Learning | You say Biro, I say Bic

I had to look up the word biro last week. I saw it in an eBook, as part of the description of the items on a desk. (I wish I could remember which book, but I read several eBooks around that time.)  

Anyway, I learned that biro is a word for a ball point pen in the United Kingdom.  Biro was a brand name, that came to be used for all ball point pens.  You know; like how we have a tendency to refer to all facial tissues by the brand name of Kleenex.  

Insist on genuine Biro (cropped) from John Lord's photostream on Flickr.com. Some rights reserved.

As I already said, I can't remember which of the eBooks I read last week had the word biro in it. But I can wholeheartedly recommend one of those books, if you are looking for a scary story for a student in grades 5-8. 

That book is Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. I read it when it was first published, in 2008, but it was so good, that I read it all over again in eBook form. I just might read it again some day. It's about a little boy named Nobody Owens, who is raised by ghosts in a graveyard. My co-worker, Amy, pointed out the similarity to Mowgli, who was raised by wild animals in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Neil Gaiman recommends that his readers also read The Jungle Book.

If you decide to read, or reread, The Graveyard Book, keep your eyes peeled for the possible use of the word biro. Let me know if you see it.

Miss Moneypennypincher | Free ebooks

I have a bookshelf of dusty books in my home.  I have no idea how much I spent to acquire this collection of books I have either never read, read but would never read again, or books I lend out to friends and reread from time to time.  I don't mind the latter, but looking at that shelf of books reminds me of how much money I wasted on some books that I could have read for free from the library.

I feel the same way about ebooks. Yes, there are some ebooks that can be lent out. Really though, most of the time the ebooks just sit on my ereader account and remind me of the $9.99 I spent that I will never see again.  Many of my friends extol the awesomeness of ebooks and say they will never go back to the actual copies that we lend out at the library.  That's fine, but come to the library to RENT ebooks too!  FREE!  

courtesy of ebookfriendly.com

Look at it this way: If you buy two ebooks a month (let's say an average price of $10), you are spending $240 a year on books sitting in a device.  In fact, you probably deleted half of them and they are waiting in a "Cloud" on your ebook provider's database. There are some subscription services coming around the bend as well.  Amazon has already started a lending library (included with the $79 Prime subscription), but it still can't beat free.

SSJCPL has two ebook services: Axis 360 and Overdrive. The apps and software are free and the books are free to download.  You check them out for between 1 and 3 weeks and there are NO LATE FEES. EVER!  Okay so, no late fees, free book, free checkout, no clutter on your device or computer. That, to me, my friends, is awesomeness!  Also, a helpful tip, if you commute or go out of town, check out the town's library, they might have an ebook service as well.  Many places are happy to sign up out-of-town folks for library cards.  Then you can have access to our ebooks, and theirs as well.

In addition, check out Project Gutenberg, a database with over 43000 free ebooks.  All of the books are available because they have an expired copyright. You have no idea how crazy it makes me when I see someone has paid to download Jane Eyre. 

 Knock Knock

---Who's there?

 Bee

---Bee Who?

 Bee super smart and save money by getting free ebooks at the library!

 I am getting worse at the jokes, I know.

Teens Only | Lead a Better Life

I've got a poster above my computer that says: Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life. 

I do hope you've not grown weary of my always promoting reading. I am a librarian, after all. And beyond that, I love reading and want all of you to experience the awesomeness of reading a really great book.

So along those lines, let me ask you: Did you know you can check out ebooks from the Library. I imagine there were a couple of gasps of surprise there. No? Well, it's true. The Library has access to two great services (Overdrive and Axis360) providing ebooks and audiobooks that can be checked out and enjoyed on your own device. 

All you have to do is go to the Library's website -- www.ssjcpl.org -- and click under the "Books & More" tab for ebooks and audiobooks. On that first page you'll see what you need (apps and such) to enjoy your favorite books. But it's so easy and with a SSJCPL library card, it's free. Yes, I said free. 

I was just browsing in the recently returned titles on Axis360. Oh. My. Gosh. So many great titles that I just know you've been waiting with bated breath to read:

Anthony Horowitz' Oblivion, the final installment of the Gatekeepers series, is available on Axis360. If you've been reading this series, here's your chance to find out how it all ends. Matt, Pedro, Scott, Jamie and Scar. Five Gatekeepers have finally found one another. And only the five of them can fight the evil force that is on the rise, threatening the destruction of the world. No light reading there, right? BTW, you can also check out this book in book form. But ebooks are fun, don't you think? (The link above takes you to the book. Like I said earlier, to see ebooks the Library has access to, go to ebooks and audiobooks under the Books & More tab.)

