Public Access Ebooks

Where I live, decent public libraries with connections to the software service Overdrive allow surprisingly easy checkout of "library books" wirelessly to your Kindle. The Overdrive system provides libraries with both audiobook downloads and eBooks. I find, like most, that reading or listening to these books on a computer is untenable, but transferring audiobooks to my Sansa Clip player is as easy as pie.
For the (increasingly) large selection of books with Kindle versions, it's very easy to get free content to show up via Amazon's Whispernet. Nothing fiddly about it, no cables either. And for the earlier cool tool of "User Manual First", Kindles are a pretty good place to keep these PDF files. Either transfer via cable (easy) or use your Kindle's email address which allow your docs to show up via Whispernet.
Finally, if you sign up for Amazon Prime service, you not only get free shipping on your purchases, you also get access to the "Kindle Owner's Library" - more books without fees. And if your Kindle is a Fire (or you don't mind watching on a PC), you also get access to lots of streaming video (my wife is re-enjoying Ally McBeal (and I'm enjoying not being exposed to it, too)).
Anyway, go to your library's website and look for Overdrive services. Another convergence of several cool tools that merge to form a new level of cool tool.
-- Wayne Ruffner

The ubiquity of ereaders like the Kindle, Nook and iPad has driven a surge in ebook availability. Retailers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble have the lock on bestsellers and the like, but a flourishing underground market for free and cheap ebooks has become a boon for readers.
The best established source for free ebooks is Project Gutenberg whose archives contain over 36,000 ebooks that represent nearly every out-of-copyright classic piece of literature along with a vast archive of obscure but pleasurable reads. The quality of digitization is excellent, and the site's vibrant community ensures that any errors are quickly fixed. They also offer the ebooks in a variety of formats (ePub, mobi, html), including some as downloadable audiobooks.
With more and more libraries getting into the game of lending ebooks, the software company Overdrive (that Wayne mentioned) has been leading the way. Libraries contract out their ebook libraries to OverDrive who make them available for a limited loan period (via a proprietary DRM from Adobe) through their software that is available on most operating systems including iOS and Android. Once you have the application, simply add your local or state library system (some are better stocked than others) and Overdrive allows you to browse the ebooks that they have available to check out. Everything's automated so there are no late fees, and often times you can get best sellers without waiting (or, if they're "checked out" you can reserve them and when they become available they are automatically downloaded).
ManyBooks.net is the friendliest index of free ebooks of the bunch. It will search Project Gutenberg's archives, as well as troll through numerous other archives. They also provide recommendations and reviews (which is incredibly useful given the sheer number of available titles).
Outside of strictly free sources, InkMesh is the best search engine I have found for identifying if an author or a book is available in ebook form, whether it is free, where I can download it, and in what format. They have also collated a comprehensive list of free ebooks available for a variety of platforms.
Two more sources for the ebook crazy are the blogs Pixel of Ink and Books on the Knob which highlight attractive deals for the Kindle.
Finally, to manage this inundation of ebooks I heartily recommend the previously reviewed Calibre. If you have other recommended sources for eBooks and the like, feel free to leave a note in the comments and I'll make sure to update this page.
-- Oliver Hulland; Cooltools; click here for original article.

Overdrive
Free
Amazon Prime
$79/year (or $39/year for students)
Project Gutenberg
Free
ManyBooks.net
Free
InkMesh
Free
Pixel of Ink
Free

Click Here to Access Digitally

About American Libraries

American Libraries, the flagship magazine of the American Library Association, is published bimonthly, six times a year, with four quarterly digital supplements,  by the American Library Association. ISSN 0002-9769. Printed in the USA. Subscription price is included in ALA dues. The magazine is sent to some 65,000 individuals and organizations worldwide. ALA members receive American Libraries as a perquisite of membership.

PTSA Hosts Staff Appreciation Luncheon in the Gelinas Library

Trends in Libraries

 

10 Changes to Expect from the Library of the Future, April 24, 2012
 click here for full text of article

Libraries have acted as community cornerstones for millennia, and every April marks School Library Month, celebrating how they promote education and awareness in an open, nurturing space. What makes them such lasting institutions, though, isn’t the mere act of preserving books and promoting knowledge. Rather, it’s the almost uncanny ability to consistently adapt to the changing demands of the local populace and emerging technology alike. The library system probably won’t disappear anytime soon, but rather, see itself blossoming into something new and exciting in congruence with today’s myriad informational demands...

