Review of Lovely Knits for Little Girls

Title: Lovely Knits for Little Girls
Author: Vibe Sondergaard
Fabulous pictures, the models in the book seem so happy too! Love to see the front and back of the finished product. It was great to see patterns that were geared towards girls that are a somewhat forgotten age group in Knitting patterns.

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

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.

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.

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!

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