eBooks are here!

Great news for our borrowers - you can now access eBooks through our catalogue!

South Australian libraries have joined forces to purchase a collection of eBooks and Audiobooks via a provider called Overdrive. Logging in with your library card you can download books onto your eBook reader, tablet PC, iPad or smartphone (or music player, in the case of Audiobooks). You can borrow them for up to 21 days and they are automatically returned from your device, so you won’t get any late fees.

And the best part? It’s all free.

To get started, just go to our website or catalogue and look for the eBooks link. Browse or search for a title you’re interested in, click Borrow, and transfer it to your device to get reading.

Please note that due to a rights management issue with Amazon we can’t currently offer this service to Kindle users in Australia.

For more information on the world of eBooks, see this brochure from the Public Libraries SA website.

Is your knowledge of basic road rules up-to-date?

Breaking basic road rules contributes to thousands of avoidable crashes in South Australia, resulting in injuries and fatalities every year. For example, most people know that they should not use their mobile phone whilst driving – but did you know that at 60km/h your vehicle is travelling at over 16 metres per second? Taking your eyes off of the road for just three seconds to read a text means that you will travel 50 metres without looking at the road.

If you need to refresh your knowledge of basic road rules, check out the Road Rules website. It provides useful tips and information about road safety along with a quiz to see how well you remember it.

We have the new Road rules refresher pocket guide here at the Library, so make sure you grab a copy next time you’re here!

Forwardit – learn all about using the Internet!

The SA Government has created a great website for anyone who would like to learn how to use the Internet safely, securely and at their own pace.
Whether you’re a complete beginner, have dabbled a little bit or have some experience and are keen to learn more,  FowardIT will assist you to develop  the skills you need.

The site has three main sections with many self paced sessions for you to work through, featuring helpful videos and graphics to make learning easy and interesting.
The Basics
Features sessions on getting started on the Internet, Email, Online Safety, Facebook, Skype, how to use your tablet, even Online Dating, plus lots more.
For Employees
This section helps with skills required in today’s workplace such as basic word processing and spreadsheets, document management, creating presentations and Internet searching.
For Small Business
Assistance for small business with eCommerce, setting up a PayPal account, social media for small business, website development, as well as tools such as inventory and teleconferencing.

There really is something for everyone, so take a look and learn some new skills and remember to refer your friends and family to the site too.

Read current magazines online free!

We’ve recently subscribed to a new online resource, Zinio, which allows you to read  popular magazines in full colour digital format on your PC, Mac, iphone, ipad, android device or tablet via a browser or app. All for free!

The collection covers news, sport, technology, entertainment, home, lifestyle and more. Some of the titles currently available are Inside Out, Martha Stewart Living, Bride to Be, GQ, Gardening Australia, Practical Parenting and FilmInk, with more titles coming soon.

To use Zinio, please go to the Library Online Resources page and login with your library barcode. Then click the link to Zinio.

You will need to create a couple of accounts to login to the Library’s Zinio collection and to read the magazines, so we recommend you read the handy User Guide or watch the video on the Zinio landing page to assist you with this.

Create your account and access the User Guide and video

We’d love to hear what you think of Zinio, so please leave us a comment!

New smartphone app for library catalogue access!

As a member of the One Card network we now have the BookMyne smartphone app available to our users, offering access to all the participating library services.
The app is available free for iPhone and Android and can be downloaded from the relevant app stores by searching for Bookmyne.

What you can do using BookMyne

• find libraries, their locations and opening hours
• search the library catalogues via keyword, author, title subject or barcode
• place holds and cancel holds
• access your account details
• access best seller lists and reading recommendations from Goodreads
• get assistance using the inbuilt user guide with full instructions on all features
• use the camera in your mobile to scan barcodes on books in bookstores etc to check if the library stocks the item. (Only available with iOS devices with autofocus cameras ; iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, otherwise barcodes can be entered manually on all iOS devices.)

 Give this new app a try to access all these features and let us know what you think!

Search the catalogue on Facebook!

One of the nice things we can do now we are part of the One Card network is offer you access to the Library catalogue via our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/ttglibrary.
Look for the Search our Catalogue link under our banner photo.

You can search for items held at all the One Card network libraries, place holds, access your library card, do renewals all from Facebook and of course Like and share things with your friends.

Good reason to like us on Facebook too!

We’d love to see what you think, so give it a try, then leave us a comment about your experience.

 

Classic Graphic: Moby Dick

Written by Herman Melville , adapted by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Pascal Alixe for Marvel Comics.

There have been film and television adaptations of Herman Melville’s classic American novel Moby Dick and even an opera, which was recently performed in Adelaide.  Now we can read the graphic novel.

