Blog Words, Words, Words. Within books or without, they maintain their power.** The format in which words appear has undergone a major transformation in the last 10 years. We have gone from electronic resource databases with full text articles from thousands of magazines and journals to ebooks on Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader and now Barnes and Noble. Ebooks claim 4.9 percent of book sales in May 2009. Libraries are providing a variety of formats to access words and books. In the near future (2010) you will see North Dakota Libraries begin to offer ebooks and evideo. The formats offered in libraries include paper books, large print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, downloadable eAudiobooks, and many electronic resources. The Minot Public Library provides over 30 electronic resources. Many people are not aware of these resources because they see the Library as strictly as a provider of the printed book as in “paper.” The Minot Public Library provides a collection of nearly 2,000 Digital AudioBooks. This collection is growing at a rate of 30 titles per month. An individual must have a library card and sign up on a Library computer for a free account. After signing up, access may be achieved at home with your account ID and password. The Digital AudioBooks are downloaded to your home computer and then onto an MP3 player including Ipods. Recently acquired electronic resources by the library include the ConsumerReport.org and Mango Languages. ConsumerReports.org provides ratings and reviews, recommendations and buying advice. It provides reliable data, unbiased information and more than 1000 ratings, reviews, product comparisons and video clips. Mango Languages is an online language-learning system teaching actual conversation skills for nine languages. Both are easy to use through the Library website (www.minotlibrary.org) in your home or at the library. To see a complete list of electronic resources the library provides check this page out http://www.minotlibrary.org/eresources2.html. Of course you need a User ID and Password to access them. Libraries contract for these electronic services and must fulfill their agreement with the publisher to limit access to the library’s customers. Thus, user IDs and passwords are available at the library when you acquire a library card. As for paper, I recommend two books: “The Day We Found the Universe” by Marcia Bartusiak is an excellent review of how the universe was discovered in the first half of the 20th Century. Here we meet the astronomers who over a time period of 60 years contributed in part to Edwin Hubble’s discovery. It is one of the best science books I have read. The general reader will thoroughly enjoy this book, which is limited in jargon with unfamiliar terms clearly explained. “Jerusalem’s Traitor” by Desmond Seward provides an excellent narrative for the general reader on the life and works of Josephus as it relates to the Judea at the time the Jews revolted against Rome. Josephus is of vital importance for anyone interested in the Middle East, Jewish history and the early history of Christianity. This is a first rate history. Words, Words, Words. The public library is the great equalizer in the community for those who cannot afford to purchase many words in the variety of formats (books, DVDs, audiobooks, ebooks) or computers let alone pay for Internet Access. **:Words, Words, Words.” By Joseph Janes, American Libraries, Jun/Jul, 2009, Vol. 40 |
