What else is hiding in the home page?

About Us, Contact Us, and e-Branch

The bar of tabs on the homepage

The last tabs, but not the least, are "About Us" and "Contact Us."  The first has information about the Friends of the Library, FAQs, a history of the library, and a list of the services available through your library card.  The second lists email addresses for library staff, the library board members, and a map to find our building.

Finally, to wrap up this series of posts on the library's homepage links: the e-Branch tab.  Big libraries are developing a whole branch in the electronic realm (like the neighborhood branch libraries in a system, but available in any location).  This is our first attempt at consolidating the electronic services Ruidoso Public Library offers.

Moving the mouse over the e-Branch tab displays a menu list of resources:
Universal Class
Overdrive
Magazines and Chilton's Auto
Genealogy
NM Newspapers
Opposing Viewpoints
My Account

Clicking on the tab opens a new page displaying "widgets" leading to several of these destinations.  A widget works like a button--clicking on it opens that item.  Some request you enter your library card number before opening the site; others may request that information in order to check out materials.

Universal Class offers 500 certified continuing education courses--start it when you are ready (today if you like) and take up to six months to complete the lessons (graded by a professor).  Work with other students online or alone.

Overdrive provides ebooks and audiobooks to download on your computer, Kindle, nook, iPad, ipod, smartphone or mp3 player (among other devices).  Like library books, they are free to check out for a week or two.

Magazines and Chilton's Auto connects you with hundreds, if not thousands, of magazines, journals, and encyclopedia.  While the library is not open 24/7, these resources are, so check here first when you have to research a paper or need to fix your car.

Genealogy opens Heritage Quest, one of the sites for looking up your family tree from home.

NM Newspapers connects you with the Albuquerque Journal, the Las Cruces Sun-News, and the Roswell Daily Record.  It is not as easy to browse as the print copy, but if you have a title or page number, you can find most of the paper's articles that day or since 1995 (ABQJ), 2002 (Roswell), and 2004 (Sun-News).  Twenty-two magazines are also available, digitally, such as Field & Stream, Foreign Affairs, Slate, or Parenting.

My Account allows you to log into your library account and renew your current loans or request a turn with a popular title.  To set your PIN, please visit us in person.  This is the same PIN used to access Overdrive ebooks.

More from the library's homepage

Special seasonal note: The library director, Corey Bard, welcomes you to donate canned items for Lincoln County's Food Bank.

Ruidoso Public Library's homepage is the place to start if you are wondering:

What is happening at the library?

The bar of tabs on the homepage

Near the top of the page, you will find a bar of tabs, similar to the tabbed, manila folders of filing cabinets and yesteryear.

The second tab, from the left, reads, "Calendar."  This tab will show you a calendar of events scheduled at the library.  Here you can find whose art is on display, when the program begins, and a short summary of what the event might include.

You can subscribe to updates about events and receive emails whenever an event is added or changed.

You can also scroll back in time to recall a past event or artist, too.

Another option for looking up current events at the library is the next tab, "Library News."  Clicking on the tab itself will open the library's blog, which you are reading here.  Moving the mouse over the tab without clicking will display a menu of options: Newsletter, blog, new titles, and What's Happening.

This is Sharon's forte.  Sharon Stewart builds the Newsletter each month, pulling together the times, places, and descriptions of events to give you fair warning for planning.  This is the same newsletter available to pick up, printed out, at the front desk, or you may already receive it from Sharon in an email.  If you would like to sign up with Sharon, her email is under the Contact Us tab.  Sharon used to build a spreadsheet of new titles each month, but our new online catalog does that with book covers, too!

Finally, Sharon creates the flyers announcing each individual event and saves them under the What's Happening menu option.  These are PDF files you are welcome to print yourself in case you know someone or someplace that might need a reminder or be interested in attending.

New Website @ Ruidoso Public Library

I hope you have had a chance to try out Ruidoso Public Library's upgraded online-catalog (search service).  We are still located at youseemore.com/ruidosopl, only now we have added features to search for books.  The library staff looks forward to answering any questions you have about the new system. This website is graphic-intensive, so it may take several moments to load on dial-up.  For dial-up patrons, the classic search layout is still an option, just to the right of the search bar. 

Our favorite part at the library is the "Book River" which is a rolling displays of book covers the librarians are currently highlighting.  The titles will change with special events or other themes.

 

The results have a new layout.  You can sort by:

format (DVD, audio, book), 

age (adult, 10-14, 2-4, etc), 

publication year (2011, 2009), 

author, 

and many more facets. 

If you have a favorite author, please sign up to receive an email when a new title arrives.  You can request it, too.  You can save searches for later or browse book covers by genre (mystery, Christian, suspense, historical, etc).  

This search can suggest alternate spellings for tricky words or names.

Ruidoso Public Library is social now, too.  Feel free to tag your favorite story, or add tags to books you have read.  This helps other searchers decide on a title.  These tags could be “fudge recipe” or “training collies” for a novel that also includes such details. 

The first page has added a graphic, Scout, to the right of the search bar.  Scout looks like a dog and helps our youngest visitors find books through pictures of subjects, topics, or ideas.  Scout organizes books by series and only displays books in the juvenile and young adult sections.  

   If you haven't had a chance to watch someone young use Scout, it is a delight!  Please let us know your favorite new feature in the comments: