Gale Ready Reference Shelf - Cancelled

The Gale Ready Reference Shelf, electronic product has been removed from our Databases and Websites page. Gale's Ready Reference Shelf , as you may or may not know, is an amalgam of classic Gale print directories such as Encyclopedia of Associations, Directories in Print, Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media, etc. in database form. The interface for the product was clunky at best (its been around for ages) but Ready Reference is still highly valued by reference librarians around the country, and perhaps that is the problem. It was not particularly patron friendly and customers had a hard time using it. As a result we have opted to cancel the electronic product and only retain 4 of the basic titles in print. Those titles are :
Encyclopedia of Associations - National
Encyclopedia of Associations - International
Encyclopedia of Associations - Regional, State, and Local
Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media

NEW MP3 Audiobooks have Arrived!

If you have not checked out Overdrive in a while, now is the time! We have just added NEW titles to our OverDrive collection that are compatible with your MP3 players. You can transfer these titles to an iPod®, an iPhone™, an iPod Touch as well as a CD or MP3 player.

Below is a list of the new titles that were added at the beginning of March 09.

Happy listening!


Bloodlist (unabridged)
Effective Writing for Business, College, and Life (unabridged)
The Bonesetter's Daughter (unabridged)
The Attractor Factor (unabridged)
Deadly Housewives (unabridged)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald (unabridged)
Maximizing Your Money (unabridged)
100 Ways To Bring Out Your Best (unabridged)
Wine Appreciation (unabridged)
Dreams (unabridged)
A More Perfect Union (unabridged)
Nailing the Job Interview (unabridged)
Blackman’s Coffin (unabridged)
The Metamorphosis (unabridged)
Death Is a Cabaret (unabridged)
The House at Pooh Corner (unabridged)
Retiring Right (unabridged)
Shades of Blue (unabridged)
I Am Potential (unabridged)
The Now Habit (unabridged)
Name Withheld (unabridged)
Winnie-the-Pooh (unabridged)
Healthy Eating (unabridged)
Edge of Evil (unabridged)

New Brilliance titles added to OverDrive Digital Catalog

Check out these new titles added to OverDrive since the beginning of January 2009!

The 13th Juror
16 Lighthouse Road
204 Rosewood Lane
311 Pelican Court
44 Cranberry Point
50 Harbor Street
8 Sandpiper Way
An Abundance of Katherines
Amazing Grace
Autumn Lover
Betrayal
Blood Brothers
Blood Tide
Bloodline
Born in Ice
Born in Shame
Cave of the Dark Wind
Celebration
China Lake
Crosscut
Dale Brown’s Retribution
Darkfall
Desert Rain
The Devil Who Tamed Her
The Dirty Secrets Club
Dragon Harper
Dragon’s Fire
Dragonsblood
Dragonsdawn
Escape from the Carnivale
Fast Track
The Fifth Profession
Forbidden
Forget Me Not
Gentle Rogue
Hard Evidence
The Hearing
The Hollow
Honor Thyself
The House of Thunder
Jericho Point
L.A. Outlaws
Laguna Heat
The League of Night and Fog
Light in Shadow
Listen to Your Heart
Looking for Alaska
Lost and Found
Love Me Forever
Love Only Once
Lover in the Rough
The Magic of You
The Marriage Game
Marriage Most Scandalous
Mask Market
Midnight in Death
Mission Canyon
Morrigan’s Cross
Murder at Ford’s Theatre
Murder at the Opera
Murder at The Washington Tribune
Murder at Union Station
Murder in Foggy Bottom
Murder on K Street
Nimisha’s Ship
No Choice But Seduction
The Oath
Odd Hours
Pandora’s Daughter
Pegasus in Space
Peter and the Secret of Rundoon
Phantoms
Plain Jane
The President’s House
The Pursuit
Remember Summer
The Renegades of Pern
Say You Love Me
Sealed with a Kiss
The Second Chair
Shadow Command
Smoke in Mirrors
Soft Focus
Tender Rebel
Terminal
To the Ends of the Earth
Truth or Dare
Twenty Wishes
Twilight Eyes
Untamed
Up Close and Personal
Vegas Heat
Vegas Rich
Vegas Sunrise
The Vig
The Voice of the Night
What You Wish For
Where Angels Go
A Woman Without Lies
Yesterday

Overdrive Updates

We are happy to be able to announce two major additions of support in the Overdrive Audiobooks that we are offering.

