Free sites for downloadable Audiobooks

With all the new devices and distributors of audiobooks it can be a somewhat overwhelming about where to turn. But in addition to the known sites like NetLibrary and Overdrive there are also some good "free" sites out there that have lots of classic titles for download as well. Listed below are a few of these site for you to check out.

LibriVox

ManyBooks.net

Project Gutenberg

International Children's Digital Library

NoveList Notes January 2010: Cultural Identity

Have you wanted to find titles by authors with a certain cultural identity for all reading levels in different genres? NoveList now helps you do that. Using the the example below for finding titles by African-American Authors, the step by step instructions should help.

To create your own lists by conducting an Advanced Search:

1.Click Advanced Search from the homepage.
2. Select the desired Reading and/or Grade Level from the limiter options.
3. Scroll down towards the bottom of the page, and select “African-American” from the Author’s Cultural Identity limiter.
4. Click Search.
5. From the result list, you can Narrow Results by selecting any of the subjects listed.

For titles in a specific genre, amend this search by entering the genre, i.e “mystery,” in the first Find bar and selecting GN Genre from the adjacent drop-down. For the most recent additions, sort your result by Date Descending.

Free Community Information and Services

Lots of times the information we need is free and right in our own backyard. Below are two such services that you may need in the upcoming year.

Hillsborough County Flood Maps
Hillsborough County is a qualifying community under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System, giving residents the ability to obtain federal flood insurance.
For more information, including updated Hillsborough County flood maps, visit hillsboroughcounty.org and click A-Z Index and then Flood Maps.

Call 2-1-1
If you or someone you are caring for needs financial assistance or advice, the Florida 2-1-1 Network - a confidential statewide resource and referral service - may be able to help.
Call 2-1-1 or visit 211florida.org to connect with trained and supportive professionals who can provide more information.

Grove Music Online Updates

Grove Music Online is pleased to announce their latest updates which includes 100 new articles from the forthcoming 2nd edition of the Grove Dictionary of American Music. The first edition published in 1986 is widely considered the definitive reference work on the subject, and while some of the topics in this update appeared in the first edition, all are completely new to Grove Music Online and have been updated for the second edition.
Articles in this update include entries on conductors, composers, educators, librarians, and subjects related to band music (instrument makers, bandmasters, and organizations). There are a few entries on social dance forms, including the boogaloo, walk-around, and eagle rock, as well as an extended article on the history of circus music in America.

Grove Art Online Update!

Spotlight On:

Contemporary Australian Art
Guest-edited by Dr. Charles Green at the University of Melbourne, Grove Art's newest update focuses on the contemporary art of Australia.
To begin investigating Australian modern and contemporary art, please see the Thematic Guide and Timeline, covering Australian art from 1600 to the present day. These guides provide context to internationally acclaimed artists such as performance collective The Kingpins, mixed-media artist Patricia Piccinini, and influential contemporary Aboriginal painters, including Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Julie Dowling, Paddy Bedford and Rusty Peters. Here are some highlights from the Australian art update:


Simryn Gill
Rosemary Laing
Anne Zahalka
The Kingpins
Ah Xian
Guan Wei
Ian North
Bill Henson
Robert Hunter
Shaun Gladwell

Patricia Piccinini
Wolfgang Sievers
Sue Ford
Paddy Bedford
Rusty Peters
William Barak
Hilda Rix Nicholas
Julie Dowling
Ricky Swallow
Gordon Bennett

Australian contemporary art, 1995–2010
Australian biennale and art exhibition space boom, 1995–2010
Art market in Australia, 1995–2010
Photography, Australian
Aboriginal Australian contemporary art, 1990–2010

Grove Art has also added 32 new articles from The Grove Encyclopedia of Northern Renaissance Art. Drawing on the unsurpassed scholarship on the Renaissance in Northern Europe in The Dictionary of Art, The Grove Encyclopedia of Northern Renaissance Art provides unparalleled scope and depth in a field that has inspired and informed Western art for centuries.