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Support Wisconsin Libraries
Issue: 11
   Oct-Dec 2011
Greetings!

Greetings from the Milwaukee County Federated Library System (MCFLS)!  

  

I promised to keep you updated regrding the statewide project to greatly expand offerings of digital downloads of electronic books (e-books) in 2012. I am happy to report that MCFLS and all public libraries in Milwaukee County are participating in the statewide program to purchase $1 million in new content for the Digital Download Center (http://dbooks.wplc.info ) sponsored by the Wisconsin Public Library Consortium (WPLC).  You can also access the Digital Download Center through CountyCat (http://countycat.mcfls.org)  

 

In addition to the $700,000 in funding from the state's 17 library systems and their 385 member public libraries, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has earmarked $300,000 for the e-book purchasing pool with anticipated federal LSTA grant funds awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The Digital Download Center now offers about 5,000 titles, but this collection will grow dramatically in 2012. The $1 million infusion will make this a very robust online library of downloadable materials.  While all new titles will not be available immediately, the purchase of new titles has already begun and will continue throughout 2012 and beyond.

 

The Digital Download Center offers e-books, audiobooks, videos and music that you can download to devices like iPods and other MP3 players, Kindles, Sony eReaders, Nooks, and iPads (to name just a few). For a complete list of supported devices, visit http://overdrive.com/resources/drc/.

Happy Holidays!

 

Jim Gingery

Director

Milwaukee County Federated Library System   

NEW 3 WEEK CHECKOUTS FOR OVERDRIVE EBOOKS

OverDrive Holds and Checkouts also Expanded    

MCFLS Logo
At it's last meeting, the WPLC board approved recommendations for the following: 

  • Increasing the number of OverDrive checkouts per person to 10
  • Increasing the number of OverDrive holds per person to 10 
  • Adding a 21 day checkout option for OverDrive eBooks (note: this will not be an option for audiobooks)

These changes have gone into effect and are available from this point forward.  For more information on using OverDrive downloadable media such as eBooks and audiobooks, see the OverDrive page available here.   

MILWAUKEE COUNTY TEEN BOOK NOMINEES ARE OUT
MCFLS Logo Voting runs through March 1, 2012
 
The MCFLS Young Adult Services Committee is excited to announce the 2012 nominee titles for the Milwaukee County Teen Book Award! The MCTBA was started by the YASC in 2009 to promote teen reading and literature by highlighting and awarding books published for teens of both quality and appeal. The fifteen nominees for 2012 were selected from titles published for teens between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011.

 

The 2012 MCTBA Nominees are:

 

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Starcrossed by Elizabeth Bunce

Stay by Deb Caletti

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

Shine by Lauren Myracle

Trapped by Michael Northrop

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

 

 

Teens will be able to vote for their favorite title(s) through March 1, 2012. Votes for the 2012 MCTBA may be submitted via email to mctba.votes@gmail.com, via mail to the West Allis Public Library c/o Katie Hubbard, or dropped off in person at teens' local Milwaukee County library. Look for ballots and more information online at http://mctba.wordpress.com/ soon!

 

The winning titles will be announced April 1, 2012.

 

The 2011 MCFLS YASC MCTBA Committee is:
Emily Alford, Greenfield Public Library
Beth Henika, North Shore Public Library

Heather Holton, Cudahy Family Library

Katie Hubbard, West Allis Public Library

Richmond Kinney, Shorewood Public Library

Megan Markiewicz, West Allis Public Library
Tiffany Wait, Shorewood Public Library 
FEATURED DATABASE:
EBSCO REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS (BADGERLINK)

EBSCO Greenfile Free information resources for you!

 

Regional Business News provides full text for nearly 100 regional U.S. and Canadian business publications (including titles from Crain Communications).  


EBSCO Regional Business News is available statewide as part of the Badgerlink project of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning. To give Regional Business News a try, click on the logo above.

 

LEXILE READING MEASURES ADDED TO COUNTYCAT
MCFLS Logo Ratings based on information in 115,000 titles
Lexile Reading Measures have been added to CountyCat.  A Lexile measure is a piece of information about either an individual's reading ability or the difficulty of a text, like a book or magazine article. The Lexile measure is shown as a number with an "L" after it - 880L is 880 Lexile.

A book, article or piece of text gets a Lexile text measure when it's analyzed by MetaMetrics. For example, the first "Harry Potter" book measures 880L, so it's called an 880 Lexile book. The Lexile measures in CountyCat are based on more than 115,000 ISBNs to which Lexile measures have been assigned by MetaMetrics.

For more information on Lexile Reading Measures and where to find them in CountyCat, please click here.