eBooks Your Library Does Have

eLibraryNJ

I enjoy reading eBooks on my iPad. Even though every publisher does not make them available to libraries there are many  that do.

I just finished reading Lots of Cake, Plenty of Candles by 1970 graduate of  South Brunswick High School, Anna Quindlen.  This very popular fiction writer (Every Last One) takes a look back at her life and times in this insightful and heartfelt memoir written as she turns 60.  I waited less than a week to download this title since South Brunswick Library owns their own copy for South Brunswick patrons only.

Since I was already listening to The Hunger Games , which the library also owns, the wait did not seem so long.

As I was getting to the end of Lots of Cake, I searched around for another eBook, thinking I might have to wait.

I found Both of Us My Life With Farrah by Ryan ONeal was available for download.  I like biographies in general so I thought I would take a chance on this even though it was not my usual read.  I found the story absorbing.  Tragedy and folly combined.

Always login first with your library card number and pin so that you can find the books that South Brunswick Library has purchased.

I just used the Advanced Search in eLibraryNJ and set it to Format eBooks and checked the box for 'Only Show Titles with copies available'.  I found : If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't) by Betty White, Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, a swashbuckling YA adventure and Dead Reckoning by Charlain Harris which according to Booklist is "Sookie Stackhouse's supernatural southern adventures". All of these were available for immediate download.

I downloaded The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler and am reading that while I wait for:  America's Constitution  A Biography by Akhil Reed Amar, Turing's Cathedral The Origins of the Digital Universe by George Dyson, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey  The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castleby The Countess of Carnarvon and Gathering Blue The Giver Trilogy, Book 2

by Lois Lowry.

So, the moral of the story is, try it. Not every high demand title is available from your library since publishers demur, but we have a lot!

If you want to find out more about downloading eBooks and Audiobooks to your mobile device contact us for for help.

Also, Tuesday, June 5, 6:30-8pm there will be a class on using your mobile device to download eBooks. Call the Information Desk at 732-329-4000 extension 7286 to register or register online .

Contact: Mary Donne Head of Information Services

When it comes to eBooks, there's NOT eNOUGH

 Ever wonder why many of your favorite authors aren’t available in an eBook or eAudiobook format from New Jersey libraries? The answer might surprise you. 
 
The policies of the major publishers concerning selling eBooks to libraries are all different. Your library has to deal with policies like:

• Publishers who refuse to sell eBooks and/or eAudiobooks to libraries;

• Publishers who charge libraries as much as 5 times more than consumers for the same digital content;

• Publishers who embargo their content and will not sell to libraries any newly published digital content;

• Publishers who make digital content available in only some formats (ePub but not Kindle for example).

For years libraries have worked hand in hand with publishers. That relationship has now changed drastically and we find ourselves unable to deliver the digital content library patrons want.

If you would like to let your favorite author and their publisher know that you want to be able to continue to read favorite authors and discover new authors at the library, click here to find a sample letter you can send to them.

POLICIES OF MAJOR PUBLISHERS:
MacMillan Publishing refuses to sell eBooks to libraries. Some of its authors are Keith Ablow, Barbara Ehrenreich, Steve Hamilton, Orson Scott Card, Lisa Lillien, and Tatiana de Rosnay.

Hachette Book Group will only sell some eBooks to libraries. Some that are not available include James Patterson, Don Winslow, and Pseudonymous Bosch.

Simon and Schuster refuses to sell eBooks to libraries. Some of their authors include Jodi Picoult, Mary Higgins Clark, Vince Flynn, Stephen King, Mark R. Levin, Jeffery Deaver, Brad Thor, and Glenn Beck. The new Steve Jobs biography is also one of its titles.

