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Written on: May 18th, 2009 in News, Reviews
May 19th:
May 20th:
May 21st:
Dates courtesy of the excessively useful NYT “on this day” website.
Written on: May 18th, 2009 in News
This week’s installment of one of our regular features: Click on the links below to get lists of new items available from the DLC in various formats:
All New Items
New Audio Books
New Books
New DVDs
UPDATE: The new audio book listing now includes items in the very convenient Playaway format. If you aren’t familiar, Playaway books are digitally recorded versions that are packaged onto a sturdy, solid-state playback device. All you need are headphones. Thanks to the blog reader who alerted me to the fact that they weren’t listed with the other audio books!
While you’re here, take a look at some of the other recent posts in the Delaware Library Catalog blog- this week we’ve added stories about books in the news, trials for electronic resources, and how-to’s on downloadable e-audiobooks!
Written on: May 17th, 2009 in News, Reviews
Another reminder about reviews- you can write reviews for books you have checked out from the Delaware Library Catalog by clicking the “see reviews/add a review” link in any full record. It’s a two step process to set up a private account and submit reviews for publication- they’ll appear in the catalog almost immediately, and you can also publish them to your personal blog or facebook account.
Delaware Library Catalog patrons have recently reviewed Water Touching Stone, Muse of Fire , the Monkey’s Raincoat among other titles. You can read the reviews in full in the left-hand column of the page.
Written on: May 17th, 2009 in Reviews
Here are some selections from today’s New York Times book reviews, with links to the Delaware Library Catalog record so you can check availability, place holds, etc.:
Today’s reviews included a really strong review for Horse soldiers, by Doug Stanton. This is for readers who prefer red-blooded military history with a Chesty Puller, “Nuts!” flavor, although while this is a story about heroes, and far from being an analytical work, the book doesn’t avoid talking about higher-level strategy and policy failure in the Afghanistan conflict. You can read the full review here.
Not being a nautical type, I did not know that there even was a difference between flotsam and jetsam! Flotsametrics, by Curtis Ebbesmeyer summarizes four decades of the author’s research into understanding global ocean currents by tracing human garbage on the high seas.
America may have elected its first black President last year, but in 2005 an African glass ceiling was shattered with the election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as president of Liberia, and as Africa’s first female president. Her biography, This Child will be Great was recently published to no little acclaim. Liberia is a traditionally very patriarchal society, still recovering from a very recent and monstrously destructive civil and regional war. That Sirleaf survived is itself remarkable- she was a member of the LIberian government during two separate coups led by two different murderous lunatics- but to live through that experience and commit to rebuilding her shattered and still precarious society is awe-inspiring.
The 20th anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen Square massacre will be observed in a couple of weeks, and while we won’t be seeing “Prisoner of the State”, former Chinese premiere Zhao Ziyang’s account of the democracy protests in American for a while (they’ve not been translated yet), the discussion surrounding this book reminds me of the reason why freedom to read and to access information is vital to society- this book, by itself, may create a whole new understanding of a critical event in modern history and have a dramatic effect in China itself.
Written on: May 15th, 2009 in News
So the lesson is: if James Patterson wrote a history book or two, he would be able to buy a number of small U.S. states from the proceeds…
Alternatively, here are some searches from our Delaware Technical and Community College patrons:
and here it is again without psychology!
Written on: May 15th, 2009 in News
You may be familiar with our downloadable e-audiobooks service- we subscribe to NetLibrary for access to hundreds of titles, mostly unabridged digital audio books.
You can see a brief demonstration of how to search for e-Audiobooks in the Delaware Library Catalog here, or view it below (click on the icon in the lower right of the screen for full-screen view):
To summarize: logged-in patrons can search the ebooks collection by checking the “search the E-content collection” box under the main search panel and then entering their search or browse terms as usual. Titles that are available for download are listed as [electronic resources] and when the full record is viewed, clicking the blue “eCheckout” link:
OCLC and NetLibrary recently announced their new Media Library, a downloadable interface which provides enhanced search capabilities along with options to download to iPod or other compatible devices.
