Thirty Ways to Use Your Library Card

September is National Library Card Sign Up month. What do you have in your wallet? A library card? You should! It gives you access to many services and books.  The American Library Association releases a yearly “ways to use your  library card” list. Let's explore some of the great ways you can use your library card and library services:

- Download an e-book.  Your library is where you can get e-books and other digital content. Download now – ask your librarian how! Through 3M Cloud Library that is accessible on our website, check out the titles that are available for download.

- Not sure how to download an e-book on your new device?  A librarian can show you how. Take a workshop on how to use your e-reader or other gadgets.  Doreen, our tech usually hosts a workshop on e-readers every season.

- Use a computer to finish a school project. Over 62 percent of libraries report they are the only provider of free public computer and Internet access in their communities.

- Use free Wi-Fi. Almost 91 percent of public library outlets offer wireless Internet access.

- Learn the secrets of using the computer. Nancy, one of our circulation clerks teaches weekly computer classes in the morning.

- Learn check mate: attend a library game night. Casandra, our children’s librarian hosts chess on Mondays in September and we have Teen Gaming and Dungeons and Dragons monthly. Dungeons and Dragons will be held on Thursday, September 12 at 4 p.m. and Teen Gaming on Tuesday, September 24 at 4 p.m.

- Take the kids to a free movie or pick up a DVD to watch together at home... or get a movie for free from your library's website. There’s usually a movie night every month!

- Save money while spending quality time: plan a family afternoon at place that’s free - the library!

- Attend preschool story hour with your child. Story Fun is held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays at 11:15 a.m. and Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m.

- Librarians are early literacy experts... The library is in our second round of Family Place workshops this month for children ages birth to five years. It’s a chance for parents to mingle and chat with each other and our weekly specialist. They’re held on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. Also, we have a brand new AWE Early Literacy Station in the children’s area particularly geared for those two to eight. It’s a touch screen with lots of educational materials.  The kids love it!

- ...that can put your child on the path to becoming a baby Einstein.

- Launch your future: Get free assistance with job searches, resume writing and interviewing tips...

- ...or become an entrepreneur. Learn how to write a business plan. Check out a book to do so!

- Get help with homework.

- Research your term paper.

- Explore new opportunities and research technical schools, community colleges and universities.

- Get ready for the SAT with online test-prep services.  We have a lot of online resources!

- Check out your favorite graphic novel.

- Trek to another planet in a Sci-Fi novel.

- Talk mysteries with people who like mysteries, too, at a library book club. Library and Lunch meets every second Tuesday of the month at 12 p.m. and Book Chat meets every third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m.!

- Learn a new language with books or online language-learning software. Talk like a pirate, eh? Try out Mango Languages offered through the State Library of Kansas.

- Empower yourself. Check out a book on auto repair or learn how to change a flat tire.

- Borrow or download an audio book for your next road trip or commute.

- Find a new hobby.  So many choices!

- Enjoy a concert. This fall we're excited to have events with the Swingin’ Jazz Band, Bell Choir, and the Redskin Singers.

- Enroll your child in a summer reading program.

- Learn new knitting techniques and get new patterns. Lots of books in the library collection on this one plus we’re clicking away every other Saturday this month for the Click for Babies campaign led by the Kansas Children's Service League.  We’ll be having Knit In’s on Saturday, September 7 and September 21 at 9 a.m.

- Join your Friends group. The library will be aiming to bring back our Friends group this fall at a special Kansas Humanities Council speaker event in October at an off-site location. Interested? Let us know!

- Take a cooking class. We don’t have cooking classes yet; we do have the next best thing: Recipe Swap every last Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. where we do have noodle demonstrations and all around fun.

- Find a quiet spot, curl up with a good book and enjoy.

For the latest library programming take a peek at the library website or grab a newsletter from the circulation desk. Stay tuned and connected through our social media pages.  If you have any questions or suggestions about books or programs don’t hesitate to ask.  See you at the library this month!

Audiobooks and eBooks for Dad

Celebrate Father’s day by getting Dad set up to check out free audiobooks and eBooks from the library.

Kansas EZ Library (http://www.kslib.info/digitalbooks.html) is a service of the Kansas State Library and other contributing Kansas Libraries. Any resident of Kansas can use the service to checkout audiobooks and eBooks online.

Registration requires a Kansas Library Card (http://www.kslc.org). If you don’t already have a Kansas Library Card, (not the same as a regular local library card) you can get one at any Kansas public or school library.

Because June is national audiobook month, now is the perfect time to talk about the audiobook side of Kansas EZ Library. With tablets, dedicated eReaders, and all things eBook on the rise, but you might be surprised to know that the audiobook side of Kansas EZ Library is actually still more popular.

The well-established audiobooks platform called One Click Digital has more Kansas users, more daily circulations (more than 10,000 checkouts in May alone), and more new books available for checkout than the eBook platforms.

Newly added audiobooks that might appeal to Dad include:

"Inferno" by Dan Brown - From the Book Description -  In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history's most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces--Dante's "Inferno"--as he battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle.

