Does your kid love to play on your iPad? Show them TumbleBooks and get them reading while they stay connected to the internet! With over 250 animated, talking picture books, some of which even come in other languages, your child will love both reading and interacting with technology (and you can, too).
There are no downloads required – you just need to go to the library’s website, click on “Kids,” and click on “Tumblebooks” to get started reading. They’ve even got educational games, graphic novels, and more!
With Gale Virtual Reference Library, there’s no checking out and no waiting – every title can be fully accessed at any time, from any device that lets you access the internet. If you want to come back to something later, you can easily email a citation to yourself, or even save it to a cloud storage service like Google Drive or OneDrive.
The full text of every book and article is completely available, so start your research today on Gale Virtual Reference library – another resource that comes free with your library card.
OverDrive has come out with a brand-new app for library users – Libby!
It’s got lots of new features:
Quick and easy for first time users
Integrated reading and listening experience with OverDrive Read and OverDrive Listen
No Adobe ID or account registration required
Faster performance and powerful search
Same experience on all devices
Customizable browsing options to find the books you want faster
Simplified download settings
Fixed-layout and Read-Along eBook support
Support for eBook highlights and annotations
Custom lists for tagging books you love, want to read and more
Do you need Libby if you’ve already got the OverDrive app? No! You can keep using the OverDrive app if you’re comfortable with it. OverDrive is not planning to stop supporting the OverDrive app – Libby’s just a new option for people who want one.
Can you use both apps? If you want to, sure! Both apps will connect to your library account. However, they will not sync – so progress you make on a book in the OverDrive app won’t show up on the same title in Libby. So it’s probably best to stick with one or the other.
How are they different? Eventually, the only difference between Libby and the OG OverDrive app will be how they operate. Right now, OverDrive has a few more features that are still being incorporated into Libby, such as accessibility, Reading Rooms, Recommend to Library, and multilingual support. If you make regular use of any of those features, stick with OverDrive for now. OverDrive users will be invited in-app to try out Libby later in the year.
Check out the following video to learn more about it, and remember that you can always call your friendly neighborhood reference librarians at (225)231-3750 for help getting started with library databases.
Get that novel out of the drawer and self-publish it for free at the library!
We’ve got several electronic platforms that, individually or in concert, will be perfect for your creative brainchild. If you want to standardize your book’s digital formatting and make sure it reads the way you want, check out Pressbooks! You can upload a file or even just copy and paste what you’re working on, and export a shiny new file in the format of your choice when you’re finished.
From Pressbooks, you can send your book to SELF-e for publication in the library’s ebook collection! SELF-e is an ebook submission platform managed by Library Journal. It’s completely free to submit to, and if your book is selected for publication (almost all are), it will be included in the East Baton Rouge Parish Library’s Biblioboard collection. They’ve recently revamped the submission process to make it easier and more streamlined than ever!
Your book could even be chosen as a Library Journal Select Title,
meaning it would be shared with collections across the country – or anywhere a library has signed up for the Biblioboard service. We’ll be able to feature it in a variety of collections. You can use your profile on Biblioboard to grow your readership and support your new career as a published author!
It’s time to get that novel out of the bottom drawer of your desk, dust it off, and get it published – with the library’s new self-publishing duo, SELF-e and Biblioboard.
When you submit a book to SELF-e, it goes through a low-key review process by Library Journal – mostly just to check for file formatting errors and very basic readability standards, like the occasional presence of verbs. Some books are chosen as “Select” titles, which are shared with Biblioboard users across the country.
All accepted titles, though, will be published to the East Baton Rouge Parish Library’s Biblioboard collection. Readers will be able to add them to favorites lists, comment on their favorite parts, and share their opinions with other Biblioboard users – it’s kind of like Goodreads, but the books are already there, too.
SELF-e and Biblioboard are great resources for everyone who’s interested in reading and connecting with local authors – and for those authors who want to reach more readers with their self-published works. Try them today, or check out our infoguide for more information!
