The latest offering on the Kansas State Library’s Digital Book eLending page is Enki, an ebook lending platform created by libraries in California and Colorado to manage ebooks purchased by participating libraries directly from authors and small publishers. Using Enki, you can checkout up to five books at a time for two weeks with the option of early return. It follows the traditional library model -- one person at a time can check out a book, and you can place a hold on books that are currently checked out.
To checkout from Enki, go to http://ksl.enkilibrary.org and log in with your Kansas Library Card. Kansas Library Cards are not the same as regular local library cards. They are free to any Kansas resident and can be obtained from any Kansas library.
Once logged in, search the website using the browser on your device. After you find something you want, click Checkout, then choose Download. It will ask you to open the book with whatever reader you have installed on your device -- Bluefire Reader or the Freading app both work well. For more detailed instructions and for instructions for different kinds of devices, go to the Enki ebooks page on the Kansas State Library website http://www.kslib.info/digitalbooks/enki.html.
Unite for Literacy - Free ebooks for kids
Douglas County Libraries, the Colorado Library Consortium, and Unite for Literacy have teamed up to provide access to free ebooks for kids. Unite for Literacy’s ebook library is designed to be read from a web browser, either on desktop computer or mobile device. They wish to take advantage of the spreading usage and availability of mobile internet access to get books into the hands of emergent readers.
These online early literacy picture books are each available with optional narration in different languages. Currently they offer over a hundred books narrated in up to 15 different languages, but their goal is to support all the languages that are spoken in U.S. homes.
These ebooks can be accessed through our library catalog (http://catalog.lmlibrary.org) by searching for “Unite for Literacy” or directly from the website at http://uniteforliteracy.com.
Another source of online read-aloud picture books is Tumblebooks, made available to all Kansas residents free of charge by the State Library of Kansas and by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The Tumblebooks website includes story books, chapter books, videos, puzzles and games, and a language learning section. As stated on their website “TumbleBookLibrary is an online collection of animated, talking picture books which teach young children the joys of reading in a format they'll love.”
Tumblebooks can be accessed by any Kansas resident through the library’s website, http://lmlibrary.org, the Kansas State Library’s website, http://www.kslib.info/digitalbooks.html, or by using your Kansas Library Card.
Beginning Computer Classes
The library offers beginning computers classes every Tuesday at 11:00 a.m., downstairs in the computer lab. The classes are for both English and Spanish speakers and walk-ins are welcome. It is a basic introduction to keyboard and mouse and eventually builds up to creating email accounts and other helpful basic tutorials.
Mango Connect is part of the new look of the Mango website. Kansas residents can use the website to start learning their choice of over 50 different languages free of charge. Creating a username and password is optional, but doing so will allow you to pick up where you left off between learning sessions.
The website now offers two apps -- Mango Conversations and Mango Premiere.
Mango Conversations uses real-life situations and conversations to teach a new language. Users listen to and repeat conversations, not just learning the individual words and phrases, but also learning how they're used in practical situations and conversations.
Mango Premiere uses movies to more effectively teach a new language. Users watch these feature films with or without subtitles in both their own language and the language to be learned. Mango Premiere gives the viewer the ability to break down scenes and subtitles, combining both spoken and written learning. It also brings in cultural notes and quizzes for an in-depth look at the language in the film. Premiere currently offers feature films in 7 languages.
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