel agent named Antonio Mendez devised an ingenious yet incredibly risky plan to rescue them. Armed with foreign film visas, Mendez and an unlikely team of CIA agents and Hollywood insiders—directors, producers, and actors—traveled to Tehran under the guise of scouting locations for a fake film called Argo. While pretending to find the perfect scenery and backdrops, the team succeeded in contacting the escapees and smuggling them out of Iran without a single shot being fired.

Antonio Mendez finally details the mind-bogglingly complex and dangerous operation he led more than three decades ago. A true story of secret identities and international intrigue, Argo is the gripping account of this history-making collusion between Hollywood and high-stakes espionage.”

Suggested Video:

The Lost World (1925): A world wide sensation when it opened on February 15, 1925, “The Lost World” is a story of living dinosaurs from the Jurassic age written by the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and starring a cast of stegosaurus, allosaurus, brontosaurus, triceratops, and pterodactyl under the technical direction of Willis H. O’Brien (King Kong, Mighty Joe Young) and a cast of actors under the direction of Harry O. Hoyt.

The STLS Digital Catalog may be found on the library’s homepage of SSCLIBRARY.ORG

Or via the following link:

http://stls.lib.overdrive.com/FE5904CF-8A91-4688-A592-7A046C7988D3/10/536/en/Default.htm

And if you have an app device look for the OverDrive Media Console app in your app store – it is the app that will allow you to check out free library e-books and audio books.

Digital Catalog music and video titles must currently be downloaded to a Windows computer to enjoy.

Have a great weekend!

Linda R. 

It’s Coming! The Ability to Stream Content Through The SSCL Website!

Linda Reimer

Right now you can check out digital content in the form of e-books, downloadable audio books, downloadable videos and downloadable music titles from the STLS Digital Catalog to a variety of tablets, PCs, smart phones, e-readers and Macs.

And also right now the content you can check out to specific devices varies as does the process you use to check out those items.

For example, you can read library e-books on almost any e-reader, tablet, Smartphone, PC or Mac.  

However, you can only watch videos on PCs and a handful of less-than-well-known portable devices but not on your iPad, Smartphone or Android tablet.

And you can download free library audio books to your Smartphone or tablet directly but only the ones that are in the MP3 format. OverDrive audio books that are WMA formatted have to be downloaded to a computer first and then you can transfer them to you Smartphone or tablet – but you can’t download them to a Mac because the “WMA” stands for Windows Media Audio and it is a Microsoft software which won’t open on an Apple computer – but you can transfer a WMA audio book to an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch if you first download it to a PC.

Did I mention all of this can be very confusing!

However, if you are interested in checking out digital content and have questions please ask the library staff! A member of our tech team will even be happy to sit down with you and go over the entire process step by step.

But I digress; back to the subject of streaming content!

If you’re streaming content, and the word streaming is fancy tech speak that simply means you open a web browser of your choice (i.e. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc.) and the e-book or other e-formatted item you open is sent from the server on which it is stored to your device so you can read the book, watch the movie or listen to the audio book or album. And with this new streaming process you won’t actually be downloading anything so there won’t be a cumbersome registration and set up process, you won’t have to authorize your device before you can check out content nor will the process for accessing the content be different by device – you’ll be able to read your library e-book, watch your library e-videos or listen to library e-audios by opening the web browser on your tablet, PC, Mac, Smartphone and even XBOX and Wii!

So the fact that this new second generation library e-content software, officially called the Next Generation Library Platform (managed by the library e-content vendor OverDrive) is coming is very exciting because it will make the process of accessing digital content from the STLS Digital Catalog a very easy and user friendly one!

And as soon as the updated platform is available we’ll loudly proclaim that fact via this blog, the library’s website and our Facebook page.

Have a great day!

Linda R

And here are links to two cool, and short, news stories offered by OverDrive regarding the new cool features coming to the Library Digital Content vendor’s platform soon!

The first story relays the fact that you’ll soon be able to read e-books, watch library e-videos and listen to library e-audios on your TV via your gaming console and the second offers information on the platform upgrade which will allow you stream content instead of having to download it:

Library E-Books Coming to Gaming Consoles:

http://overdriveblogs.com/library/2013/01/24/library-ebooks-are-coming-to-game-consoles/

http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/News/News-Item/OverDrive-Announces-Streaming-Video-and-Audio-Services-for-Libraries-and-Schools–87321.htm

OverDrive The Next Generation Digital Library Platform

http://www.overdrive.com/Next-Gen/

The Issue of Personal Ownership of Digital Content

Linda Reimer

The issue of personal ownership of digital content is one of major league importance in my book. In fact, it is so important I’m only going to discuss that one topic today and leave a discussion about the introduction of new Barnes & Noble Nooks, a new Barnes & Noble video streaming service and the fact that the state of California really did pass that law I mentioned in a previous blog posting – the one allowing self-driving cars to drive on the roads of California!  I’m going to leave all those tantalizing tech subjects for tomorrow.