Set in the nineteenth century America, Moby Dick is the story of Ishmael, a young American man who goes to sea in order to relieve a bout of depression.  His plans do not go as expected when he secures employment among a strange, multiracial crew on the whaling ship Pequod, under the command of the fanatical Captain Ahab.  Rather than fulfill their whaling contract, vengeful Ahab leads his crew into mortal danger across the world in pursuit of killing the white whale they call Moby Dick.

Roy Thomas has attempted to remain faithful to the tone of the original text rather than modernising the language for his graphic novel.  He provides the reader with an introduction to Herman Melville’s original novel and a concise biography of the author.

Pascal Alixe’s illustrations are excellent.  Alixe uses subdued tones of blue, grey, green and brown to create an atmosphere through which we can visualise the cold, bleak coast of New England and what it would be like aboard a sailing ship in treacherous seas.

Facial expressions superbly convey the emotions of each character, especially the crazed Captain Ahab and add to the high drama of the story.  Those readers who are familiar with Moby Dick on film will not be disappointed by the graphic novel’s rendition of the Polynesian harpoonist Queequeg, who is a favourite character of many people.

After the horror of seeing Japanese whaling vessels pursuing whales on the television news at least you can rest assured that when reading Moby Dick that the whale will come out on top.  As a modern reader, I found it interesting to consider that the issue of whether the whale would survive to be important to me but to readers in 1851, the morality of whaling probably did not come into question.  Moby Dick is even referred to as a great fish!  Moby Dick was essentially about one man’s obsession, to the point of madness, in seeking revenge against the greater force of nature.  Reading Moby Dick, one learns not only about the superstitious nature of sailors but also of how much people used to believe in the concepts of fate, omens, retribution and the wrath of God.

Readers should be aware that this graphic novel features illustrations of whales which have been hunted and killed.

You can search the Library’s online catalogue to reserve the graphic novel Moby Dick or Herman Melville’s original novel, a DVD or even a children’s version of his classic work.  Or enquire next time you visit the Library.

The stories behind the world’s favourite books

We’ve had it for years, but I only just discovered the book ‘Behind the Bestsellers‘ this week. It’s a fascinating collection of the stories behind the stories – anecdotes and experiences that led to the creation of some of literature’s most famous places, characters and books.

Did you know that the tales that good friend Bertram Russel told Arthur Conan Doyle about ghostly demon dogs that roamed Dartmoor, were the basis for the creative return of Conan Doyle’s most famous character? Sherlock Holmes had been killed off in The Final Problem  eight years earlier, but returned in The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Orwell’s 1984was a culmination of his life’s political beliefs and experiences. His work with the Indian Imperial police in Burma, his involvement with the Spanish Worker’s Party during their Civil War and producing BBC wartime propaganda moulded his hatred of ‘the man’ with it’s bureaucratic secrecy and hypocrisy.

Dan Brown’s father was a mathematician, creating codes, puzzles and cryptic clues as elaborate treasure hunts for his children on their birthdays and at Christmas. His college years in New England, surrounded by Masonic Lodges and ‘Founding Father’ clubs, piqued an interest in secret societies, and an incident at school when Secret Service agents arrived to detain a student culminated in his fascination of  government agencies.  All three put together form the basis of The Da Vinci Code.

I could go on all day, there’s the background to 50 books listed!

Top books of 2011

Now the year is coming to a close, its a good time to look at the books published in 2011 and see what has been popular, what have you read and what have you missed?

There are a few Top 10 lists around though: The Neilsen ratings , New York Times best books for 2011, or The Book Depository’s (UK) Trends list is a quirky one. They can tell you the most popular Zombie books, Lego books, or what time of year more people buy cupcake books. Love it!

Readings bookstore also have some Australian lists for Best of 2011, including Best SciFi and Fantasy, Best Art and Design, and Best Graphic Novels.

What was your favourite new release this year?

Classic Graphic

The Odyssey: adapted from the epic poem by Homer

Adapted by Thomas Roy and illustrated by Greg Tocchini

Get back to the classics! The Library now has graphic novel adaption of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. The great bard’s exciting adventure lives on in a new format for a modern audience.

It can be difficult to plough through the original verse of the Odyssey and readers who have read the prose version or who like Greek or roman myths will particularly enjoy reading the graphic novel. Although more concise, Roy’s adaption remains faithful to the content of the original epic poem (would he dare to do otherwise?). The Odyssey graphic novel also features a section on what we know about Homer’s life and works.

What I have always enjoyed about reading classical literature was imagining the gods and mythical creatures. So the graphic novel format lends itself to these tales through the colourful illustrations of the Greek gods and specifically in The Odyssey, monsters. The Mediterranean countryside and architecture are also well illustrated. As expected, the illustrations depict the larger than life heroes as handsome and muscular and the women beautiful and curvaceous. Both wear clothing that shows off their attributes! Parents should be aware that The Odyssey contains adult themes.

Search the online catalogue on the Library’s website to check out our growing collection of classics in graphic novel format.