1. More technology
   Probably the most obvious direction libraries will trend involves more seamless integration of technologies at a faster, more sophisticated pace than even now. With so many exciting new gadgets and concepts such as ebook readers, tablet PCs, open source, and more, they have plenty of resources on hand to meet community demands. Books, sadly, do not hold the same collective appeal as the shiny and new gadgets, but enterprising librarians know they can still bring literature to the masses by utilizing its lust for technology.
2. Sensory story times
   As awareness of the needs of autism spectrum and developmentally disabled children swells, more and more libraries are scheduling sensory story times making sure they get to enjoy literature in a manner most comfortable to them. Many libraries who have developed such programming recommend visual schedules so kids know what’s coming up next, carpet tiles or cushions for sitting, and hands-on activities. Even mainstream children can enjoy these events, so all members of the community benefit from creating a more inclusive space.
3. Better outreach to ESOL and ESL adults and children
   New York’s public library system, in an effort to make sure as many patrons take advantage of their offerings as possible, has put forth the time, money, and energy to improve upon its ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) and ESL (English as a second language) programming. Increasing globalization means more multilingual cities, and because libraries stand as integral pillars of the community, they make for excellent introductions to what new neighbors might come to expect. And greater engagement means greater communication and closer relationships.
4. Automation
   If the automated system at the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library at University of Chicago catches on, readers might say, “Sayonara!” to stacks. Not only are almost all of its holdings available for online retrieval, visitors can also access them in person without having to navigate the often baffling academic library cataloging system. Instead, they input their desired read and a complicated system of machinery burrows 50 feet underground to fetch and deliver it. No browsing required. Because of the expense however, it will probably be quite a while before full automation catches on in libraries worldwide.
5. Emphasizing community space
   Placing more stock in technologies obviously frees up quite a bit of library space, and leaders at the Anoka County Library in Minneapolis know just how to put it to good use. More room means they can start offering a wider range of programming, serving as a community center focused on learning rather than just literature. Some of their plans include genealogy classes targeting seniors wanting to know more about their family histories and giant letter blocks for children. Libraries probably won’t disappear to digitization, but their shape will likely change over time.
6. More social media savvy
   As with the latest in literary gadgetry creeping into libraries, social media has already started ingraining itself as integral to the experience. It offers greater community outreach, promoting and answering questions about events, and provides a forum in which to share cool book news. Social media also makes it easier than ever for libraries to receive feedback about what sort of programming the community wants most, suggestions about how to improve offerings, and talks about what books need to make their way to the shelves. Hosting online discussions certainly holds its merits as well!
7. Digital media labs
   In an effort to lure in more teenagers, Chicago Public Library hybridized the traditional system with a digital media lab dubbed YOUmedia. There, they can take advantage of the video recording and editing equipment, computers, recording studio (complete with keyboards and turntables!), and classes on graphic design, podcasting, and photography. YOUmedia also hosts an Internet-based literary magazine. With so many seriously amazing offerings, high school kids can learn even more about the potential career paths that interest them most; seeing as how libraries are all about education, these offerings don’t stray from their core values.
8. Electronic outposts
   Similar to the satellite system already in place for county libraries in larger towns and cities, futurist Thomas Frey thinks that – over time, of course – they might start the same thing with a more digital bent. Rather than acting as an extension of a central library’s physical holdings, they would work as almost a “cyber cafe” where patrons go to access digital archives. Many of the holdings would revolve around preserving the history of the surrounding communities, adding a more personalized dimension to the experience.
9. Crowdsourcing
   New Jersey’s Madison Public Library is one of many libraries who understand that their survival depends on how well they interface with the neighborhoods that support them. So they’ve turned towards crowdsourcing their future, hosting focus groups and opening up to suggestions from professionals, patrons, and professional patrons alike. Much of what the people had to say of course involved technology, like training reference librarians in resources like YouTube, Wikipedia, Google, and more. They also wanted to see more programming aimed at engaging the growing Latin American community. All these responses help MPL better provide exactly what their visitors needs for a well-rounded educational experience.
10. More active librarians
    Once again, the precedent has already been set here, with most libraries around the world asking their staff to pull double duty as event planners and class leaders. Seth Godin thinks the librarians of the future will almost universally be tasked with tutoring students on their homework, teaching patrons computer basics, and other responsibilities putting them at the front lines. But this transition is a positive one, as it nurtures a heightened sense of community and destigmatizes the librarian profession, painting them as neighborly mentors instead of silencing book police.