Once you have searched in the catalog and clicked the echeckout link, you will be connected to NetLibrary, where you’ll be asked to enter your NetLibrary account name and password (or create one if this is your first visit). You can then select either to download the selected title to your computer, where it will play using windows audio or another compatible service, or click this link
to download it to a portable device such as an iPod, iPhone or other compatible device.
The first time you do this you will be asked to download the NetLibrary Media Center to your computer. You can click here for a four-minute online demo on installation and use. You can skip the first minute or so, because this part of the presentation deals with connecting to NetLibrary from the web, rather than from the library catalog.
Written on: May 12th, 2009 in Learning Journeys
Honoré here: In early April, Annie shared with us a report*: 2009 Horizon Report: The K12 Edition – the web version. I quickly scanned the Table of Contents – liked so much that it was right there, up top in prime real estate or as it's called in web parlance – above the fold section of the computer screen. Chapter 11: Four to Five Years: The Personal Web immediately caught my attention. Not only was I interested in today's web 2.0 tools: blogs, tweets, personal videos and photos that one sees on YouTube or Flickr, nings – social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace, I was taken back to the beginning of my web/Internet learning journey, circa 1997.
Then, we were still in the land of DOS; monitor screens were black with yellow or orange text. Boring! Email was all the rage and Netscape – the premiere Internet browser – was in its infancy, destined to revolutionize the way people used computers, accessed and viewed information. Truly, the world became small. Even though I was a public library branch manager and worked a lot on the information desk, we didn't have computers outfitted with the Internet and actually, very few people in the system had any experience or training…but, we were warned that wasn't always going to be the case.
I recall my curiosity was piqued with it all and, I must admit, perhaps I was a little (lot?) intimidated. So, what does one do? Well, in my situation, I turned to my trusty resource: books. I scoured the library's then meager collection and bookstores. I looked for titles that would help me unravel the mystery of how this thing called the Internet and www – the world wide web – would play out, not only in my work/professional life but also, and most importantly, my personal life. And I discovered Paul Gilster: a writer who specializes in computers and technology. I'm not sure if the first title I read was Finding It On the Internet or the Web Navigator – unfortunately, I didn't keep a journal or reading log way back then – or if I did, I've long since lost my notes. I do recall two things though: 1 – I read all the titles he'd written at the time, 3 or 4; and 2 - he shared with us not only the technical stuff and jargon but more importantly, how he used the Internet/web tools to create his own personal web resources and experiences. In short, he shared the process with us, his readers, in a very conversational and informational style. The outcome: I could envision myself using the Internet and surfing the web; I no longer was intimidated but empowered to embrace this new phenomenon and began to explore and experiment more.
Today, I'm perfectly comfortable with embracing – trying out – these new web tools, not every one because they don't all appeal to me – but I do look into them so that I'll have a better understanding and I can grow my own knowledge. I am really awed and inspired by the Internet and the web 2.0 tools – they do bring the world closer and make it so much smaller while at the same time, infinitely expand our horizons and current and potential learning journeys. What a glorious world. BTW: I also keep better track of what I read and my learning paths. 
Cheers~
*PS. Even though the report is targeted to teachers, I think it's a great read for us all…
Written on: May 12th, 2009 in News
Click on the links below to get lists of new items available from the DLC in various formats:
All New Items
New Audio Books
New Books
New DVDs
Written on: May 10th, 2009 in Reviews
I was excited to see a big article on Amy Krouse Rosenthal in today’s NYT Review! They must have seen my March posting about what a wonderful author she is! Read the article, but this is the thing to take away:
Her books radiate fun the way tulips radiate spring: they are elegant and spirit-lifting
Also in this weeks reviews:
Bad Mother, essays by Ayalet Waldman about motherhood and marriage.
Nobody Move! by Denis Johnson, a “pop-art crime noir” originally written as a serial for Playboy magazine
Vanished Smile, by R.A. Scotti, an investigation of the mysterious 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa
Written on: May 6th, 2009 in News
The Free Library opened its Rare Book Room for attendees at today’s conference. They were particularly showcasing their collection of early (14-15th Century) music scores, but it was also a nice opportunity to meet Grip- Charles Dickens’ pet raven, who watches over the collection.
(it’s a cellphone shot, so apologies about the quality)
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