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Written on: September 18th, 2009 in Blog Posts
Who knew? This past week was Book Blogger Appreciation Week, and the awards were announced today.
Written on: September 18th, 2009 in
One person who responded to a recent user poll about usage of new item email alerts noted, in effect, that there are so many new books on offer each week that it is hard to pick, and they would like to be able to read reviews of some of these items to help make their selections.
Fortunately, the Delaware Library Catalog does offer access to a wide range of reviews, from highly-regarded journals, trade magazines, and library users themselves. In most full item records, you can see a “look inside” tab, which includes brief reviews from School Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus and others, as well as a variety of icons that link to fuller review content. The “N” icon that heads up this post, for instance, links to our NoveList+ reader’s advisory service, and if you see this icon in a record, clicking on it will connect you to the full reviews for that specific title.
The three minute video below highlights how to access the reviews that are available in the Catalog (there’s a full-screen view icon available at the lower right of the screen):
Written on: September 17th, 2009 in News
September 17th marks the day on which 39 men signed a document that changed the course of history.
The National Constitution Center has created a full day of activities and observances to encourage everyone to consider the significance and impact of that act. You can see their program at this link. The Library of Congress has an ongoing exhibit, Creating the United States, with a website that features Constitution-related resources and interactives.
And of course, Delaware has a unique historical significance when it comes to the Constitution. Delaware’s Ratification Convention met in late November 1787, and their speedy approval of the document is what makes Delaware the First State. The Delaware Public Archives is the repository for many of the letters and agreements that document these events- including the image seen here, an imagining of the scene at Battell’s Tavern on the Green in Dover during the ratification convention- and they are available to Delawareans online, or at the Archives building in Dover.
UPDATE: The University of Delaware Library has also produced a resource guide for educators to support classroom observance and study of Constitution Day
Written on: September 16th, 2009 in Blog Posts
Click on the links below to get lists of new items available from the Delaware Library Catalog in various formats (lists will open in a new window):
Thanks for participating in last week’s poll for users who receive email notices for new item links. There was a tremendous response, nearly all positive, and a number of great suggestions were made about ways in which we could refine the notifications- some of which could well be possible. I’ll respond to some of the suggestions over the next few days with further blog postings, and you can read a summary of the results in yesterday’s “survey says…” blog post.
Written on: September 15th, 2009 in Blog Posts
Governor Markell is a good sport. Check out his letter to bestselling author M.T. Anderson regarding his most recent book- “Jasper Dash and the Flame Pits of Delaware” concerning the author’s creative inaccuracies regarding Delaware’s geography and culture…
Letter from Governor Jack Markell to M.T. Anderson
Written on: September 15th, 2009 in Blog Posts
Over the weekend, the Division of Libraries surveyed library patrons currently receiving weekly new item notifications by email. About 150 patrons were asked to complete an eight-question online survey so we could gauge satisfaction with the service and gather any opinions and comments that might help us to improve the service.
More than 50 patrons responded to the survey- which is an excellent response rate for this kind of thing- and the results were very encouraging. 40 patrons agreed that receiving the weekly notices “help you use your library better”, which is just about the goal of everything we try to do for library patrons in the Delaware Library Catalog.
30 patrons check out at least one of the new item links every time they receive the notification. Only 3 respondents never use the links, and the rest click on links occasionally. Most of the respondents have been receiving the notification emails for less than a year.
The best part of the survey were the open ended responses and comments that were submitted:
I am very pleased with the DE library system and have been using it since 1990 without a problem Thank you,Janet W.
I love the online services offered and have found it very convenient & helpful…Thanks for the good work!
It is a pleasure to access and use the library’s on-line services. It is how I look for books and other materials.
And thank you all very much for the support- we appreciate and value it.
Other comments included concrete suggestions as well:
Enjoy the easy to use website and links. Like to use the net library media center and would like to see notification of new electronic resources available and lots more titles available.
I’m glad to hear that netlibrary is a valued service- we’re looking to make some improvements to this service to make it easier to access and use, and increase awareness about it. There’s an older blog post about some of these new features at this link– and you will start to see a new link in the weekly updates for new e-audio books added- we don’t add these on a weekly basis, so you may not see this new link for a few weeks. Thanks for the suggestion.
I like ordering books from home but wish there was more info about the story/novel. It is hard to tell what the book is about by just the title.Thanks for asking.
