Borrow a Recycled eReader – Pilot Project

Take advantage of our new pilot project and borrow a recycled, preloaded eReader.  These eReaders come in a zippered pouch and include a charger and use instructions.  Each eReader has a different genre theme.  The themes include mystery, romance, historical fiction and general fiction.  There are ten titles on each device for you to choose from.

You can see what titles are available on these eReaders by searching the catalogue for the word eReader, then looking in the table of contents of that item.  Oh, you should look often as these titles will be changed.

For example, the mystery eReader can be found in our catalogue with this link:

https://avrl.catalogue.library.ns.ca/Record/1284049

It’s table of content shows the following titles:

• The 14th colony by Steve Berry
• The bones of you by Debbie Howells
• Friction by Sandra Brown
• Gathering Prey by John Sandford
• The girl in the ice by Robert Bryndza
• The girl in the spider's web by David Lagercrantz
• The girl in the woods by Gregg Olsen
• The guilty by David Baldacci
• Make me by Lee Child
• NYPD Red 4 by James Patterson
• Private Paris by James Patterson
• Someone is watching by Joy Fielding
• War Hawk by James Rollins
• What it was like by Peter Seth
• When the lion feeds by Wilbur Smith
• The widow by Fiona Barton

You can borrow the eReader for three weeks at a time. 

Have you recently replaced your eReader and you aren’t sure what to do with the old one.  If it is still in good operating condition, you can donate it to us.  We’ll add it to this program and you’ll get a receipt for income tax purposes. The receipt will be for one half of the current purchase price of the device.

Why not give it a try?

 

Charlotte Janes, Systems and Collections Access Coordinator

Book a book from your reading nook!

Say you just got home with your library haul. You have a huge stack of books and dvds  to keep yourself out of trouble and in your reading nook for the next 3 weeks. You settle in, and start at the top of the pile. It’s an impulse pick that happens to be something by an author that you’ve always been meaning to check out but never have.  It grabs you. You DEVOUR it. You’ve closed the back cover before the snow has melted on your boots by the door.

Here’s the thing. You have 3 weeks before the rest of your books are due and you will probably find a few in your pile that are just great, but this one was something special. You start to wonder; how many more are there by this writer? Does my favourite library branch have them? Will they be on the shelf for me next time I’m there? Will I even remember to look for them after 3 weeks of (insert your busy thing here) passes by?

Time to climb out of your reading nook (or pick up your phone/ipad). Time to BOOK A BOOK!

Placing a hold at www.valleylibrary.ca can be fast and easy as long as you don’t get sidetracked and end up browsing through titles that you didn’t know you wanted to read.

Here’s what you do:

1. Grab your AVRL library card and go to www.valleylibrary.ca

2. Find the search field and type in the title. Don’t know the title? How about the author? Or the series name?

3. Clicking on the search button sends you to our online catalogue. Now it’s time to narrow the search. We can choose to search for title, author, subject, or series. Then, we can narrow our search even more, with a number of drop down menus.

4. Scroll down until you find a title that looks interesting and...

5. Wait! You must be logged in to place that hold! You need your library card number and your PIN. Don’t have a card? Get one here: http://valleylibrary.ca/get-library-card Forgot your PIN? Contact any branch for help.

6. Aha! The hold can now be placed.

7.Choose a pickup location. And that's it!

Now the hard part. Waiting until it’s ready for pick up!

Tips:

• Sharing a computer? Don’t forget to log out!
• Looking for a popular new release? Try a less popular format. Maybe the Large Print version is available. We also have audiobooks and eBooks through our Overdrive for Libraries service. 
• Keep your search simple, then narrow the search. You might see something unexpected and interesting with a broader search. Second, you could be too specific with your search terms and come up with nothing.
• Looking for DVDs? Choose format-DVD. Click the Find button. All the DVDs in our catalogue!
• Suspend holds: Want to watch a TV series in order and season 3 has a shorter waiting list than season 2? Place a suspended hold. You will keep your place in line for the item, but it won’t come to you before you need it. Also great if you are going to be away on vacation. Just suspend your holds until you get back.
• Don’t forget that the Annapolis Valley Regional Library shares our catalogue among 11 branches and the Bookmobile. If a book is in Windsor, we can have it sent to any of our other locations for pick up.
• If we don’t have it, Interlibrary Loans are also available. Separate rules apply.

