Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The Otis Library Online Catalog

Many people may have used the library’s OPAC to conduct a basic single field search for an item using a keyword, subject, author or title. However, the online catalog offers other search features worth exploring while you are using the OPAC in the library or when your searching from your home computer. The advanced search found under the Search options tab on the catalog home page allows you to search multiple fields simultaneously (author, title etc.) while choosing to limit your search to a specific library, material type (book, audio book, DVD), language and publication date. It also gives you the ability to sort the results you receive by date, title, or relevance.
The online catalog also allows you the opportunity to widen your search to all of the collections in the LION consortium using the drop-down menu on the catalog’s home page. Likewise you can limit you search to a specific library using the same drop-down menu. Using this same menu also gives you the power to exclusively search specific types of collections (Children’s, Teen, Adult, Music, downloadable E-books and audio books). Once you locate a specific item record, a book for instance, you can continue to refine your search for other books by using three other OPAC features, subject headings, tags and the other readers liked links. The Library of Congress subject headings included in the item record are clickable links to other topics that are directly related to the item’s subject. This is important search function for persons who are looking for multiple books within a specific subject area. Collecting books as research for a term paper might be an example of a good use of searching subject heading links. Tags are very similar in nature to subject headings and serve the same function of finding other items related to the subject area of your search. Tags are subject-based links that are based on the consensus choice of people who have read specific books and taken the time to classify them. Clicking on a specific tag will bring you to a larger list of titles within the same topic area of your search. The final search function appears at the bottom of every item record. It’s called “Other Readers Liked”, and is a group of books pertaining to the same or related subject material which can be used to extend your search if you choose. Selecting each of the title links takes you to the book’s OPAC record. Reference Staff

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Black Friday Technology

Black Friday Technology

Join us on Wednesday, November 9th at 6:30pm in the Community Room. Come in and learn about different technologies you might see during a Black Friday sale...like the iPad, Kindle, Nook, digital cameras, scanners, a few cell phones too. 

Find out some of the terms that you can throw at the salesman to show them that you are a more knowledgeable consumer!


We will also show you what all of those little codes you see in flyer are good for!
QR Codes
Hope to see you there! Call 860-889-2365x109 (ask for Amanda) for questions.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

O'Tis a Festival at Otis Library

We are having a craft and book sale at Otis:


Saturday, November 19, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
  • Handcrafted items
  • Books from Bank Square Books in Mystic
  • Musical performances
  • Author Pearl Dexter - 11am
  • Author Wally Lamb - 1pm
  • Children's Crafts
  • Face Painting


The crafters will be spaced out all over the library and you will be able to wonder through at your leisure. There will be ample parking and a festive spirit! Think of our festival when you are planning to get some holiday shopping done with a homemade flavor!

Internet Archive: Digging up the Digital Past





If you’re looking for a Web resource with a deep collection of cultural riches that are both eclectic, enlightening and free, you may want to visit the Internet Archive (www.archive.org/).

Beneficiaries of the institutional support of the National Science Foundation, the Library of Congress and the Prelinger Archives as well as the support of thousands of individuals; the Internet Archive is a digital library of Internet sites and cultural artifacts. The overall collection is comprised of approximately three million texts, over one million audio recordings (including 93,000 downloadable live music concerts) and nearly 600,000 movies/videos.

One of the more intriguing aspects of this resource is the Wayback Machine, containing 2 petabytes of archived websites reaching back across the entire history of the Internet. Unlike other search engines, the Wayback Machine requires you to enter the URL of the page you’re trying to find. For instance, typing www.newyorktimes.com into the search box will retrieve a “chronological map” allowing you access to an accurate snapshot of the website for a specific date of your choosing. This puts another powerful research tool at your disposal when you need to retrieve information from websites that change with great rapidity.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Free E-Books (for your Kindle too!)

With your Otis Library card you can check out e-books to your Nook, Kindle, iPad, tablet, smart phone or desktop! Here is a list of supported devices. Let me give you a relatively short rundown on the service...

1. You need a current, valid Otis Library card or one from the LION consortium Listed Here
2. To browse the current e-book offerings, which are constantly being updated, to see if they are of interest to you Click Here
3. There are a variety of help pages in the left hand column of the page.
4. There are a limited number of titles of each book, you may have to put it on hold because someone else may be reading it currently. You can limit your search to only ones that are available for checkout immediately.
5. Kindle has just been added to the service in the past couple of weeks. It appears that you do need to set up an Amazon account. It was very quick for us though.

 Just a reminder...some of the items are audio books. Make sure you are downloading the proper format for your E-Reader. We have found through trial and error, that if you download a Kindle book to your Nook...it doesn't work!
If you need us to walk you through any steps have your Otis or LION Library card number handy. Call us at 860-889-2365 and press #2 for the Reference Department.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Mobile Library

Check out our Mobile Catalog!

Get on your smartphone to: see what items you have checked out, look up items, see fines and place holds. You will need your library card's barcode number to place holds. 

Direct your phone's browser here:  http://libanywhere.com/m/143

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Otis Music Blog, Part 1

Here at the Otis Library, we have an extensive collection of classical music. To help get the rest of us up to speed in the genre one of our reference staff members is writing a series on the classical music collection that we house here. If you see any of the titles below and think, "hey, I want to try some classical because it sounds good" come on down to the library and pick up one...or two...or five!!!
(Guest blogger: John Paton; classical music aficionado)


The American Third Symphony


For some unexplained reason, the best American composers of the 20th Century, almost to a man, produced masterpieces when it came to the composition of a Third Symphony. Why this should be, cannot logically be explained, but simply accepted as a coincidental matter of fact. I certainly can’t explain why these same composers Second or Fourth Symphonies did not fare as well. But, for whatever reason, the Third Symphony of a great many American composers has judged as superior.
The list is extraordinary. Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, Howard Hanson, David Diamond, Walter Piston, William Schuman, Leonard Bernstein all produced great Third Symphonies. You could even add Charles Ives to the list although from a slightly earlier period. More recently, Philip Glass has produced another great American Third Symphony.
Many of these works do have one thing in common and that is a connection with the Boston Symphony Orchestra but that connection has no relationship to the curious fact of their all being Third symphonic efforts.
What is of interest to Otis patrons, is that most of these wonderful symphonies are available in the Classical CD collection. Best known is Aaron Copland, both as a composer and for the familiarity of his Third Symphony. In it, Copland incorporates his familiar, “Fanfare for the Common Man.” Using this as the basis of the final movement, it ushers in one of those wonderful “I know that!” moments that can make listening to music such a great experience. The William Schuman Third Symphony is a personal favorite having heard a stunning live performance of it with Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic who perform it on the Otis CD. There is no finer recording of this great work These recordings can serve as wonderful introductions to music whose composers, save Bernstein, may be unfamiliar to listeners.
The American Third Symphony: a great introduction to the greatest music ever produced by our finest native composers. Look for them and check them out; you’ll be happy you did..

Wednesday, February 9, 2011