I found a great article on the British tech site onestopclick: Researching Technology Solutions today that discusses personal ownership of digital content which in my opinion is the largest part of the important digital rights pie puzzle today.

And when I use the terminology “digital rights” here I’m not referring to the digital rights management software that digital content creators or rights holders insist be incorporated into their e-books, e-audios (including audiobooks and music) and e-videos – and which blocks people that buy those e-books, e-videos and e-audio titles from being able to listen to or watch those items on any tech device they own – their smartphone, their iPad, their iPod touch, their Android tablet, their PC or Mac etc. instead, I mean the rights of individuals who “purchase” digital content to actually own that digital content.

I think this issue is completely overshadowed by other issues like the rivalry between Amazon, Apple and the Big Six publishers* and is frankly more important that the actual price of e-books. The essential crux of the matter is the fact you cannot currently buy digital content. Instead when you click or tap that buy button to “buy” an e-book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Apple via the iBook store etc. – you’re not really buying the content instead you’re buying access to it as it if were a piece of software and not a book, video or audio item.

And you’ll notice that I have the words “buy” and “purchase” in quotation marks in those previous two paragraphs…

And the reason for that is because I just want to re-iterate the fact that I’m not sure most people are aware of; but one that being intellectual property advocates those of us working in library land are acutely aware of — the fact that when you click or press the buy button to buy an e-book, an e-audio or an e-video you aren’t really buying that item. Instead, you are buying a license to access that item. So unlike physical formats – print books, DVDs, CDs, LPs etc. you are limited as to what you can do with that digital e-book, e-audio or e-videos. You don’t really own the digital items you buy and thus unlike the physical formats you can’t usually loan them to someone, give them to someone else, donated them to your local library or leave them to your heirs in your will.

This whole situation of the rights of the individual to access books, videos and audios in the digital format is a huge one and I see the licensing, as compared to the purchasing, of those formats to be a huge threat to intellectual freedom.

Think of it this way – say a great classic novel was written today and published in the e-format only – in other words, only as an e-book; and the rights to that work were owned by one large publishing company that decided later on, after a dispute with the estate of the great author who had sadly passed young (think Stieg Larsson) – to pull that e-book from being available for sale and pull e-book versions already purchased by the paying public right off their e-readers so that no one has access to that great work. So just like that – zap! That e-book disappears and the reading public cannot gain access to it.

If you think it can’t happen – it already has! In 2009 Amazon did just that – they deleted copies of the e-book 1984 from purchasers Kindles because Amazon’s didn’t have a license to sell those versions of the e-book titles – despite the fact that the titles were sold by Amazon through the Amazon website!

Now granted, George Orwell’s 1984 is a book that you can find multiple copies of at your public library; however, it still illustrates the point that we need changes in the way copyrights are interpreted in the digital age.

Why shouldn’t you be able to purchase an e-book, really buy it and own it instead of licensing a copy, and later give it to a friend or family member or read it on any device you own instead of being locked into a specific electronic platform?

And that question is the big one I see that doesn’t seem to be mentioned much when the press covers the subject of e-books and disputes over how much large media and publishing companies can charge consumers for them for comes up. The subjects of unfair prices that The Big Six Publishers and Apple claim that Amazon sets and/or the unfair pricing practices that Apple and the Big Six publishers offer customer in the in the U.S. according to the Department of Justice – those subject do frequently pop up in the news; however, if you do a Google news search for “e-book ownership” as I did to find the cool onestopclick article, which cites some solid scholarly sources*2, you’ll find only an occasional article that truly relates to issue of the rights of consumers to buy content print wise (and the so called “Fair Use” doctrine*3) versus digital wise.

And in the last few weeks a story broke that well highlighted this issue and one that, unfortunately, turns out to be untrue. It was reported that the actor Bruce Willis was going to sue Apple because he wanted to be able to bequeath the digital content he purchased from iTunes, in the form of music, videos and e-books, to his daughters and had been told he couldn’t – his license to the content would expire when he did…Now, that story is untrue but it does illustrate the point – you don’t own the digital content you buy – and we should all speak up and start telling publishers, media companies and our legislators that we the people want to own the e-books, e-audios and e-videos we buy when we click or tap on that buy button!

