Tag: StarCat

Email Services Available From The Southeast Steuben County Library

Linda Reimer

Did you know that the library offers patrons the option to be notified by email when a requested book or other item, otherwise known as an item that is on hold, comes in to fill their request?

And did you further know that the library offers patrons the option to be notified by email three days before their library materials are due that their checked out library items will be due in three days — so that patrons can renew those titles by telephoning the library or if they prefer self-service through StarCat*?

It is true!

All you have to do to obtain library email services is tell a library staff member you want to sign up and then give them your email address!

And after you do that…

You will receive an email notification any time a book, DVD, audio book or other requested library item is ready for you to pick up at the library.

And you will receive notification three days before your library items are due – reminding you that they will be due in three days  — which will give you the opportunity to renew those items before they are due, either online or by calling or visiting the library, or simply to return the items to the library before they are due.

Just a quick FYI regarding library email services! If you’d like to turn on the library email services option for your library account just let us know!

Linda R.

*StarCat: If you’re not familiar with the term “StarCat” – here’s a short definition! StarCat is the online library catalog of physical materials for all member libraries of the Southern Tier Library System. And if you access StarCat you can search for books, audio books, DVDs and other library materials you’d like to read, watch or listen to and you can request them. You can also log into your library account and see what items you have checked out, see what items you have previously checked out (after you choose select that option) and renew your books. 

StarCat & The STLS Digital Catalog – What’s The Difference?

Linda Reimer

I had a patron ask me a question this week that I’d never been asked before! She asked me what the difference was between StarCat and The STLS Digital Catalog.

I thought that was an excellent question! That question is one that those of us who work in library land know the answer to; and we know the answer to the question to the extent that it would not ever occur to us to even mention the differences in to patrons in person, on Facebook or on our library tech blog!

So that was an excellent question!

And the answer to the question: “What is the difference between StarCat and the STLS Digital Catalog?” is that StarCat is the catalog of physical library materials and The STLS Digital Catalog is the catalog of digital library materials.

With StarCat, which you can access via the Library Catalog link on our website found at http://ssclibrary.org/, you can:

  • Request books or other library materials – so if you want to read the latest Susan Mallery novel or watch the new DVD Lincoln you can place a request (also known as a hold!) – all you need is  your library card number and PIN number (your PIN is initially the last four digits of your telephone number).
  • Renew items you have checked out (So you don’t have to run to the library during a very busy day!)
  • Access your library check out history (To see if you checked out a specific title before – so you don’
  • Simply see what items you currently have checked out
  • And see the status of any items you have requested (aka placed on hold)

Here’s a direct link to StarCat if you’d like to check it out!

http://starcat.stls.org/client/default

With the STLS Digital Catalog, which you can also access via our homepage found at http://ssclibrary.org/, you can:

  • Check out e-books
  • Check out digital audio books
  • Check out digital videos
  • Check out digital albums
  • Request e-books, digital audios, videos and albums
  • See what digital items you currently checked out.

And here’s a direct link to The STLS Digital Catalog:

http://stls.lib.overdrive.com/6D66E60E-4731-4EE4-83EB-17D4BA99B797/10/50/en/Default.htm

So in essence, the difference between the two catalogs is that StarCat is for physical items held in the real world that you must visit the library to check out and The STLS Digital Catalog is for digital materials that you can check out to a computer from anywhere you have an Internet connection.

Important Note: You can indeed check out  library e-books, digital audios, videos and albums and download them to a computer. However, with e-books and audio books you can also download titles to a great variety of smartphones and tablets. Basically if you have an Apple or Android app device you can go to your app store and download the OverDrive Media Console app – and then download e-books and MP3 audios through that app and listen to those audios and/or read those e-books on your smartphone or tablet!

If you want to check out a WMA formatted audio – you can do that too! However, you will have to download it to a computer first and then transfer it to an Apple or Android device.

At the present time albums and videos must be listened to or watched on a PC or a handful of portable devices – but may not be watched or listened to on any Android or Apple devices.

If you have questions about which formats in the STLS Digital Catalog can be used to read, listen to and watch titles in the STLS Digital Catalog you can post questions to this blog or check out the OverDrive Device Resources Center found at the following link:

http://www.overdrive.com/drc/

Have a great weekend!

Linda R.

 

 

Dewey Decimal Number for International Cook Books

Linda Reimer

ImageThe Dewey Decimal System number for cooking (generally speaking) is 641.5. And as you browse through the shelves in that section you’ll find more books that focus on various aspects of cooking. For example, the books labeled 641.55 cover “Money-saving and timesaving cooking” (OCLC, 2003) and the books labeled 641.52 to 641.54 deal with “Cooking with specific fuels, appliances, utensils;” (OCLC, 2003) all of which is very interesting if you like to cook! However, my favorite Dewey Decimal System number for cooking is 641.59 because the books that feature spine labels with that number fall under the category of international cooking. So if you’re looking for recipes and/or cook books that feature French, British, Polish, Italian, Brazilian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and South African cooking then 641.59 is your number!

And of course what this has to do with tech is very simply the fact that you can look up cook books (and all other library materials) and request them in the library catalog which is called StarCat. To request an item, either one that is checked out or one that is on a shelf at a library within the Southern Tier Library System, you simply click on the word “Hold” found on the item record and you’ll then be prompted to enter your library card number (the long number on the back of your library card without any spaces) and your PIN number (the last four digits of your telephone number) and that is it! The item will then be requested and you’ll either be sent an email notification when the library item has been pulled from the shelves and is available for you to pick up (if we have an email addresses on file for you) or you’ll receive a telephone call notifying you that the item you requested is ready to be picked up.

Here’s the link for StarCat which may also be accessed by going to the library’s home page – SSCLIBRARY.ORG – and clicking on the Library Catalog link at the top of the page.

http://enterprise.stls.org/client/default

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

The Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index. (2003). OCLC Online Computer Library Center. Dublin, Ohio.

*Our library, the Southeast Steuben County Library, is a member of the Southern Tier Library System – also known as STLS for short. And patrons of all the member libraries in the system (which consists of all the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuler and Alleghany counties) can request items from all the libraries within the system. So if that book you want to read is only owned by The Wide Awake Library in Fillmore, NY, which is located in the north western corner of Alleghany County – you can request it and have it sent to our library where you can much more easily pick it up than you could if you had to drive to Fillmore to retrieve it!