Index
- OverDrive audio updates & changes
- SCLS e-Reader kits updated
- Member/Staff News
- OverDrive e-Reading Room for kids and teens
- Using WISEdash to understand young patrons as students
- Continuing Education Calendar
OverDrive audio updates & changes
If you're a regular audiobook listener through Wisconsin's Digital Library like me, there are some changes you shouldknow about.
There have always been two audio formats available: WMA (Windows Media Audio) and MP3, and there are more WMA titles than MP3 (over 12,400 and 8,500 respectively). OverDrive recently announced it will be discontinuing the sale of WMA titles and at some point in the future, the only audio format will be MP3. For people like me, who regularly use the OverDrive Media Console on my home computer to transfer and convert WMA titles onto my iPhone, the transfer process should be easier.
Speaking of OverDrive Media Console, OverDrive recently released Version 3.3 for Windows. It includes a few design changes, but no major changes for us regular users.
Also updated was OMC 3 for Windows 8. This is available in the Windows Store. OverDrive created a training module to help library staff with the changes in OMC for Windows 8. You can view it on the Learning Center. You'll find it under Products and Services.
For questions about using OverDrive, contact Jean Anderson.
--from Jean Anderson, Continuing Education Consultant
The SCLS e-Reader kits have been updated. New to the kits are:
- NOOK Tablet HD
- Kindle Fire HD 7
- Google Nexus 7
The Sony Reader Touch edition has been removed. There is an iPad in e-Reader Kit 2 and there will be an iPad in Kit 1 soon (waiting for it to come back from a library). Other than the iPad, both kits are identical.
The website has been updated and form will be updated soon. If you have questions about the e-Reader kits, contact Jean Anderson.
The last issue of Online Update had a link to an article about five Dane County Libraries that are starting a seed library, and now Baraboo Public Library is also getting involved in that new trend. You can read more in the Baraboo News Republic.
OverDrive e-Reading Room for kids and teens
The Wisconsin Digital Library recently announced that it will provide kids with a destination where they can search for juvenile and young adult titles on their own website.
The main digital library has titles, mostly in erotic and romance literature, that can occasionally have cover art containing designs that are more adult themed. This is a frustration to some patrons, often parents with younger children.
OverDrive has developed this new site just for kids to complement the main digital library site. This is a new location to which you can direct kids and parents if they want to search only for juvenile and young adult literature.
The e-Reading Room for Kids and Teens is a link you can save as the default digital library location on computers in your children's area. If you have a parent that would like their child to just be able to search juvenile and young adult titles, you can suggest they bookmark the new site on their child's computer or device.
As you will see when you visit the new kids' site, there is a link on the top of the main page to go to the main Wisconsin Digital Library site. There will be an infographic link on the main digital library site to take visitors to the kids' site if they click on it. This site URL will cache in your browser. Juvenile and young adult titles will be available on both sites.
Using WISEdash to understand young patrons as students
Customize your library’s programs and services for children, teens, and families by discovering what’s happening in the district, grade levels, and schools in your area. Explore data related to academic performance in reading and math as well as enrollment groups such as economic, disability, English language learners, and migrant status. Find out how to capture data for use on applications and reports that require identification of library demographics.
Youth services librarians and public library directors are encouraged to attend this informative and instructive webinar about WISEdash Public Portal. WISEdash is a data portal that uses "dashboards," or visual collections of graphs and tables, to provide multi-year education data about Wisconsin schools. As a public reporting tool, WISEdash is used by districts, schools, parents, researchers, media, and other community members to view data published by Department of Public Instruction. Webinar participants will participate in a guided exploration to gain an overview of WISEdash as well as examine search techniques.
The webinar will be held Thursday, March 13, 2014, from 12-1 p.m. Presenters include: DPI Division of Libraries & Technology staff Melissa Straw, manager, Data Warehouse and Decision Support Team; Melanie McCalmont, business analyst, Data Warehouse and Decision Support Team, and Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, youth and special services consultant, Public Library Development Team. The webinar will be recorded and posted online under “Professional Development” on the DPI Youth Services page.
For more information about WISEdash, visit http://wisedash.dpi.wi.gov/.
No registration is required; simply join the Blackboard Collaborate session. Internet Explorer is the preferred browser for this platform (Java required).
Blackboard Collaborate session: http://tinyurl.com/pqn7svo
- Attendees who need telephone audio (versus VoIP) should use the conference number:
1-877-820-7831 and enter participant passcode: 697156. - Test your system beforehand
- Blackboard Collaborate overview video
- Blackboard Collaborate online support or phone (877) 382-2293
--from Channel Weekly (Vol. 16, No. 19 -- Feb. 13, 2014)