If you missed the 2009 story about Amazon deleting copies of 1984 from Kindle owner’s Kindles – here’s the link to a New York Times tech blog article on the subject:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/some-e-books-are-more-equal-than-others/

And that onestocpclick article, the one that got me going on this subject today, is titled Digital Ownership: why you don’t own the content you buy; it was written by Kerry Butters and originally posted yesterday (9-25-12) on the onestopclick website.

Here’s the link:

http://www.onestopclick.com/topic/228/649/digital-ownership-why-you-dont-own-the-content-you-buy.html

Have a great day!

Linda R.

 *1) The Big Six Publishers are the six largest publishers in the United States today: Random House, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Macmillan, HarperCollins & Hachette. And I have to briefly note that one of those Big Six Publishers offers e-books for unrestricted licensing sale to public libraries – Random House – of course they charge libraries about $85-$100 for new e-book best sellers but then that is another blog posting…

*2) The largest solid/scholarly report on the subject – which is cited in the onestopclick article is titled The Hargreaves Report and was done by Professor Ian Hargreaves of Cambridge University who offers justification as to why it is so necessary to intellectual freedom and economic growth to get copyright law caught up with the digital times…You might want to check it out – there is a link to it within the onestopclick article or you can access it at the following link:

 http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipreview-finalreport.pdf

*3) Here’s a link to an official explanation of what the term copyright related term“fair use” means – offered by the U.S. Copyright Office at the following link:

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

 

 

 

What On Earth Is The STLS Digital Catalog Anyway? & Why Is It Exciting? Part I of II!

Linda Reimer

We do quite few tech programs here at the library. And one of the ones that I’m hosting this week is a part of our Wednesday One Hour Tech* series – it is titled STLS Digital Catalog. Now that is a very bland name from an entertainment perspective…very bland indeed; however, I assure you the Digital Catalog is both cool and exciting! And if you want to find out more about it you can come to the workshop – it is tomorrow from 2-3 PM and I’ll answer any questions you have about the catalog. And for more information right now – please read on!

The short answer to the very valid question: “What on Earth is the Digital Catalog?” is that the Digital Catalog is essentially an e-library that is open twenty four hours a day and 365 days a year. A library where patrons can go, via the Internet, and check out e-books, e-audio books, e-videos and e-music — on demand — whenever it is convenient for them; whether that time happens to be before ones 6 AM run, late into the evening after a very long day or smack dab in the middle of a week day afternoon .

So let me see if I can add some color and depth to the explanation of what that bland name “Digital Catalog” means while further illustrating why it is exciting to be able to access digital content on demand. And I’ll start by offering a brief definition of what I mean when I say “e-books, e-audio books, e-videos and e-music titles.”

E-books are the best known of the four formats mentioned and they are simply versions of print books offered for people to read on PCs, Macs, e-readers, tablets, MP3 players like the iPods and smartphones like the iPhone 5.

The term E-Audio Books refers to audio book titles that may be checked out via the Digital Catalog and downloaded and/or transferred to a PC, smartphone, tablet or other portable device. So you can listen to e-audio books on your PC, iPod, MP3 player, iPhone and most other smartphone and tablets.

E-videos are videos that may be downloaded from the Digital Catalog to a PC and then watched on that PC.

And e-music titles are albums that may be downloaded from the Digital Catalog to a PC and then listened to on that PC or transferred to supported portable devices so you can take the music on the go.

Having said that here are some scenarios that illustrate why accessing content from the Digital Catalog can be both fun and very convenient!

Regarding On Demand Library E-Books: Consider These Scenarios: E-Book Scenario 1: It has been a hectic Tuesday and it is 7 o’clock at night as you sit down ready to read. As you go to sit down in your favorite chair glass of wine or cup of favorite tea in hand, you realize you’re ten pages from the end of the mystery you’ve been reading…

 So what do you do?

You could get in your car and drive to the library to pick out another book or you could buy another e-book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble…

Or you could just go to the Digital Catalog and search for a new e-book to read without even leaving your house and be reading it in less than minute*1. You might out one of those spicy paranormal books by Lara Adrian, a new Susan Mallery book or perhaps if you’re in the mood for something really light one of the Sophie Kinsella books that you haven’t read yet. And low and behold, via the Digital Catalog, your relaxing reading evening is saved!

E-Book Scenario 2: You’re stuck in the airport in BoiseIdaho. You’re flight has been delayed for three hours and you’re bored straight out of your tree. What do you do? You might get out your Nexus 7 or Motorola Zoom tablet, open the STLS Digital Catalog app (aka OverDrive)*2 and download a new e-book to read or e-audio to listen to so you can pass the time more pleasantly. And what do you know, those three hours pass quickly!

