Beat the heat - download free magazines from home

Zinio, the world's largest newsstand, offers full colour, interactive digital magazines for your enjoyment. Browse from the library's collection of popular titles with no holds, no checkout periods, and no limit to the number of magazines you can download.

• Current Issues — New issues are released simultaneously with the print edition - many are available before they arrive at the library and are ready for immediate download. Many of the magazines have back issues available which you can also download.
• Easy browsing — Browse the library's collection of titles one at a time, search for your favourite magazines by title or use the convenient category feature to find new magazines which meet your interests. There are over 200 titles to choose from.
• Manage your collection — Using the personal account you will create, you will have the opportunity to checkout the magazines you choose and read them instantly on your computer (both PC and Mac) or access the content on a portable media device. (Note: viewing options, including the ability to download or view the content while online, may differ based on the device and/or magazine publisher)
• No limits — Check out as many issues as you want and keep them in your account as long as you wish. 

You can watch a tutorial on how to set up your accounts here.

Happy eReading, Paul.

Who starred this month? January 2014 Highlights

There is always something going on at Eastern Regional, and this month there were several stand-out events.

Summer Reading Club
The Summer Reading Club continues to be a hit across the region with hundreds of kids reading, filling out their reading logs and and joining the Super Sleuth Competition.

Don't forget, its still not too late to enter the Online Super Sleuth competition! Download the quiz, hunt for the answers and return the form to your local library for a chance to win a book voucher and iTunes voucher valued at $150!

Online Super Sleuth Quiz
Competition Closes Friday January 31st.
(Competition is open to ages 8-12 only).

Animal Rescue
We think everyone can agree that the heat wave this month knocked us all off our feet. Whilst people found themselves visiting the libraries in greater numbers to partake in the air-conditioning, staff at ERL also did their part to help the local wildlife survive the hot weather.

Of special note is the story of Zonks the Ring-tailed Possum, who was kindly taken to the vet by staff member Karla, after being found suffering from dehydration, heat stroke and burnt feet. We are pleased to report that Zonks has recovered very well and has since been released back into area from where he was found.

Cowzat! 
Australia's very own popular children's title COWZAT! was announced the winner of the Children’s App Category at the 2014 Digital Book World Awards. Through a collaborative effort between Emily Owens of Colour Me Play, the National Year of Reading, author Bruce Atherton and illustrator Ben Redlich, COWZAT! was been brought to digital life to inspire an interactive reading experience for kids.

Congratulations to all involved!!

Digital Book World Award Winners
The award winning COWZAT! app is available on iTunes for $2.99

Draw Me a Story Exhibition Launch
Celebrating the talent and vibrancy of Australian Children's literature, the Draw Me a Story exhibition opened on Thursday January 23 at the Maroondah Art Gallery to a full house reception. Amongst the crowd was famous children's authors and illustrators Graeme Base, Leigh Hobbs, Renee Treml and David Miller.

To say the place was packed is an understatement! Much fun was had by the children and families who came - you can see our photos in our Facebook Album.

A must see exhibition - open from January 24th to 15th March.
Details - Maroondah Art Gallery

Where's the Zinio app for iPhone & iPad?

If you've decided to leap into downloading magazines via our library website and you're looking for the Zinio app for iPhone/iPad in the App Store please note the following message from Zinio:

"Following an update iTunes released yesterday, the Zinio iPhone & iPad app has been temporarily removed from the app store due to an unforeseen compatibility issue.

This will NOT affect borrowers who already have the Zinio app installed on their device, only new users who search for the app in their App Store.

Zinio are working to resolve this issue as a priority.

We'll let you know as soon as the app is available again on the app store to download."

Cheers, webgurl

Australia Day! ERL Branches closed Sunday & Monday

Australia day closed 26th & 27th January.
Image courtesy of You Get the Picture via Flickr

Eastern Regional Libraries will be closed over the Australia Day long weekend on:

Sunday 26 January and Monday 27 January

Book chutes will still be available for book returns.

If you have any queries, don't hesitate to give us a call on 1300 737 277 or drop us a line on our Facebook Page.

Cheers,
The Virtual Team

IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Nominations - Help us decide!

Eastern Regional Libraries has been asked by the State Library to participate in the IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards.

Each year, public libraries throughout the world are invited to submit titles of "high literary merit" for consideration of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2015. With 152 international fiction books nominated by public libraries in 39 countries, this prestigious award is valued at approximately $154,000 AUD.

As the shortlist for the nominations by the State Library has been announced - we here at ERL thought we would ask people for their thoughts to help shape our voting decision. The State Library will then send the top 3 nominated titles by Victorian libraries to the IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards for consideration.

Have you read any of these titles? Who would you vote for?

A World of Other People by Steven Carroll

Barracuda by Christos Tsiolkas

Blood Witness by Alex Hammond

Cairo by Chris Womersley

Coal Creek by Alex Miller

Dark Horse by Honey Brown

Gotland by Fiona Capp

Holy Bible by Vanessa Russell

The Memory Trap by Andrea Goldsmith

The Swan Book by Alexis Wright

Send your thoughts to us on our Facebook Page or email us at facebook@erl.vic.gov.au.

Cheers, The Virtual Team

Book Reservation Limit introduced as of Monday 3rd Feb

From Monday 3 February 2014, patrons will be limited to 20 holds on their library record at any one time.

The reason for limiting holds is to allow fair and equitable access to the entire collection for all library patrons.

The limit will be an overall limit regardless of the type of item on hold.  Once the limit is reached patrons will not be able to place holds via the web catalogue.  They will only be able to place another hold once their total number of holds is reduced to below the 20 limit.  This may be done by either collecting a hold awaiting pick up, or cancelling one or more holds.

For more information, don't hesitate to call us on 1300 737 277 or post on our Facebook Page.

Tips for searching the eLibrary

We have just added the 27,000th title to the eLibrary which means that it's collection is now as large as those of our medium-sized branches such as Belgrave, Boronia and Ferntree Gully. It is sometimes a bit hard to find what you want to read when presented with such a large number of items to choose from so I thought it would be useful to give you a couple of strategies that may help.

1. If you want to see what has been recently added to the collection you can click on Advanced Search select the period you want to view from the drop down menu next to 'Added to site' and then click the blue 'Search' box.

2. If you are looking for books by a particular author or title you will get more accurate results by putting your search term in quotation marks.

3. If you find that you enjoy books on a certain topic or genre it is sometimes easier to find similar books by searching the eLibrary for books released by a particular publisher. Again you do this by going to  Advanced Search and then choosing the publisher from the drop down menu in the 'All publishers' box.

For instance if you are looking for Gay and Lesbian romances the publisher called Dreamspinner Press specialises in this genre.

For history books try a search on the publishers The History Press or Pen and Sword.

Happy eReading, Paul.

Catalogue upgrade Tuesday 14th January & alert for IE8 users

The library catalogue will be unavailable from 2am Tuesday 14th January for approximately 2-4 hours while a catalogue upgrade is undertaken.

Internet Explorer 8 users - There are issues searching this upgraded version of the catalogue with IE8, a system error appears. SirsiDynix are working on a fix but in the meantime I would recommend upgrading your browser via Windows Update or at Microsoft.

Chrome, Firefox and more recent versions of Internet Explorer do not give this system error.


Cheers, webgurl

New 'Kid Zone' website provides a kid-friendly eLibrary experience

We have just added a new version of the eLibrary to our webpage which is directed just at kids. The main eLibrary collection, http://erl.lib.overdrive.com, now has a separate site that will provide a safe and easy browsing experience for kids. You can access the new site at the following address, http://erl.lib.overdrive.com/Kids or by clicking on the main site and then clicking on the 'for Kids eReading Room' button.

Just as the kid's section of the physical library is separate from the adult collection, the same experience is now available in the eLibrary collection. There are over 2,000 age-appropriate eBooks and eAudiobooks available in the 'Kid Zone'. Browsing can be done by subject, reading level or interest level. 

The 'Kid Zone' site filters the overall eLibrary collection to just show content for children which means that they get to the titles that they want faster. As ever this service if free to any member with a current library card. eLibrary titles are available anytime, anywhere and expire automatically after three weeks so there is no need to worry about late fees.

Happy eReading!

 

New Carpet - coming to you at Rowville Library

Just letting everyone know that the Rowville Library will be closed for re-carpeting from:

Monday 6 January til Monday 13 January.

The after hours book chute will still be available for returns.

In the meantime, if you need to get in contact with us with any help or questions about your account feel free to contact us on phone 1300 737 277 or you can contact us via our Facebook Page.