The first is support for the MP3 format in a limited number of titles. At this point 76 titles to be exact! This means that in addition to devices from Microsoft running either PlaysForSure or Zune software, there is now support for Apple, Palm, and Android-based and any other devices that support the widely used MP3 format. You can now transfer these titles to an iPod®, an iPhone™, an iPod Touch as well as a CD or MP3 player. Eventually each title in our catalog will have a graph to indicate it is Ipod compatible.

In addition, the Overdrive Media Console is a now available in versions for both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh.

To get started link to the ebooks & Audiobooks subject Guide off the Databases and Websites page and go to the TBLC Digital Catalog.

Digital TV Conversion--- EXTENSION

Yes it is true! Those rabbit ears will work a little while longer. After weeks of debate, Congress has finally decided to postpone the transition from analog to digital television broadcasting until June 12, 2009. There were growing concerns that too many Americans wouldn't be ready by the February 17th deadline that Congress set three years ago. An estimate from the Nielsen Company says that there are 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals that still are not ready. For FAQ's and much more information on this transition, don't forget to visit the web site at: http://www.dtv.gov/

Digital TV Transition...What You Need to Know about DTV

· What is Digital - Analog, and the difference between them?
· Will I be able to continue to use my existing TV?
· Understand your options and choices. So many questions and here are some answers!

Analog is the process of taking an audio or video signal and translating it into electronic pulses. The trouble is analog signals have size limitations as to how much data they can carry.
Digital technology breaks the signal into binary code a series of 1s and 0s and transfers it to the other end where another device takes all the numbers and reassembles them into the original signal. The beauty of digital is that it knows what it should be when it reaches the end of the transmission. That way, it can correct any errors that may have occurred in the data transfer. In most cases, you'll get distortion-free conversations and clearer TV pictures.

What's the difference between analog and digital?
Analog TV works by grabbing transmissions out of the air in the same way a radio grabs radio waves. This explains the need for an antenna outside your home or the so-called rabbit ear antennas on top of a set. An analog transmission starts as a set of moving images taken by a video camera at about 30 frames per second. The camera converts the images into a set of pixels, and gives each of those pixels a color and a level of intensity ranging from dim to bright. The pixels are combined into horizontal and vertical rows that an analog TV can interpret, and a sound signal is added. The video and sound are then converted to radio waves of specific frequencies depending on the channels you're watching, and sent over the air where your TV can pick them up using an antenna. Analog TV works however resolution is poor compared to digital and the signal itself can suffer from interference the all-too-familiar snow and static.

Digital TV is far more efficient and the quality is higher. Whereas analog TV is made up of pixels, digital TV is made up of packets of compressed data. Unlike many online videos, digital TV isn't fuzzy or distorted. The compression is unobtrusive but has an interesting side effect. Broadcasters can pack more information and more image and sound resolution into a digital transmission than into an analog one. So much so, that a digital broadcast can contain what are called subchannels. Each subchannel can carry a different program without using additional bandwidth. That's the multicasting that the FCC mentioned earlier. On top of that, digital transmissions aren't affected by interference -- say goodbye to snow!

Will my old TV work?
If you have an older analog TV, you won't be able to pick up over-the-air digital transmissions. Essentially, your TV will be dark when you turn it on after the February, 2009 deadline. Look at the back of the set. Most newer digital-capable TVs including all sets that have been sold since March 1, 2008 often have a sticker with wording like Built in digital tuner or DTV ready. If you don't see the sticker, or are still not 100% certain then check the manufacturer's Web site for the model number of your TV.

What are my options?
Purchase a new digital type TV which come in various sizes and cost from $300 to over $4000.

Install a converter box is a gadget that hooks into your analog TV and converts the digital signal into a format that your old TV can understand, and they cost anywhere from $50 to $75 dollars. The good news is the government is helping you out with the TV Converter Box Coupon Program. Between now and March 31, 2009, you may apply for two coupons worth $40 that will help defray the costs of the digital converters. To get your coupons go to (http://www.dtv.gov/).

Subscribe to a local cable company like Verizon, Brighthouse, or satellite TV service like DirectTV or Dish Network.



Converter box Setup Instructions:
Unplug the existing coaxial wire antenna from tv antenna port

Plug the existing coaxial cable in Antenna In (RF) connect your Converter Box.

With the coaxial cable, with your converter box, insert one end in Out on TV (RF) port converter box. Plug the other end in Antenna In (RF) port on your TV.
Plug the cord from your converter box and television in an electrical outlet and switch on your television and the converter-Box. Use the instructions you with the converter-box Tune your television to channel 3 or 4 With the remote control supplied with your converter box, follow the instructions on-screen installation guide for research channels of digital television, and beginning to appreciate the advantages of digital television!