---

Google Launches Knowledge Graph

 

Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings  Click on the Title for Full Text of Article

May 16, 2012 at 1:00 PM

Cross-posted on the Inside Search Blog Search is a lot about discovery—the basic human need to learn and broaden your horizons. But searching still requires a lot of hard work by you, the user. So today I’m really excited to launch the Knowledge Graph, which will help you discover new information quickly and easily.
Take a query like [taj mahal]. For more than four decades, search has essentially been about matching keywords to queries. To a search engine the words [taj mahal] have been just that—two words.
But we all know that [taj mahal] has a much richer meaning. You might think of one of the world’s most beautiful monuments, or a Grammy Award-winning musician, or possibly even a casino in Atlantic City, NJ. Or, depending on when you last ate, the nearest Indian restaurant. It’s why we’ve been working on an intelligent model—in geek-speak, a “graph”—that understands real-world entities and their relationships to one another: things, not strings.
The Knowledge Graph enables you to search for things, people or places that Google knows about—landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, celestial objects, works of art and more—and instantly get information that’s relevant to your query. This is a critical first step towards building the next generation of search, which taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do.
Google’s Knowledge Graph isn’t just rooted in public sources such as Freebase, Wikipedia and the CIA World Factbook. It’s also augmented at a much larger scale—because we’re focused on comprehensive breadth and depth. It currently contains more than 500 million objects, as well as more than 3.5 billion facts about and relationships between these different objects. And it’s tuned based on what people search for, and what we find out on the web.

E-Reading

Pew Internet & American Life Project

The Rise of E-Reading

April 4, 2012

As the number of Americans that own tablet computers and e-book reading devices has increased, so has the percentage of adults who report that they have read an e-book in the past year.
In a February survey, 21% of adults said they had read a e-book in the last year, compared to 17% who reported doing so in December. This tracked with a major spike in ownership of e-reader devices that occurred during the holiday gift-giving season in December. During that period, ownership of an e-book reader or a tablet each increased to 19% of adults, compared to 10% for each device in mid-December.
Those who read e-books read more books than those who don't have the devices: The average reader of e-books says she has read 24 books (the mean number) in the past 12 months, compared with an average of 15 books by a non-e-book consumer. For device owners, those who own e-book readers also stand out. They say they have read an average of 24 books in the previous year (vs. 16 books by those who do not own that device). They report having read a median of 12 books vs. 7 books by those who do not own the device).
While e-book reading is markedly growing, printed books still dominate the world of book readers. In a December 2011 survey, 72% of American adults said they had read a printed book and 11% listened to an audiobook in the previous year, compared with the 17% of adults who had read an e-book.
The rise of e-books in American culture is part of a larger story about a shift from printed to digital material. Using a broader definition of e-content in a survey ending in December 2011, some 43% of Americans age 16 and older say they have either read an e-book in the past year or have read other long-form content such as magazines, journals, and news articles in digital format on an e-book reader, tablet computer, regular computer, or cell phone.
Read the full report for detailed findings on these subjects:

• The general reading habits of Americans
• Americans and their e-readers and tablets
• The state of e-book reading
• Where and how readers get their books
• Difference among e-book owners

Mr. Kevin Stiegelmaier, A Published Author, Is Interviewed By ABC News

Paddling Around New York City-Television Interview

ABC News, May 14, 2012   

                          Click Here for Interview                             

Introducing The Destiny Online Catalog

An Internet based catalog designed to access all of the library holdings of the

Three Village Central School District

Home Button:
Access Library Links

Click on the Image to Enlarge

Catalog Button: 

 Access the Holdings of the Gelinas Information Center

or

All Information Centers

Click on the Image to Englarge

  

Search Features Include:
The Gelinas location or all Information Centers

Material Type-Book, Video, eBook, etc.

