Holiday Closures won't affect ebooks

Thank you, High Point Public Library (North Carolina)

The holiday closures are interesting this year.

Ruidoso Public Library is open today, Monday, December 23.  We are closed Tuesday and Wednesday, December 24 and 25.  Then were are open again Thursday-Saturday and next Monday and Tuesday.

While the building is shuttered, online access is 24/7.  In theory there's no need to wait to play on the library's e-branch Christmas morning.  Visit before the holidays to add a PIN to your card (or a family member's; s/he can change it later).  The past few years, ebook servers around the country have crashed as everyone opens and logs onto their new devices on the same day.  Hopefully, this year, that won't happen.

New Mexico Library 2 Go has videos, orientation tutorials, and device-specific answers, to help you begin enjoying mobility and e-reading.  NML2G is our branch of Overdrive, an ebook provider for libraries.

More musical merriment all week

Mercy, Music, Mango, and Munchies continue at Ruidoso Public Library this week.

Waynta Wirth presents a singing concert of her private voice students, Wednesday, December 18, at 3pm.  These girls were very popular last year, as can be seen in these photos.

Then, Friday, December 20th, at noon, Fred Kinnan and Debbie Myers play guitar and flute, respectively.

Ruidoso Public Library's gift to our community continues for the next three weeks:  We are waiving lost book charges when you can present the item in good condition.  Call or email if you have any questions.  We mailed notices in November, but appreciate any updates to mailing addresses, emails, or phone numbers to reach you, too.

We had a great turn out at the Tech Petting Zoo, November 22, with excellent questions, curious novices, and friendly participants sharing their devices and experience.  At the library, Sharon has experience with Android touch-screen devices, Kindles, and downloading ebooks and audiobooks to mobile devices.  If you open a new gadget, or are giving one, this year, check with the library for free materials and a little assistance.  Your library card and PIN can open copies of several "For Dummies" or "Missing Manuals" online.

Sample these titles for free on your computer, phone, or e-reader

Major publishers want to whet your reading appetite.  Check out this link for excerpts and first chapters of new books.  These titles will receive a lot of advertising and media-hype hoping to catch your eye.  If you have the time, let us know in the comments whether (after reading several) they deserve attention on par with the media campaigns.
A similar title from last year is available if the titles or authors catch your eye and/or jog your memory for last year's blockbuster books.
If the image above does not load, then try looking for Buzz Books 2013 at your favorite online ebook store (Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's Nook, iBookstore, Kobo, Sony, Google Play, Powell's, etc.).  The ISBN is 9780985491086.
Library staff are not able to read, review, or even hear about every new book available.  (This article offers a quick explanation of just how many books are released every year.)  Marie adds over 3,000 titles each year to Ruidoso Public Library's shelves.  When publishers release over 300,000 new books (not counting self-published or anniversary releases), it is easy to see how 1% looks lovely on our shelves, but is only a single drop in a very large bucket.  We welcome your insight and input on which titles to watch.

Book Review: The Princess of Mars/John Carter Series

Last Spring, I was motivated to look for the book which inspired Disney's movie, John Carter. Before Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote Tarzan of the Apes, he wrote a series about Mars.  Beginning with A Princess of Mars, and ending eleven books later with John Carter of Mars, Burroughs' tales have captured imaginations for a century.  Some of the pulp fiction art can be seen here.

QR code to read A Princess of Mars, care of Gutenberg.org

If this square image is new to you, it is called a QR code, for Quick Response.  It is a barcode your smartphone reads with a QR reading app (either already installed or free at an app store, such as these for Android or this for Apple).  The barcode tells your phone where to go online for more information, a clue, a discount or offer, etc.  You may have seen them on bananas, posters, or in magazines.

But I digress.  After reading A Princess of Mars, I saw the movie.  Then I read the second and third books in the series, which explained a lot of the technology and political machinations that added action to the movie, but also added confusion because it was not explained.  I am working on the fourth book now.  They are light entertainment, providing insight into machismo and cultural norms from the turn of the prior century.  Mostly, it reminds me how far my culture has progressed and which characteristics remain valuable and timeless.

P. S. Ruidoso Public Library is open today, New Year's Eve, regular hours, but closed Tuesday, January 1.  We will re-open Wednesday at 9am.

Ruidoso Convention Center, January 16, 8am to 4pm

P.P.S. The Village of Ruidoso is hosting a health fair for all comers.  You may schedule an appointment time for biometric screening, mammograms, Body Age Analysis, or just drop in to learn about the local health resources already available in the community.

Book Review: Ready Player One

I am thrilled to write about Ernest Cline's Ready Player One.  It is available as an ebook (EPUB and Kindle) on Overdrive.  If this review really catches your attention, let us know at the library and we may look into buying an additional print copy if there is enough interest.  My reading experience had an odd irony as it was the first book I read on a smartphone; it just added a layer of mirth to the experience.