Placing holds using our online catalogue

Maybe you are a new computer user, or perhaps you have never placed your own holds using our on-line catalogue. These basic instructions will help you. Our new catalogue is very user friendly and fun to use. To begin go to our website www.valleylibrary.ca. Remember to make sure you are using an updated browser. Find our more HERE.

Once there, find the empty search box in the upper right hand side. Using your mouse, click on the Catalogue button to highlight it so that you will only be searching our catalogue. Now type a topic in the search box and click on Search.  I have chosen the topic gardening for this exercise. 

Next you will get your search results. For this subject there are 871 titles. You will notice on the right side of this page a box with related topic searches that will be like a shortcut to the information you are looking for.  Or you can have fun scrolling down and through the results to see what we have available. I have chosen flower gardening in the shortcut list.

Now the search has been narrowed to flower gardening and this next page will show you only those results.  Enjoy scrolling through these results. If you see a title that you would like more information on, just click on the blue title. This will take you to a page on this specific title with more information including a look inside. If this isn’t a book you wish to read, click on the Go Back arrow in the burgundy line near the top of this page. 

Keep scrolling through the results until you find an item you would like to borrow. When you do, click on Place Hold.

 On the next screen you will need to enter your Annapolis Valley Regional Library Card number and your PIN number. If you don’t know your PIN please call our office at 902-665-2995 for help. Then you will be asked for a pickup location from the drop down menu. Click on the branch you would like this item sent to for you to pick up. No matter where you are in the Valley, we can send the item to your local branch. Now click on Place Hold. Congratulations! You did it.

Repeat this process for each item that you would like to borrow. A word of wisdom though, this can be addictive and you may find all of your holds arriving at the same time.  Look for another blog at a later date on managing your holds and your account. Make sure that you log out of your account once you have finished placing holds. Simply click on the words Log Out in the upper right hand corner of the screen that will appear to confirm your last placed hold.

Now wasn’t that easy? The item you have placed a hold on will be sent to the branch you chose when it becomes available. Sometimes there is a list of other people waiting for the same book and so you will also need to wait your turn. But at least your name is now on that list.

Welcome to the world of browsing our online catalogue! Look for our new online catalogue within the next few months. The look will be different however; the procedure will be the same.

Submitted by Wendy Kearnes, Outreach Services Manager

New Library Catalogue

We’ve made some changes.  Late in the day on April 21^st you’ll see our new library catalogue. 
 

It looks a little different, and has some new features.  There are some searching tips you’ll see near the top of the screen, these can be very helpful.  For example, if you are unsure as to how to spell an author’s name: Jan Pienkowski or Susan Wojciechowski.  You can type as little as the first three letters followed by a $ sign (ex. Woj$) and then click on “author” then on “Search”.  You will get a list of titles by authors where the first three letters are Woj, examples are Lisa Wojna, Ted Wojasik and of course Susan Wojciechowski. 

            Use the Go Back option with the catalogue to “go back” to the previous screen.  You’ll find the catalogue works much better using this feature.

            The search results of this new catalogue will be more on target with your inquiry and will be pre-sorted.  There will be more entries with added content including covers, summaries and reviews.

           

The Advanced Search contains additional options for refining your search.  My special mention is the Collection option. With this you can choose Adult Non-Fiction when doing your subject search for “Egypt”.  You won’t get those fiction books about Egypt in your list or children’s books.  The possibilities are endless.

            Now, for the best part--  if you place holds you’ll really like this one.  You are now able to add suspension dates to your holds.  So, you have too many books to read, or you are going away for a couple of weeks.  You don’t really want to have to cancel your holds for those books you’ve been waiting for only to start at the bottom of the list again.  You can add the suspension dates to whichever holds you wish so that they do not become available to you during the dates you choose (this was previously only available through staff).  Your hold will continue to move up through the list as before, but when your hold is at the top of the list, other users after you will get the book, until the suspension period has passed - then it will be held for you.

Charlotte Janes, Head of Systems and Administration