OverDrive Downloadable Videos

Exciting News!

We have just received our first batch of downloadable videos from OverDrive. At the moment, the majority of our titles are current PBS titles, but OverDrive also offers feature length films, short form programs and TV series all delivered in the Windows Media Video (WMV) format.

Every OverDrive video checkout gives you the option to use a 'standard' and/or 'mobile' version of the video. Once downloaded to your computer, standard videos can be played in an OverDrive Media Console and scaled to full-screen.

Mobile video files are optimized for use on compatible mobile devices, and can be transferred to such devices in just a few clicks using OverDrive Media Console for enjoyment on-the-go.

As library customers, adding videos to your OverDrive service is simple. Just refresh with the new format--it's on the same platform as your audiobooks and music!

To retrieve the records in our catalog simply do a subject search for "downloadable video collection". This search will bring up all 266 titles with more to be added in the future.

Hope you all enjoy this new feature of our OverDrive product!

Mango Languages - Online Language Learning!

Mango Languages provides all of the educational tools essential to learn foreign languages. The increasing importance of foreign language knowledge is more evident today than ever before. And Mango has utilized advanced technologies to make this increasingly necessary process of foreign language learning incredibly fun, simple, effective and accessible.
Mango Languages provides its users with remarkable conversational results after each and every lesson. Whether it's for your community’s students, educators, business personnel, or language lovers, learning a foreign language is now easy, effective, and convenient with Mango.

You can learn Brazilian Portuguese – Spanish – Japanese – French – German – Italian – Greek – Russian - Mandarin Chinese - ESL Polish - ESL Spanish - ESL Brazilian Portuguese.

• Mango Languages will maximize language learning by providing remarkable conversational results after each lesson.


• Mango Languages offers in-library and home access that provides you the luxury of being able to master a foreign language from the comfort of your own home or anywhere convenient to you.


• Mango Languages is fully equipped with English as a Second Language (ESL) courses that teach people how to communicate in English.


• Mango is very simple and user-friendly, bypassing any need for training. Users just login and the program leads them step-by-step through their language lessons.


• Mango is computer-friendly. Since Mango is web-based, it requires no installation, no download, and no technical expertise to make the program available.

You will find Mango Languages on the Dababases & Websites section of the library's Website - hcplc.org.

Auto Repair Reference Center Free Online Training

Did you know that EBSCO Publishing offers online, one-hour training sessions on our Auto Repair Reference Center each month, free to EBSCO customers? Because training reinforces product knowledge and stimulates interest, this training will help you to get the most from our EBSCO databases.
Auto Repair Reference Center training is available at the following times:

Thursday, June 12, 2008 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time
Tuesday, July 8, 2008 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., Eastern Time
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time

TO REGISTER, go to:
http://training.ebsco.com/training_request.asp
select the desired class from the "Which service?"drop-down list, and complete the form.

First Day of Hurricane Season- June 1st

Today is the first day of Hurricane season. There are many sites and databases that can help you and your customers with information as well as research for hurricanes, both past and present. Do you have a student who needs hurricane and weather information. Steer them towards Facts on File Science Online. http://www.fofweb.com/Science/default.asp?ItemID=WE40 The Weather and Climate page on Science Online has links to many kinds of natural disasters, including hurricanes. Do you need to know the predictions for the 2008 hurricane season, or what hurricane names have been retired? Go to the NOAA free site http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
for this information as well as radar readings, tracking maps, and how to prepare for a hurricane. The Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/ will provide you with local as well as national updates. So keep all these sites in mind when helping your customers over the next several months. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it is a quiet season!

Science Online Adds New Content

Facts On File is pleased to announce that we have just added a significant amount of new content to Science Online.
The new content and features added to Science Online come just in time for anyone prepping for final exams and standardized tests. This update includes new searching and sorting options, new page features, more than 600 visual and video aids, and content from 56 of their print titles.
Users who need to narrow their research will find more options in the Advanced Search page. They may limit their searches by type of entry (essays, biographies, diagrams and illustrations, etc.), as well as locate news articles published between any dates they select. Our Science in the News articles may now be sorted by subject or by date. A featured news article box has also been added to the top of the page. Those writing papers will appreciate the American Psychological Association (APA) style now included in their How to Cite pop-up page. Finally, their editors have added permanent Record URL links to each of the "Explore Subjects" pages.


More Advanced Search Options: Limit searches by entry types and news articles by date range.

Science in the News: Sort by date or by subject, plus locate a featured news article box at the top of the page.

APA Citation Style: Find American Psychological Association (APA) citation style information.
Explore Subjects Record URLs: Link directly to the Explore Subject pages.

New Illustrations, Images, and VideosScience Online's outstanding collection of visual and video learning aids is now even larger. The editors have added more than 600 new images as well as new videos on topics such as cyber safety, security, and ethics. These records are often very colorful and help grab and hold on to the attention of learners. They also convey concepts in a clear manner that allows users with different learning styles to better understand scientific ideas.
Examples of new records include:
Color illustration: Evolution of Mammalian Jaw
Photograph: Kilauea Volcano
Video: Online Identity Thieves.

Many essays have been added on a variety of topics including hurricanes, biomes, biohazards, spaceflight, plant biotechnology, forensic science, physics, and mathematics. It is easy to print, email, and save the essays to a folder using the "Page Tools" available at the top right-hand side of each record. Some essays also include embedded images and tables that help illustrate the content of the text.

New essay records include:
Farms and cities as ecosystems
Recording and storing music and movies
Genetically modified plants.

Military archives free online until May 31

People interested in what their ancestors did in wartime are getting a free look until the end of the month, at a vast collection of military records online.
The National Archives and Ancestry.com have worked out an agreement to speed the transfer of millions more war records to the Web and make an existing collection free for people to see during a Memorial Day commemoration from Tuesday, May 20th through May 31st.
Military records containing information on some 100-million people can be accessed free at ancestry.com/military. After May 31st, a paid subscription will be required to see them.