E-Book Scenario 3: You’re on vacation at the beach, or ski lodge, and have run out of reading material. It is so nice to be able to just sit there in the sun or in the chair by the cracking fire of the ski lodge hot toddy in hand, that you don’t want to get up and go out to get a book.

So what do you do? You take your iPad out of your bag and open the STLS Digital Catalog (OverDrive) app and search for an e-book by your favorite author to read; if you’re in the mood for romantic reading perhaps a Debbie Macomber or Susan Mallery title? Or perhaps you’d like something more in a suspense vein like an e-book by John Grisham, James Patterson, Lisa Jackson or Karin Fossum? Or just perhaps you’re in the mood for a biography…You might check out Barbara Eden’s bio Jeannie Out of the Bottle, Lois Banner’s bio of Marilyn Monroe – The Passion and the Paradox…or if you’re in the mood for a more historical works you might check out Marc Seifer’s of Nikola Tesla, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla or Wade Davis’s book Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest.

E-Book Scenario 4: It is Saturday afternoon and your fifth grader just told you he has a book report due on Monday on a biography that he hasn’t read yet. You’ve got plans for the evening and for all day Sunday so what do you do? You might access the Digital Catalog on your family’s PC*3 because you know that sports fan that your son is – if he really has to write a book report on a biography than one of the Matt Christopher sports bios for kids might be just the ticket! The Matt Christopher bios in the catalog include ones on: Tony Hawk (skate boarding), Derek Jeter (baseball) and Jeff Gordon (obviously NASCAR!). So your son picks his sports bio of choice and begins eagerly reading the e-book! He is just engrossed enough that you think he will actually finish the book and the book report by Monday!

E-Book Scenario 5: It is 6 PM and as you’re getting ready for dinner your teenage daughter, who is a voracious reader, complains that she’s read all the print books she checked out of the library earlier in the week. You suggest she hop on her laptop and check out the e-books in the Digital Catalog. She finds two new e-books by Rachel Vincent! And she sees there is an e-book edition of the Hobbit so she can read it again – this time as an e-book. She then transfers all three titles to her Nook and begins reading. So you’re tops in your daughters book! She has something new to read without either of you having to leave the house – how cool is that? Of course, you may have to do the dishes yourself but at least your daughter is happy.

Regarding On Demand Library E-Audio Books: Consider These Scenarios: Scenario 1: You’re going on a vacation and driving from the Southern Tier of New York to Maine to visit friends. It is early on a crisp fall day with a bright blue sky and not a cloud in sight. What could go wrong? The car is packed and you’re ready to go with a cup of coffee in one hand and a library CD audio book set in the other. You put your coffee cup in your cup holder and the CD in your CD player and down the road you go. And after about 20 minutes you realize you’ve already read the book you’re listening to on CD.

Major league bummer!

So what do you do?

You could turn around and go home to get another audio that you’ve already listened to or you could drive back to town and wait an hour for the library to open…

Or you might pull out your iPhone or other smartphone, open the STLS Digital Catalog (OverDrive) app and look for a new e-audio to listen to. You might check out the audio version of Baltimore Blues (Tess Monaghan series, book 1)by Laura Lippman since your sister has been telling you to read it; or perhaps you should try that Blaine Harden book, Escape from Camp 14, you heard about on NPR the one about the Korean prisoner who escaped from a work camp. Or you just might be in the mood to listen to the War Horse audio by Michael Morpurgo as you never got around to seeing the movie and the books are always better than the movies anyway. And if you’ve got kids with you the entire Harry Potter series is available in e-audio format and you could always listen to one or two of those audios again. So which ever e-audio you download to your phone – you should be all set as far as entertaining listening goes and you don’t have to turn the car around to go home and get another audio nor do you have to buy a new one!

Scenario 2: You’re getting ready to go out on your morning run and realize you finished the audio book you were listening to on your iPod or MP3 player, yesterday. You fire up your PC and check the Digital Catalog for newly added e-audios and find the new Ken Follett audio The Winter of the World is available; so you download the Follett e-audio book to your PC and quickly transfer it to your iPod or MP3 player and away you go! Of course, if you’re not in the mood for historical fiction you might try out one of the Hunger Games trilogy of audios, one of the E.L. James audios or perhaps something in the mystery or suspense vein by Joss Morag or James Patterson…and with the new library e-audio on your iPod you wind up so engrossed in the story that you run two extra miles for a definite fitness plus!