Award Winner Categories

Interest Level by Grade

Reading Programs including Lexile Level

Destiny Quest-a more colorful and interactive catalog design

Fountas and Pinnell reading level for the elementary schools

Access Your Individual Faculty Account

To log into your account clock on the login button in the upper right hand corner. Your username is the same one you use to log into the computer. The password is available in the Information Center.
Create your own lists of books

Coming in September

Access the Destiny Library Catalog from anywhere you have access

to the Internet -home, IPhone/smartphone, Ipad/tablet, laptop

Change Your Password

Place Holds

Online Education

The New York Times
May 2, 2012
Harvard and M.I.T. Team Up to Offer Free Online Courses

Click Here For Link to Article

By TAMAR LEWIN

In what is shaping up as an academic Battle of the Titans — one that offers vast new learning opportunities for students around the world — Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday announced a new nonprofit partnership, known as edX, to offer free online courses from both universities.

Harvard’s involvement follows M.I.T.’s announcement in December that it was starting an open online learning project to be known as MITx. Its first course, Circuits and Electronics, began in March, enrolling about 120,000 students, some 10,000 of whom made it through the recent midterm exam. Those who complete the course will get a certificate of mastery and a grade, but no official credit. Similarly, edX courses will offer a certificate but will carry no credit.

But Harvard and M.I.T. are not the only elite universities planning to offer a wide array of massively open online courses, or MOOCs, as they are known. This month, Stanford, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan announced their partnership with a new for-profit company, Coursera, with $16 million in venture capital.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Thrun, the Stanford professor who made headlines last fall when 160,000 students signed up for his Artificial Intelligence course, has attracted more than 200,000 students to the six courses offered at his new company, Udacity.

The technology for online learning, with video lesson segments, embedded quizzes, immediate feedback and student-paced learning, is evolving so quickly that those in the new ventures say the offerings are still experimental.

“My guess is that what we end up doing five years from now will look very different from what we do now,” said Provost Alan M. Garber of Harvard, who will be in charge of the university’s involvement.

EdX, which is expected to offer its first five courses this fall, will be overseen by a not-for-profit organization in Cambridge, owned and governed equally by the two universities, each of which has committed $30 million to the project. The first president of edX will be Anant Agarwal, director of M.I.T.’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, who has led the development of the MITx platform. At Harvard, Dr. Garber will direct the effort, with Michael D. Smith, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, working with faculty members to develop and deliver courses. Eventually, they said, other universities will join them in offering courses on the platform.

M.I.T. and Harvard officials emphasized that they would use the new online platform not just to build a global community of online learners, but also to research teaching methods and technologies. Online courses with thousands of students give researchers the ability to monitor students’ progress, they said, identifying what they click on and where they have trouble. Already, a researcher from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, using the M.I.T. Circuits course, found that students overwhelmingly preferred to read the handwritten notes of Professor Agarwal rather than the same notes presented on PowerPoint.

Education experts say that while the new online classes offer opportunities for students and researchers, they also pose some threat to low-ranked colleges.

“Projects like this can impact lives around the world, for the next billion students from China and India,” said George Siemens, a MOOC pioneer who teaches at Athabasca University, a publicly-supported online Canadian university. “But if I were president of a mid-tier university, I would be looking over my shoulder very nervously right now, because if a leading university offers a free Circuits course, it becomes a real question whether other universities need to develop a Circuits course.”

The edX project will include not only engineering courses, in which computer grading is relatively simple, but also humanities courses, in which essays might be graded through crowd-sourcing, or assessed with natural-language software. Coursera will also offer free humanities courses in which grading will be done by peers. In some ways, the new partnerships reprise the failed online education ventures of a decade ago. Columbia University introduced Fathom, a 2001 for-profit venture that involved the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan and others. It lost money and folded in 2003. Yale, Princeton and Stanford collaborated on AllLearn, a nonprofit effort that collapsed in 2006.

Many education experts are more hopeful about the new enterprises.

“Online education is here to stay, and it’s only going to get better,” said Lawrence S. Bacow, a past president of Tufts who is a member of the Harvard Corporation and a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Bacow, co-author of a new report on online learning, said it remained unclear how traditional universities would integrate the new technologies.

“What faculty don’t want to do is just take something off the shelf that’s somebody else’s and teach it, any more than they would take a textbook, start on Page 1, and end with the last chapter,” he said. “What’s still missing is an online platform that gives faculty the capacity to customize the content of their own highly interactive courses.”

Gelinas "Coffee House" Poetry Jam, Wednesday, May 2nd, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.