Penguin Group formerly sold to the library community and now will only sell us some titles in some formats. In November 2011, Penguin decided to stop selling new titles to libraries, but agreed to continue selling copies of titles libraries already owned. It revised that decision in early February and gave libraries across the country until the end of the day to order titles before it would stop selling to libraries altogether. Many authors have books under the Penguin imprint ,including  John Green, Harlan Coben, Lee Child, J.R. Ward, Anne Lamott, Clive Cussler, Kathryn Stockett, Robert B. Parker, Stephen King, W.E.B. Griffin, Catherine Coulter, Jodi Picoult, Nevada Barr, Patricia Cornwell, Charlaine Harris and Julie Garwood.

Random House recently more than tripled the prices for its eBook titles. Random House authors include John Grisham, Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, Stephen Hawking, Margaret Atwood, Danielle Steel, Jeff Lindsay, E L James, Suze Orman, Linda Howard, Kay Hooper, James Ellroy, Amitav Ghosh, and Karen Robards. Most eBooks from Random House now cost libraries from $45 to $75 per title.

HarperCollins Publishers began licensing use of each eBook copy for a maximum of 26 loans in March of 2011. Authors include Meg Cabot, Sara Shepard, Tim Tebow, Diane Mott Davidson, S.J. Watson, Lauren Oliver, C.S. Lewis, and L.J. Smith.

If you would like to let your favorite author and their publisher know that you want to be able to continue to read favorite authors and discover new authors at the library, click here to find a sample letter you can send to them.

This Week at the SBPL I Discovered … How to Help Myself!

Last Saturday night I was up late watching television and as I surfed through the channels, not looking for anything in particular, an infomercial by motivational speaker Tony Robbins caught my eye. I landed here for awhile. I watched and listened to the captivating sales pitch and urgent outreach.

The price tag was big enough to require installments and I thought what a shame. As I listened to the announcer’s push to call right now, I thought, “I bet the library has something by Tony Robbins … for free!” And, we do. Actually we have three double audio cassette packages. They are not the latest in Robbins collection, but who cares? I listened to all of them on my commute to and from work and was surely motivated to do better, think better, feel better, but what really felt the best right off the bat was that I got my shot in the arm for free! Thanks to the Library.



Feeling better through your own efforts is what self-help propaganda is all about. By using the library instead of my wallet, I added bonus feel-better points right up front. I got my pep talk with zero installments, free and clear! While the self-help gurus probably won’t mention this (no) payment option in their infomercials (understandably, they are trying to make a living after all and I do not begrudge them), getting my boost for free…helped me feel successful and richer right away!

Do you need a helping hand in your personal life? At no charge at all? Just walk to Row 26 in our book collection at South Brunswick Public Library (we also have some A/V on the other side of the Library’s main floor, across from the DVD collection. In Row 26 you will find the comfort of friends such as Dr. Phil, Joel Olsteen, Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, and Jack Canfield, among many more.



Topics in self-help (Dewey numbers in the 150s) touch topics of interest including happiness, health, self-esteem, love, weight loss, energy, budgeting, parenting(find more parenting resources in the Children’s Dept.), and of course relationships of all kinds.



So the next time that you feel the need for a little self-help, start feeling good first by taking your Library card out of your wallet and not your credit card.



Have a happy day! 

Mind & Body Videos

You might know that South Brunswick Libary has the "Mind & Body" public health DVD series from the South Brunswick Health Department.  You might have even known that they just made these available at  www.sbtnj.net by clicking on the Health Department tab on the top right.

But, did you know that when you search for any of these health topics in the library catalog you will also find the videos for instant viewing.

Try going to our online catalog and  typing the keywords: parents teenagers cars. You will find a video with those words in the title and a URL link below it. Click on the link and you will open a window with the video in it. Click on play  to view it.

There are videos on parenting, bullying, vaccines and many other important health and community issues.

If you have any questions please let us know at 'Ask-A-Librarian' on our website.

Mary Donne
Head of Information Services
South Brunswick Library

This Week at the SBPL I Discovered … The Hindenburg Disaster.

“Oh, the humanity!”


