The Electronic Newsletter of the Palm Beach County Library System

Contents:
1/ Introduction to Books & Bytes
2/ Talking Books
3/ Database of the Month – “Sun-Sentinel”
4/ Your Library is Working to Make Your Vote Count!
5/ A Quick Byte – Organize Favorites
6/ In Next Month's Issue

1/ Introduction to Books & Bytes

Welcome to the October issue of Books & Bytes. This month we will learn how about a great library service for people who are blind or physically handicapped, called Talking Books In addition, we will learn how to locate articles from the Sun-Sentinel in our Electronic Databases. Also, in November, your library will be working to make your vote count. Finally, “A Quick Byte” will feature a tip to assist you in your daily computer use.

We hope you enjoy receiving Books & Bytes. Please let us know what you think of our publication by writing to: webmaster@pbclibrary.org

2/ Talking Books

Talking Books are current, popular books and magazines for adults and children recorded on cassette tapes for patrons who are unable to use regular printed materials. Talking Books are available in English, Spanish, and other languages. Books and magazines are also available in Braille. Photos of the Talking Books player are available at:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/outreach-talkingbooks.htm

The Talking Books Library is a special service of the Palm Beach County Library and a part of the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. We lend Talking Books along with special cassette tape players, free-of-charge to eligible patrons. Special catalogs are provided for patrons to select books, or library staff will assist with book selection. All services are available by mail, or in person. The Talking Books Library serves all of Palm Beach County.

Anyone who is unable to read small print due to blindness or a visual disability (including large print readers), or anyone unable to hold a book or turn pages due to a physical disability, is eligible. These disabilities need not be permanent to qualify for the service. In certain instances, individuals with reading disabilities such as dyslexia are also eligible. All Talking Books services, including postage, are FREE of charge.

To apply for this service, call the Talking Books Library at 649-5500 or 1-888-780-5151 (South County and Glades area), or email outreach@pbclibrary.org for an application. The application may be certified by an M.D., Ophthalmologist, Registered Nurse, or other qualified professionals serving the blind or physically disabled.

To learn more about Talking Books, and to download a registration form from our web site, please visit:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/outreach-talkingbooks.htm

3/ Database of the Month – Sun-Sentinel

No one would want to save over eighteen years worth of newspapers just in case they needed to look up an article. Thankfully, the library has this covered. So, if you are looking for articles on South Florida news and events, why not browse through the Sun-Sentinel archives. It can be found on our Electronic Databases page:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/edb/patronlinks.asp

The Sun-Sentinel archives provide selected full-text content of local and regional news from 1986 to present. Searching the archives is straightforward. Type the keywords that best match what you are looking for into the search box, and then select whether you want the most recent articles first or simply the best matches. You have the option to limit the results to the last 3, 6, or 12 months. For example, a search for information on the Scripps Research Institute in the last 12 months produces 200 articles, dealing with such topics as road construction in the northern parts of the county, political issues about control of the new Biotech Research Park, and debates over the total cost of this massive project. Articles can be printed off using your web browser’s print command or they can be emailed to friends and colleagues.

Browse through the Sun-Sentinel archives on our Electronic Databases page at:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/edb/patronlinks.asp

4/ Your Library is Working to Make Your Vote Count!

Staff from all library locations will be assisting the Supervisor of Elections in making this year the most successful election year ever. We will be working to make voter registration accessible to all. We are working at the polls. We are working at the Supervisor of Elections Office.

Because of the large number of staff involved in making democracy work, on Election Day, November 2, some of our locations will be closed and others will have reduced hours. For a list of our hours on Election Day, please visit:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/story-vote-nov2004.htm

5/ A Quick Byte – Organizing Your Favorites

Saving web sites on your “Favorites” list is an easy way to ensure that you can locate important web sites later on. However, if you simply add web sites to your favorites without organizing them, your list can grow very large and cumbersome to use. Therefore, it is a great idea to keep track of your favorites using the “Organize Favorites” option under the Favorites menu in Internet Explorer. With “Organize Favorites” you can create folders to house similar favorites, delete favorites you no longer need, move loose favorites to folders, and even rename favorites on your list. Keeping an organized list of favorites will help make your web surfing much faster and more fun.

6/ Next Month in Books & Bytes

Next month we will look again at our award-winning Community Health Information Services. We will also show you how to search for current articles in the New York Times using our Electronic Databases.