We do offer a few ways of getting reviews and other information about some of these new books- look for a more substantial blog post later on this week about accessing the content that is available in the catalog records and how to read reviews in our NoveList database. Most newly added books do not yet have review content from LibraryThing, but for books that have been around for a little while, you can often read reviews written by other library patrons and readers, or be the first to add one and help out your fellow library users. You can check this link for instructions on how to use LibraryThing in the catalog.
i appreciate receiving the catalog electronically. I would also like to receive other email notices, e.g., items i have placed on hold. It would be helpful if the ‘new books’ were listed alphabetically by author and by subject. thank you.
If you have an email address on record with your local library, you should receive a number of email notices- for items about to be due, notices of holds becoming available, and others. If may be possible to deliver the list in a sorted format, and I’ll investigate further- if you have any opinions on this you can add a comment below.
I would like to receive emails when my requested holds come in, and when library receives new books by my favorite authors. How can I do this?
As noted above, you should be receiving emails concerning available holds- it is also possible to receive new item notifications for authors and subjects that you are interested in. You can see instructions at this link. This is one of my favorite features- it’s certainly helpful as far as getting a hold request in early for items that are in demand.
Thank you so much for your assistance with improving YOUR library catalog. You can always send us feedback by sending an email message to our feedback email
Written on: September 14th, 2009 in Reviews
Two notable books reviewed in this weekend’s New York Times are based, solemnly and appropriately for the weekend of the 9-11 commemorations, in the aftermath of America’s response to the attacks, one in Afghanistan, the other at least in part, in Iraq.
John Krakauer’s long-delayed, much anticipated biography of Pat Tillman, Where Men Win Glory gets a mixed review- mostly because Krakauer has written a full-length biography of Tillman, the pro football player who walked away from his NFL contract to become an Army Ranger, and who died in a still-controversial “friendly fire” incident in Afghanistan in 2004, rather than just focusing on his military service. This makes for an unusual combination in which Krakauer juxtaposes Tillman’s childhood, college football stardom, and his move into pro football with the rise of Al Qaeda during the same period, with disconcerting pairings of benchmarks and accomplishments for both.
The other work, similar in some ways, is Shake the Devil Off, by Ethan Browne, the true story of Zachery Bowen, who served in both Kosovo and Iraq, and who returned to his native New Orleans and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina brutally killed his girlfriend and then took his own life. Lisa Scottoline has written a nuanced review of this complex book that you can read here
Finally, on a lighter note, the review section also includes Lev Grossman’s The Magicians (which I am hoping to finish and return in the next day or so!) I’ll have to admit that I didn’t like Grossman’s previous novel, Codex, at all- but the Magicians is a great ride so far. The basic concept is a knowing twist on Harry Potter, Narnia, and all of the pantheon of classic fantasy- what if magic really existed, and young magicians went to a Hogwarts-like academy to improve their skills and become masters of the manipulation of reality? What do they do when they graduate and return to the real world, which remains ordinary, despoiled, and stunting?
Written on: September 11th, 2009 in Reviews
Kudos to Gale/Cengage for publishing a very positive review of EBSCOs GreenFILE- a rival company’s product:
EBSCO once again made another important indexing/abstracting database freely available to librarians, other information professionals and the entire public (that cares). It deserves more up-to-date information than is currently offered by EBSCO because its content was good at the start, and grew by 25% since the launch of the database…
GreenFILE is a free service– available to anyone online, and a good starting point for anyone interested in researching environmental issues using abstracts or summaries of articles from the thousands of journals and magazines that are digitized by EBSCO and delivered online through library websites. If you’re a Delaware resident, you can follow up your research in GreenFILE by using your library card number and PIN to log in to Environment Complete, a more fully-featured EBSCO database that offers full-text versions of the articles abstracted in GreenFILE
Written on: September 11th, 2009 in Blog Posts
Written on: September 10th, 2009 in News
On Tuesday September 15th at 7.30 pm, the Delaware Department of Justice presents a free live Web Seminar with Jean Chatzky, Personal Financial Expert, financial editor for NBC’s Today and frequent contributor to The Oprah Winfrey Show, who has been working with people and their money for decades. Her experiences have inspired books on topics ranging from money to happiness. In her latest effort, Chatzky provides insights on how to thrive in a tough economic climate.
Join us on September 15, 2009 at 7:30 PM for this free hour-long interactive Web Seminar as Jean shares tips to help you save more money, safely invest the money you save and answers your financial questions. You register for the webinar and watch a preview at this link.
This program is sponsored by the Securities Unit of the Delaware Department of Justice and is funded solely through fines and fees collected by the Securities Unit.
And don’t forget, the Delaware Library Catalog offers a number of resources to help Delawareans cope with the pressures of the current economy, from free online access to magazines and periodicals, our recession resources guide, a virtual career center, access to education and vocational testing online, and selected financial literacy reading lists.
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