Christopher Rumbaugh

I have worked as reference librarian at CBCPL for nearly eleven years. I self-identify as a history buff and gadget freak (old, new, electronic and mechanical). My interests include genealogy, ham radio and collecting junk. I particularly enjoy things that make noise. In my spare time I fix broken things and break things that work just fine. Have I told you how much I love ebooks? Read my blog posts here:

Alex Regan

I have been a reference librarian in Corvallis for six years. I select the art, craft and travel books for the second floor, and enjoy promoting the collection through our website, as well as blogging about books and ideas. When not working hard at the library, I enjoy checking out the local food scene, and I also love to be active, whether it’s playing basketball or hiking. Read my blog posts here.

Amy Spies

Almost two decades ago, I found my niche with the second floor librarians. I enjoy my vantage point, watching the changing landscape of technology, welcoming patrons as they crest the stairs, jingle our phone, arrive on chat, or read our blog. I select materials in subjects that interest me most, psychology, philosophy, religion and literature, with the capable assistance of you, our most literate, well-informed public. Keep your great suggestions coming. Read my blog posts here.

Sharon Grant

For the past ten years I have been answering questions, battling technology and making the world safe and productive for information seekers at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library. I am an avid fiction reader and love sharing good reads both in person, and through our website. I also like to keep everyone updated on the great online resources available on our Research web pages and am committed to making sure we provide the best products and services on the market. From Consumer Reports to Mango Language we are the place to start your search for the best of the web.When not blogging about books and websites you will find me out walking my dog, doing yoga or dreaming about my next journey to an exotic land. Read my blog posts here.

Mary Finnegan

I have been the Adult Services Manager for 11 years. I supervise a team of highly motivated, tech-savvy, well-read professional librarians. Together we form the second floor librarians and staff an information desk, develop the materials collection and provide a well-loaded website. Previously I worked in libraries in Salem, Portland and Lawrence, Kansas. When I’m not hanging out at the library you might find me working in the yard, walking, knitting or reading.

Please stop and introduce yourself the next time you see one of us, or feel free to email us at askalibrarian@ci.corvallis.or.us  We’d love to hear from you.  Got any ideas for blog posts you’d like to read?  Let us know!

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

Image credit: Rosie the blogger by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com on Flickr

While there are many ways towards fitness, one of these ways brings me to my favorite  four letter word…

and that would be

…………………………….  … Yoga.

The library has a lot of resources to learn about, and enjoy yoga and a whole host of other fitness options.

More yoga books, DVDs and CDs

For more personal takes on this practice check out:

Yoga, not for you? Check out some of our other fitness resources:

Exercise Resources at the Library

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

This past Monday new updates were released to the apps used to download eBooks and audiobooks at Library2Go. These are free programs that you can use to download material to your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android devices.

You can download these apps at:

http://tinyurl.com/appupdates

Here is an overview of some of the new features:

OverDrive Media Console for iPhone/iPad (v2.2.1)

• Orientation lock for eBooks
• Night mode and sepia display option for eBooks
• Screen lock override for eBooks
• Improved range of font size settings
• In-app library “Website Finder”

OverDrive Media Console for Android (v2.2)

• Sepia display option for eBooks
• Screen-dimming override for eBooks
• Faster EPUB performance
• Sleep timer for audiobooks

Perhaps the biggest news was the press release from Amazon that the Kindle will be compatible with our eBooks later this year

http://tinyurl.com/Library2Go-KindleAnnouncement

We do not know the date for this, or anything beyond the press announcement but we are excited nonetheless.  We have wanted Kindles to be compatible, for what seems like forever, and we could not be more pleased that it is on the near horizon. As soon as we know more we will let everyone know. We will scream it from the rooftops, not really, but we promise not to keep it a secret.

Want to learn more about eBooks be sure to attend our Demo Sessions this week.

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

which will help you with tips and tricks for improving your memory. And some of these titles as I write this post are checked in and waiting for you to pick up at the library.

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

I am also starting to be followed around by my own personal Spring poem. Like Emily Dickinson’s A Certain Slant of Light hounds me in Fall, Robert Frost’s Mending Wall always comes back to me in the Spring. Both of these poems are available in our LitFinder Database as well as a lot of wonderful essays, short stories, biographies and work overviews.

For your enjoyment click on the following link to access a piece of the soundtrack to my brain:

Mending Wall

If you have trouble with the above link go to the

LitFinder Database

and search for Robert Frost and Mending Wall.  Then click on the tab for Primary Sources & Literary Works. The second link is the poem.

For more great online resources please visit the Research section of our website.

Got questions please feel free to contact us.

