Google Books & Downloadables

There is a lot of talk around the Durham County Library recently about downloadables. Whare are downloadables you ask? First you have the ebook – a full-text version of a book. Then you have eAduio books which are spoken-word versions of books (sometimes abridged). Downloadables can also be music and video like iTunes offers.  The DCL is currently offering access to downloadables through our NC LIVE connection Shoot me an email if you need the password. But coming this fall we will be adding even more downloadable eAudio books through a new service called Overdrive. Watch for announcements on our website.

In the meantime, though you can always check out Google Books. Some of the books are full-text, while many are just a preview. If you need to read a classic for school or just want to get a taste of an author’s work before you come down to the library to check out some books, Google Books is a great place to browse around.

There are numerous online sites devoted to full-text books. Here is a link to a blog that is showing the 20 best websites to download free ebooks.

So check out an eBook, and then come see us if you really want to hold that book in your hands. -Jill

Web 2.0: Get your own blog!

If you’ve been reading this and other blogs and thought “I want my own blog” or “I could blog better than those librarians,” now is your chance and I’ll tell you how.

Getting your own blog is really, really easy. Companies like WordPress (who the Library blogs with) and Blogger (a part of Google) make signing up for a blog as easy as signing up for a free email account.

The steps are:

1) Decide what you are going to blog about. Food and cooking? Your family? Your pets? Your life? Gardening? Cars? The possibilities are endless, but it’s generally easier to keep up a blog with a theme, rather than just random thoughts.

2) Sign up for an account through WordPress, Blogger, or another free blogging site (www.livejournal.com, www.thoughts.com, and clearblogs.com are just a few of the others). Blogger and WordPress are the biggies, but you don’t have to pick them just because they are big. Check out some of the blogs each service hosts and see if you like the way those blogs look. You can also read over the different features the services offer to see which you think you like better.

For your account you will need:

• A user name
• A password
• An email address
• A blog name
• What you would like the web address of your blog to be (this can be the same as your blog name). Your blog’s website will have the host’s name in it. For example: something.wordpress.com or something.blogger.com.

3) Pick a template. While many popular blogs have a personalized design done by either the blogger or a paid programmer, blog hosting websites offer many different templates for you to chose from. The template will affect the color and look of your blog.

4) Blog.

Step 4 is the hardest part. Your friends and family will never read your blog if you don’t regularly post and you will never gain more readership if you don’t have regular posts. I was never good at keeping a diary or a journal (though I try with every New Year’s resolution), so I have to stick sticky notes around my computer to remind me to blog and it still doesn’t aways work.

Blogging is fun and a good way to keep in touch with friends and family. Many folks I know started a blog when they had a baby as a way to let their friends and family know. They could restrict viewers of their blog to their friends, update the blog with pictures, first words, etc. Remember, if you don’t restrict who can visit your blog, ANYONE can see it. Before you post your secrets, think of who can see them.

Enjoy your new blog!

–Jennifer

Have You Noticed the Reviews in the Catalog?

The next time you do a search in the catalog and click on a title, look on the left hand side of the page under Item Information.  For many titles, you can read excerpts from the first chapter, see reviews from Publishers’ Weekly, Library Journal and others, read a summary, and/or see the table of contents.  Try looking under Item Information for When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris and see what you find.  – Kathy