Scenario 3: It is 6 PM on a Wednesday and you’re dropping an item off for an elderly relative who has difficulty reading and loves audio books. It seems she’s listened to all the audio books you checked out of the library for her last week. Fortunately, she has a library card! So you fire up her laptop, go to the Digital Catalog and download three new audios for her to listen to on her laptop while she is knitting. You found her the Gone Girl audio by Gillian Flynn, a Julia Quinn romance she missed – What Happens in London and one of Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone cozy mysteries – Chocolate Covered Murder. And needless to say you are a big hit with your relative! You made her day!

And as I’ve typed a longer blog post than I intended I’m going to leave a discussion of the exciting aspects of downloading e-videos and e-music titles for tomorrow!

And if you have any questions about the STLS Digital Catalog let us know! You can call the library at: 607-936-3713 and press extension 502 which will get you the tech savvy folks at the Reference Desk or you can send us me an email at: REIMERL@STLS.ORG

Have a great afternoon!

Linda R.

*1) You can download free library e-books directly to a number of tech devices including the iPhone, the iPad most Android tablets and most smartphones. If you have a dedicated e-book reader the process is a bit different but essentially if you have a Kindle you go online to the Digital Catalog click on an available e-book you would like to read and follow the prompts – the e-book will then be sent to your Kindle and you can read it. If on the other hand you have any of B&N’s Nooks you will have to download the e-book to your PC and then transfer it to your Nook. As the staff for details about this process!

*2) The free STLS Digital Catalog app, which once installed allows you to download e-books and some e-audio books to your iPad, other tablet or smartphone, is called OverDrive and is available from most App Stores.

*3) All the formats in the STLS Digital Catalog – e-books, e-audio books, e-videos and e-music titles can be downloaded to a PC – so you don’t need an e-reader to read e-books on! You can bring up that bio for your fifth grader on your PC and let him have at it – as the expression goes…

Tech at the Library & Two Questions For Readers!

Linda Reimer

I usually relay tech news in this blog. However, I thought I’d try something different today and inquire if everyone out there in cyber-land is aware of the tech materials, programs and services our public library, and indeed most public libraries, offer patrons today.

The Southeast Steuben County Library has always strived to offer patrons the best materials, programs and services possible. And offering excellent materials, programs and services in the early twenty first century translates into us offering more than traditional books, programming and on site research assistance to our patrons. Today we offer patrons a multifaceted array of tech related materials and services.

The library offers patrons the following free tech related items and services:

  • Access to e-books through our Digital Catalog
  • Access to a growing number of videos and music titles via our Digital Catalog
  • Access to circulating e-readers with pre-loaded bestsellers
  • Access to tech assistance (You can call and make an appointment to sit down with a member of the library’s tech staff and go over tech question – so if you just got a new e-reader, PC or tablet or other device and have questions about how to use it – call us! We’re here to help. We also have some insight on the best e-reading devices to use to check out free library e-books — just ask us!)
  • Tech programs and workshops (including upcoming ones on how to use the iPad, how to use a digital camera, how to use Microsoft Publisher, how to use Microsoft Excel and one showcasing video streaming players in the form of the Apple TV and Roku player.

And Access to credible databases including:

  • Academic One File (useful if you’re for kids and adults doing academic research)
  • The Business & Company Resource Center (useful if you’re researching a company)
  • The Chilton Library (think of this database as all the Chilton Auto Repair Manuals in the library – accessible online!)
  • Ebsco Animals (useful for kids doing research for school projects or anyone who wishes to know more about animals)
  • Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (use to check simple facts)
  • Grolier Online (offers articles, audio and video clips on a wide range of subjects – useful for students or adults doing research)
  • Health Reference Center (useful for anyone doing research on medical/health related topics)
  • Heritage Quest (a genealogical research database for those looking into their family history)
  • Literature Resource Center (a database that offers articles and biographies about authors, books etc.)
  • New York State Newspapers (a database that allows you to search for articles found in New York State newspapers on a cornucopia of topics)
  • OCLC First Search (a database that allows patrons to search for books owned by libraries across the globe)
  • Talking Tumble Books (this database offers free audiobooks for children and adults as well as multi-lingual titles)
  • Twayne Authors (If you’re interested in information about a specific author – this is the database for you!)

And my two questions for our patrons are:

  1. Did you know we offer all the above digital materials and services? (If not – please pass the word on!)

And

2. What digital materials, tech programs and services would you like to see our library offer? (And feel free just to state a specific e-book title or pitch an idea for a tech program etc. Thanks!)

And in relation to my two questions, please do feel free to go wildly off topic and pitch any suggestions that come to mind! We like feedback here in library land…

Have a great day!

Linda R.