I've just gotten back into listening to audiobooks while I'm driving, or just hanging out at home. It's way relaxing to have someone read a book to you. And again, there are lots of great audiobook titles to choose from.

Browsing again in Axis360 I found Discovering Wes Moore, the story of a Rhodes scholar who looks at the factors that influenced him as well as another man of the same name and from the same neighborhood who was drawn into a life of drugs and crime and ended up serving life in prison. In fact, Wes Moore is the subject of the #ReInventStockton Summer Book Club being led by City Councilman Michael Tubbs at the Maya Angelou Branch Library on Wednesdays at 3 pm (through July 31). You really should check that out! (P.S. The link above also takes you to the book.)

I've gotta say: SSJCPL rocks. We've got it going on. Check us out, and remember to look at the events calendar often. There's always something going on.

Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life. (And it's so easy at your Library!!)

Constant Curiosity | Comfort Zone



        I own 3 Kindles and a Nook.  I know.  It's a long story.  It's a good thing I do, though, since the Library is going to start circulating Nooks this coming Monday.   Here's the Nook the library will lend:



Nook Simple Touch



Although some might call me traitor, I really like reading on e-book readers.  When I was not allowed to walk without wheelchair and crutches for six months, my e-book readers were lifesavers:  with wi-fi or whatever access the manufacturer provides, I could shop for books right on the device.  It was so cool.  I could light one book off the other without even having to pause for a bon-bon.   Although I did.  Once in awhile.  And it was so much easier to carry around than a stack of books.  And trust me, at the rate I read, it would be a stack.

Anyway, the library has offered e-books for over a year now and they have been very popular, so it seems a natural progression to offer e-book readers.  The readers themselves will come with pre-loaded titles, so you won't need to add your own, but for those who have wondered just what it would be like to read on a device instead of good old paper, ink and glue, here's your chance.

The other day I was reading a "real" book, as my husband put it, and it didn't feel too odd at all.  After all, reading is reading, at least to me.   And the more the merrier.  At last count I had over 2,000 books loaded to my various devices.   As Louisa May Alcott put it "She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain."  In my case, this is probably true. 

And now if I'm asked that famous old desert island question, I won't have to think.  I'll just take my Kindle or Nook as the case may be,  a solar powered charger and oh, yes, the island must have a wi-fi hotspot.  It might take me awhile to get through those 2,000 books, but you never know how long a stint it might be.  Think of Tom Hanks and Wilson.   Paraphrasing Groucho Marx:  "Outside of a volleyball, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a volleyball, it's too dark to read."  Okay, I can hear the groaning from here.

But seriously, next time you're at the library, let your curiosity out of its comfort zone and ask about our Nooks.  You can even take one home.  It won't hurt a bit.  Trust me.

City Librarian | Hooked on Nooks, er...Books!

The Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library has come a long way in the past couple of years. First, we began offering eBooks and digital audiobooks that you can download from home or even directly to your mobile phone. Then we joined the Link+ group that lets all San Joaquin County book lovers borrow books from over 50 libraries across two states. That's an additional 9 million titles beyond what SSJCPL already makes available to you. 

And now this! Starting on October 22, SSJCPL will start lending Nook eReaders loaded with great content that you will be able to take home with you just like any other book, movie, or music that we lend!

Beginning today, you can start searching the Library's catalog to browse the variety of Nooks we'll be offering and you can even start making holds on the devices so you can be one of the first library users in the County to get your hands on these awesome gadgets!

We've purchased over 50 Nooks and they all come pre-loaded with high quality, current titles in a variety of genres. For example, you might be a  lover of romance, so you can take home a Nook with ten different complete romance titles. Or maybe teen fiction is your thing. Sci-Fi? Mysteries? We've got those, too. Just type "nook" (no need for the quotation marks...) in the catalog on our home page and, voila, you can take your pick. And, if you're dying to know exactly what titles are loaded on each Nook, in the catalog, you can click on the Nook genre you want, then click on "catalog record" and scroll down to "Contents". For example, on our Bestseller Nook, you'll see that you can read the latest Evanovich, Patterson, Laurel Hamilton, and, yes, 50 Shades!

You'll also find that, when you search for a specific title, say the popular teen series The Maze Runner, any titles we have on our Nooks will show up in your results page that way, too. In short, when you search for the latest title you've been dying to get your hands on, you'll be able to choose whichever format you want that the Library owns: book, eBook, audio book on CD or in digital download format, and now, on the Nook! Pretty cool, huh?