If you’re hoping for some shiny new electronics this Crimbo and you need some other uses for them besides “Paperweight: Fancy Executive Style,” may I suggest free stuff from the library?
GET EXCITED
Books!
OverDrive – One-stop shop for all your ebook and audiobook needs! Can you call something a “shop” if it’s free? You get the idea.
One Click Digital – EVEN MORE ebooks and audiobooks! If it’s not in OverDrive, it might be here. There is no overlap in the two collections, providing you with even more content.
Magazines!
Zinio – Digital copies of all your favorite periodicals! Beyoncé is in here, y’all. This is not a drill.
Beyoncé was on the cover of Vogue and Vogue is in here.
It still counts.
Make sure you get the “Zinio for Libraries” app instead of the just-plain-Zinio one!
Flipster – Kind of like Overdrive and One Click Digital, this is a supplementary digital magazine collection – this one is easier to use, and doesn’t require you to download the magazine!
This could be us, but you playing.
Movies! (Some of these are not apps, but you can still get to them from the library’s home page and watch them on your…whatever you have.)
IndieFlix – Short and full-length indie films you can access with your library card!
OverDrive – EVEN MORE THINGS (what can’t it do?) (Wash dishes, that’s what.) (But it can suggest some resources on how to keep your house clean.)
Languages! The linked infoguide has information about most of our language learning provided software, like Mango, Muzzy (a great resource for kids!), ESL, and Signing Savvy! We’ve also got Pronunciator.
Have you tried Gale Virtual Reference Library yet? It’s a great eBook database in our Digital Library for all your reference needs. You can search by subject or keyword. The GVRL collection also includes an extensive list of titles in the “Complete Idiot’s Guide” series, including books on language learning, computer help, health, cooking, crafts, and more.
The books are available 24-7 and you don’t need to download them so they won’t take up any space on your computer or handheld device. All you need in order to access the collection is a library card and an Internet connection. You can even download specific chapters for later use as PDF files. Check out Gale Virtual Reference Library today!
Join us and other libraries worldwide as together we take part in a huge community read of the inspiring true story Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard by Laura Bates. The Big Library Read program started March 17 and will run through March 31. During this time, the eBook will be available for simultaneous use, which means no holds or waiting lists. We will have unlimited eBook copies of the book available through OverDrive. Check out a copy and join our Big Library eBook Read today!
Here’s a description of the book:
Shakespeare professor and prison volunteer Laura Bates thought she had seen it all. That is, until she decided to teach Shakespeare in a place the bard had never been before — supermax solitary confinement. In this unwelcoming place, surrounded by inmates known as the worst of the worst, is Larry Newton. A convicted murderer with several escape attempts under his belt and a brilliantly agile mind on his shoulders, Larry was trying to break out of prison at the same time Laura was fighting to get her program started behind bars.
Thus begins the most unlikely of friendships, one bonded by Shakespeare and lasting years—a friendship that, in the end, would save more than one life.
Just in time for our spring 2015 One Book, One Community reading of A Confederacy of Duncesby Louisiana author John Kennedy Toole, we have a new selection of Louisiana titles available in our OverDrive collection. We also have OverDrive copies available of Dunces and a great line-up of programs for all ages this spring. All you need is your library card to log in and download an eBook or audiobook today!
This spring’s One Book, One Community selection is A Confederacy of Duncesby Louisiana author John Kennedy Toole. In celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize winner’s publication, we have a great series of programs for all ages centered around this New Orleans classic.
Join us downtown this Saturday, February 28, as we kick off our spring 2015 One Book, One Community celebration with a New Orleans-style street party in Town Square. The family-friendly party is from 6 to 9 and will feature music from the Mike Foster Project, food trucks, face painting, fortune telling, and fun. See you Saturday!
Check out our Dunces InfoGuide for more on the book, the author, and the series of events we have for you this spring.