Local Resident Remembers: The Hindenburg Disaster
Jo Yatauro of Dayton recalls hearing many a family story about the Hindenburg disaster as she grew up. Years before she was born, her mother and grandparents lived and worked in the area. They were very much a part of the day-to-day at the Lakehurst Naval Airfield in southern New Jersey, but that was until the German airship Hindenburg burst into flames there on May 6, 1937.

The tragedy was front page news around the world and made especially famous by the spectacular film footage and dramatic radio coverage by reporter Herbert Morrison, known for his impassioned comment that day “Oh, the humanity!”

The disaster ended large passenger airship travel in favor of airplanes, but for Jo’s family it was life-changing and became folklore for the generations to come.

At the time, Jo’s mother Mary Ellen Kearns Jeduel was just a teenager and worked as an assistant to an airship captain. Jo’s uncle, Edward Joseph Kearns, brother of Mary Ellen, worked among the ground crew. Lucky for Jo, neither was hurt on May 6, but many of their friends and co-workers were not as lucky.

Jo’s grandmother, who had an inn near the airfield, regularly fed the pilots and crews who passed through, enjoying many happy occasions with her customers. But, on May 6 it was where many of these same people were brought for emergency medical treatment in the aftermath.

Two years later, Jo’s mother started a new life. She moved to East Brunswick where she became a nurse and started a family. This is where Jo was born and raised. Life went on, but Mary Ellen never forgot that part of her life and kept a scrapbook to hold the memories. That day long remembered is now 75 years ago.

All but one of the family’s eyewitnesses has since passed away. Jo’s Aunt Helen, who was 14 on that day and now lives in Florida, has been consulted for the books Ships in the Sky: the story of the great dirigibles by John Toland and Lighter Than Air by David Owen.

By sharing the memories once quietly kept in a scrapbook in the attic, Jo hopes that her children and grandchildren will appreciate the family’s place in history. After displaying at the South Brunswick Public Library, she will donate the fragile collection of yellowed news clippings and photographs to the Lakehurst History Museum for their preservation.

By Rosemary Gohd, PR/Marketing

Learning Express Library

LearningExpress Library provides everyone, from elementary students to adult learners, with instant access to the most comprehensive collection of test preparation tools, skill-building materials, and career resources available. Over 1,000 online practice tests and interactive skill-building tutorials are available, along with more than 200 eBook titles-all developed by expert academic and industry professionals.

This is a free service to South Brunswick Library card holders.     
It is available on our website at E-Books & More under our E-Services menu.


With today's global economy and emphasis on 21st century skills, LearningExpress Library™ helps patrons of all ages prepare for success in life by meeting a broad range of educational and career-oriented needs  including: preparing for professional certification, licensing, and aptitude tests in health care, civil service/government, law enforcement, firefighting, EMS, military, and real estate, school testing and more.


Improve workplace skills such as resume building, interviewing techniques, job search and assessment, business writing, and core computer skills

Achieve higher scores on college entrance exams such as the ACT and SAT, and improve performance on Advanced Placement (AP) exams.

Prepare for graduate school admissions tests such as the GMAT, GRE, LSAT, and MCAT.

Improve proficiency levels in reading, writing, and math for elementary, middle, and high school students as well as adult learners

LearningExpress Library 2.0, gives you access to:

Individual Learning Centers with easy one-stop access to related tests, courses, eBooks, and center-specific content

Practice tests that mimic the timing, scoring, and format of official exams

Instant feedback and diagnostic score reports to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses

Detailed answer explanations, which allow for a better understanding of the subject matter

Instant essay scoring that enables writing skills improvement and provides authentic essay practice for the ACT, SAT, and GED exams

Individual user accounts that allow you to save works-in-progress and access completed tasks and score history

Personalized notifications that alert you about related tests, courses, and eBooks, based on your usage patterns.

You can use Learning Expresss Library from the E-Book & More section of our E-Services menu or from our  Database Page .

If you have any questions about Learning Express Library you can reach us by clicking on Ask A Librarian.