"A serpent's tooth" by Craig Johnson  - From the Book Description - When a lost Mormon child wanders into Absaroka County, the intrepid Wyoming sheriff teams up with feisty deputy Victoria Moretti and longtime friend Henry Standing Bear on a high plains scavenger hunt that leads them to a violent interstate polygamy group.

"Shattered trident" by Larry Bond - From the Book Description - While trailing a Chinese nuclear attack sub, Jerry Mitchell, the captain of USS North Dakota, is shocked to see the Chinese boat torpedo a Vietnamese merchant ship.

This blatant act of aggression is the opening gambit in a war that has blindsided the U.S. and quickly embroiled all nations in the western Pacific. These nations, bound together in the newly formed Littoral Alliance, have begun a covert submarine campaign aimed at crippling China's economy before China can set in motion its own plot to dominate the region...

"A delicate truth" by John Le Carré - From the Book Description -  A counter-terrorist operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted on the British crown colony of Gibraltar. Its purpose: to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms buyer. Its authors: an ambitious Foreign Office Minister, a private defense contractor who is also his bosom friend, and a shady American CIA operative of the evangelical far-right. So delicate is the operation that even the Minister’s personal private secretary, Toby Bell, is not cleared for it...

"Zero Hour" by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown - From the Book Description - It is called zero point energy, and it really exists--a state of energy contained in all matter everywhere, and thus all but unlimited. Nobody has ever found a way to tap into it, however--until one scientist discovers a way. Or at least he thinks he has. The problem is, his machines also cause great earthquakes, even fissures in tectonic plates. One machine is buried deep underground; the other is submerged in a vast ocean trench. If Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala and the rest of the NUMA team aren't able to find and destroy them, and soon, the world will be on the threshold of a new era of earth tremors and unchecked volcanism.

Of course, you don't have to go online to check out audiobooks. You can also come into the library and check out some of the following new books on CD:

• The tooth tattoo by Peter Lovesey
• Screwed by Eoin Colfer.
• The golden egg by Donna Leon
• The redeemer by Jo Nesbo and Don Bartlett
• A chain of thunder: a novel of the siege of Vicksburg by Jeff Shaara
• 12th of Never by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Whether you prefer MP3 or CD, why not listen to a good book this month.

Kansas EZ Library

For those of you who download audiobooks and ebooks through the State Library's Audiobook, Music and More program, a change is about to take place. The name of the program is changing to Kansas EZ Library, and there will be a new provider too. The company Overdrive, who currently provides the service platform for these services, will no longer be doing so after December 5, 2011. The State Library was unable to negotiate favorable terms with Overdrive which resulted in the need to find new vendors who could provide access to audiobooks and ebooks.

Some of the reasons why the State Library chose not to renew its contract with Overdrive were: substantial subscription charges to individual libraries in the consortium; a 700% increase from 2010 to 2013 for the platform fee; and a removal of the language that acknowledged consortium ownership of the material. Removal of this language also eliminated the opportunity to transfer the materials (materials purchased by Kansas libraries) to a different vendor. These changes, especially the substantial increase in the platform fee, were ones Kansas libraries could not afford to accept.

The State Library has found two new vendors who will provide downloadable services to Kansas libraries. But before the change can be made, the State Library is required to obtain permission from each of the 163 publishers of purchased audio and e-book content so that the content can be moved to the new providers. As of today, the State Library has received 88 publisher permission forms and has permission to move the content of 3804 audio and 875
ebooks to the new providers.

The econtent vendors are not new companies, but providing downloadable products is a new venture for them. One Click Digital (Recorded Books) will provide audiobooks, and 3M Cloud Library will be used for ebooks. At this time the target dates for the changes are sometime in November for the audiobooks and sometime in January 2012 for the ebooks. Unfortunately, this schedule will result in a gap between the time the contract with Overdrive ends on December 5, and the date that all econtent will be available to Kansas residents. In order minimize this disruption in service, the State Library will be providing a list of free downloadable audiobook and ebook services at www.kslib.info/digitalbooks. This link will also be available from our website at www.lmlibrary.org. Here are a few examples of sites that provide access to free ebooks and audiobooks:
For ebooks:

• Project Gutenberg--Download books in the public domain (out of copyright). Browse by popularity, genre, and subject. Can transfer to or directly use on a portable device.
• ManyBooks--Searches free ebooks from around the web. Converts the free books to more formats than they would previously have been available.
• Inkmesh--Book search that includes a browse by subject alongside promotional free ebooks from companies including Baen (science fiction).
• AddAll Books--Free ebook browsing includes eHarlequins.
• Google eBooks--Download free or pay for books here.

For Audiobooks:

• Spoken Alexandria--Great narration of books and other works in the public domain.
• LibriVox--Volunteer narration

If you are not currently using Kansas' econtent service Kansas EZ Library and would like to, just stop by the library and sign up for a Kansas Library Card. If you have any questions, please contact the library at 626-0180.