Gail Haar, Director of the Marin County Library Services, will soon be featured on NPAT (). If you have not visited the lately, you are in for an awesome experience!
Going to the local Novato Library and obtaining a library card will open the doors to a new way of accessing information, reading material, and learning new things. No longer is the library just a place to check out printed books, as you can now check out eBook readers, movies, and much, much more.
Using the county’s website, you can check out free eBooks for your Kindle and other eBook readers and have them for up to 21 days to read. There are over 2,000 eBooks in their collection. Since talking to Gail, I have already read through two eBooks that I checked out from the library and were downloaded directly to my Kindle. The first time through is a bit challenging, and not all of the librarians are totally versed in the procedure, but I am sure that they soon will be. If you already have your library card, you might follow the instructions here.
Learning a foreign language is available with a free program called Mango, which Gail says is quite comparable to Rosetta Stone. Some of the 38 languages on the program are Czech, Farsi, Korean, Slovak and Thai as well as the most common ones such as French, German, Italian and Spanish. With speakers, you can hear the words said at the same time they are viewed on the screen. All that is needed is that library card! After having paid quite a sum for a Rosetta Stone that now only works on my old laptop, I truly appreciate Mango, which is free and always there online.
My NPAT interview with Gail Haar was produced by club members of Soroptimist International of Novato. This blog is a preview of the program that is yet to be edited, but most likely will be shown on Wednesday evening at 7 or 7:30 p.m. and repeated on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. within the next two weeks. NPAT is our local Channel 26.
For more information about Marin County’s Library check www.marinlibrary.org. For more information about the Soroptimist organization, check www.soropnovato.org. NPAT's programming can be viewed at www.npat.org/.
The complete collection of diigital books can be found here: overdrive.marinet.info// MCFL does have a small collection of MP3 audiobooks that are Mac-friendly but because publishers often limit their releases to the PC-friendly WMA format, we are limited to what is available for purchase. The MP3 audiobooks can be found here: http://overdrive.marinet.info/72C9490A-FDD2-4612-9DA9-131949F4CD05/10/867/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=818214s&SortBy=CollDate. Both the Novato and South Novato Library routinely offer workshops on ebooks and related devices. Check the calendar of events here: http://www.marinlibrary.org/events-and-programs.
Maybe I'll try it again some day but the host software is a commercial barrier to the public library!