One version of the cover art

As with many books I like, there is a not-so-distant-future dystopia.  It is what American might become if inertia holds true, at least in some ways.  Lots of misery and economic divisions, life online overpowers the real world--or does it?  The story teaches the reader to question the obvious and re-evaluate what you really value.

The most enjoyable part of Ready Player One for me was the 1980s nostalgia.  If you enjoyed pop culture from the '80s, or just find it funny to reminisce about, this book could be a treat.  Movies, books, games, and those little things of day-to-day life that create the flavor of a decade--those are tucked away in every chapter and nearly every page.

Several friends (guys) have read this book and really enjoyed it, too.  The cover art is very different, depending on the country and printing.

If you are opening a new-fangled gadget today or tomorrow, you may already be able to download free ebooks and audiobooks from the library website.  Call us when we open Wednesday, or join us for an orientation class on Thursday at 3pm.

#4: Electronic or Digital Materials & Access

By Pete unseth [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

Millennia ago, libraries held scrolls.  A few centuries ago, the scrolls became quartos, folios, and palimpsests. 

via Wikimedia Commons

Today and tomorrow, library buildings provide the people, tools, and access to information that has left the physical world due to costs or access limitations.


Ruidoso Public Library joined New Mexico Library To Go (a group of libraries on Overdrive) just last week.  Now you may download a book (ebook or e-audiobook) for a few days onto most devices or play them on your computer.  Nook, Sony, Kindle, Kobo, mp3 players and iPods, among others, are welcome.  Most devices are supported, though older models and some newer ones may not work.  


These books are available in different file formats, from epub to pdf, .azw to .wma or mp3.  That alphabet soup explains which files will work on which devices.  It also indicates the current confusion and changing nature of ebooks and e-audiobooks.  This is an ever-changing landscape of ereaders and sound systems, which continues to learn and offer new opportunities to test out.  


At Ruidoso Public Library, we can help you find articles, encyclopediae, books, or recordings on many formats and on many topics, for many age-groups.  We have non-fiction (or reference books) and fiction. We can show you projects releasing free books to the world, such as Gutenberg Project or Librivox.org where volunteers put the files of public domain titles online, to read or listen.


Currently the books you can access through Overdrive may not be the latest or most popular because the publishers do not release everything electronically.  Other titles are available in files locked with "DRM" (digital rights management) in an attempt to stop piracy.  This means you may not have a book at the same time as another user, and may only access the file for a few days. Some files require plugging your device into a computer to download while others may transfer over WiFi.  In future this may mean you cannot download the title at home, in the evening, but only at the library, during open hours.  


If you are ready to sample something digital please ask at the library.  We may not be able to demonstrate everything at the library (our public computers run Linux, which is not supported by Overdrive), but if your laptop works on wireless, we can guide you through the basic download and installation process.  We do not touch your computers (due to liability issues); please think of it as your learning opportunity instead. 


What is your perspective on ereaders?  Have you tried one (a friend's, at the store, an app on your phone)?  How about audiobooks? (This link will have 2 free audiobooks each week starting June 14; one classic and one new young adult.)  Have you seen our weed identification, gardening, or Chilton's Automotive Manuals online?

Curious about e-readers for e-books?

Nook, Kindle, Kobo, Literati?

Image by Steven W

These and many more are e-readers.  These devices display ebooks for reading.  Some are wireless, like a smartphone, others require a computer to find and save new titles.  Here are several resources that explain these in more detail.  Several of these devices can enlarge the text or read the text aloud to enable everyone's access.

First, Wikipedia has an ENORMOUS spreadsheet of nearly all the devices currently available.  The columns indicate which devices will work with free books (from some libraries), which have color screens, touch screens, etc.

Second, who needs all that information?  This poster lists the dozen or so devices (including computers, laptops, and smartphones) that are already tested with one library e-book system.  Ruidoso Public Library is not a part of Overdrive, but the materials will probably carry over.

Third, Bookbee.net created a very clear, concise flowchart on which device you may prefer (based on your existing computer and goals).

Fourth, Tompkins Cortland Community College Library has posted some basic directions on how to use a Nook.

Image by Attila Acs

Fifth, Wired.com shared some designs for e-reader covers--in case you aren't ready to be seen in public as an e-reader user.

And finally, this post by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is an introduction to some of the privacy and property rights concerns of these new devices.

Some closing thoughts:  Ruidoso Public Library can connect you with free e-books from The Gutenberg Project.  Our Netlibrary service has books you may read online only (not yet ready to transfer to a device).   Kindles cannot access library e-books at present.

What do you think?  Do you already have one?  Which looks best to you now?  I've got a bright orange lanyard for the first three to post comments!