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

* More than 14,000 pro/con viewpoint essays
* 5,000+ topic overviews
* More than 300 primary source documents
* 300 biographies of social activists and reformers
* More than 775 court-case overviews
* 5 million periodical articles
* Nearly 6,000 statistical tables, charts and graphs
* Nearly 70,000 images and a link to Google Image Search
* Thousands of podcasts, including weekly presidential addresses and premier NPR programs
* A national and state curriculum standards search, correlated to the content that allows educators to quickly identify material by grade and discipline

As I was browsing through this resource today I found great articles on a couple of topics that have had a strong presence in the news lately.

Health Care and Insurance

Gun Control

Just click on the links above to be taken to these articles.

For more great online resources please visit the Research section of our website.

Got questions please feel free to contact us.

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

Amateur wireless station (LOC) found on Flickr Commons

The library public wireless network here at Corvallis has been changed today and I, for one could not be more happy about it! Starting today if you need to access our WiFi, you no longer need to click through a use agreement page before accessing the Internet. Now if you want to use the library wireless network your Internet access is automatic. This should eliminate many problems people have had connecting in the past and especially for the new e-book readers which don’t have traditional browsers.

This is a SIGNIFICANT improvement in the service that we provide. So many devices now want a WiFi connection, including ebook readers, handhelds of all flavors, etc. This makes us a HOT hotspot!

We did a quick check and had success using our Nook (running an Android derivative) and Puppy Linux (speedy, runs in RAM) on an Asus.  Both work great and were fast. In the past we could not get these devices to work on our WiFi. We are likely to see more devices getting access now and that makes for a big plate of happy for everyone here at the library.

Let us know about your experience with our new setup.

Joyfully Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

Police Dog, Tess, 29/1/35 / by Sam Hood, State Library of New South Wales collection via Flickr

With all of the technical difficulties during the past couple of weeks it has been a strong reminder to me that communication is a big part of our business.

We want to be available in person at the library, but also we want to be where you are, and enable you to contact us in the manner you prefer. We also want to keep you updated on all of our programs, services and the wonderful new stuff we are adding to our collection on a daily basis. Your input, comments and questions are important and we hope you use one or more of the many ways listed below to keep in contact with us.

Phone:
541-766-6793

Email:
askalibrarian@ci.corvallis.or.us

Chat:
http://www.oregonlibraries.net/widget/corvallisbenton_county_library

Text:
Text us a question at 66746 and include the keyword CBCPL

Suggest Titles for our Collection and Request Interlibrary Loans:

http://www.thebestlibrary.net/request-materials-librarylinks-105

Get Suggestions for Good Reads:

http://www.thebestlibrary.net/request-materials-librarylinks-105/901-readers-advisory

Follow Us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/corvallislib

Friend Us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/cbcpl

Get our Bimonthly Library Newsletter:

http://www.thebestlibrary.net/about-your-library-librarylinks-95/110

Keep Updated on New Items in our Collection:

http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/bookletter/addnluser.html?sid=6680

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

Although I am done with my Christmas shopping there may be those of you out there who are still trying to decide what to buy. In a previous post (ok, perhaps more than one) I hawked our subscription to the online version of Consumer Reports but we also have other consumer help resources that you might find useful.

One recent addition to the Consumer Information section of our Research pages is the Consumer Product Reviews widget. It allows you to quickly locate product/service evaluations for some of today’s most purchased products from thousands of magazines available through our Gale OneFile magazine article database. This search will limit you to just product review articles that have been selected by editors at Gale so there is no wading through endless hits of articles that may not have anything to do with what you are looking for.

To access this online tool visit our Consumer Information page. The widget is located on the upper right hand corner of the page. You can choose from a select list of products, or type a product name into the search box to locate full-text product/service evaluations from a variety of publications.

Got questions?  Feel free to email us at askalibrarian@ci.corvallis.or.us.

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian

This app allows you to download mp3 audiobooks and epub ebooks from Library2Go directly to the iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone as well as devices with the Android operating system – no secondary computer needed.

I downloaded the app last night and it works great! I did have a slight hiccup when I first downloaded it but I was able to remedy the problem fairly quickly with the instructions at the end of this post.

The first time you download a epub book you will be asked for your Adobe ID, and if you do not have one they direct you to the page where you can set one up. Also this app is compatible with iOS 4 and later. To update your device go to http://www.apple.com/support/.

In addition to enabling ebooks this app also has nice feature that allows you to bookmark the Library2Go website. For those of you who might not know the difference between the Overdrive Media Console (OMC) and Library2Go website, OMC manages your downloaded content whereas Library2Go is where you find and get the content.

To access this feature, you just click on the Get Books button, enter your zip code and it will give you the link for the Library2Go website. You can then  bookmark it for easy access later.

Some people have reported that the software crashed on them initially. If you experience issues after updating, please restart your device. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on the top of the device until the red slider appears, then slide the slider and wait for the device to turn off. Press the Sleep/Wake button again to start.

If this does not resolve the issues, please uninstall and then reinstall the app.

Got questions?  Feel free to email us at askalibrarian@ci.corvallis.or.us.

Posted by Sharon, a Second Floor Librarian