The Electronic Newsletter of the Palm Beach County Library System

Contents:
1/ Introduction to Books & Bytes
2/ Live Homework Help Online
3/ Database of the Month – “SIRS Discoverer”
4/ A Quick Byte – Increasing the Text Size in your Browser
5/ In Next Month's Issue

1/ Introduction to Books & Bytes

Welcome to the September issue of Books & Bytes. This month we will look at a great resource for students called Live Homework Help Online. In addition, we will look at “SIRS Discoverer” in our Electronic Databases. 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/ Live Homework Help

Are you frightened every time your child asks you for help solving a math equation? Do you cringe at the price tag attached to a private tutor? Or perhaps you simply want to see your young student get top grades at their school? Then you will want to know about Live Homework Help Online, our free service designed to help students with their homework. It can be found on our Youth Pages at:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/youth.htm

Children and young adults in Palm Beach County never have to be stumped by a tough homework assignment again! Kids and teens from 4th to 12th grade can simply visit any Palm Beach County Library System branch to get immediate help from qualified tutors online. Live Homework Help Online connects students to expert tutors in math, science, social studies and English via the Internet.

Live Homework Help Online is simple to use. Those seeking help simply log on to Internet-accessible computer terminals, enter their grade level and the subject they need help in. Students are immediately connected to a tutor in an online classroom for up to 20 minutes of help. Students can also access the service without coming to the library: they just visit it our web site, enter their Palm Beach County Library System library card number and connect to a tutor.

Students and tutors can review specific homework questions using features such as controlled chat, an interactive white board, and shared Web browsing. Both tutors and students can type math equations using a special math tool, share educational Web sites using a shared browser tool and do much more for a rewarding learning experience. The tutors are certified teachers, college professors, professional tutors, and graduate school students from across the country. They love to teach and share their knowledge online.

The service is available Sunday – Thursday from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m., and Saturday from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m. Live Homework Help en Español offers students the opportunity seek help in math or science from Spanish-speaking tutors Sunday through Thursday from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Tap into Live Homework Help Online at:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/youth.htm

3/ Database of the Month – “SIRS Discoverer”

Is a student in your home looking for a biography of a past U.S. President? Are they trying to find a map of the world’s latest trouble spot? Or does that student need newspaper articles on the Mars Rover? All these items and more can be found online in the SIRS Discoverer database. It can be found on our Electronic Databases page:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/edb/patronlinks.asp

SIRS Discoverer is a general reference database for students in grades 1 to 9. It includes full-text articles and images from over 1,600 domestic and international newspapers, magazines, and government documents.

Resources in SIRS Discoverer include:
- Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia (a multi-volume 26,000-article encyclopedia)
- The World Almanac for Kids 2003
- Biographies providing nearly 2,000 biographies in 3 reading levels, including biographies of every of U.S. president
- Photo Essays, which illustrate global and social topics through photographs, maps, or other graphic elements along with brief informative text
- Activities: a shortcut to all full-text articles that include an activity such as a science
experiment, craft project, writing activity, and more
- Country Facts with facts on nearly 200 countries
- Dictionary

The online version of SIRS Discoverer also includes a number of special features:
- Current Events is an additional content database containing full-text articles and graphics with timely information concerning domestic and international events
- Maps of the World contains over 300 detailed, colorful maps in an online reference almanac
- Spotlight of the Month is a sampling of articles from the SIRS Discoverer database, handpicked by the SIRS research staff
- Thesaurus
- Elementary and middle school edition student workbooks and Educators Guide include
reproducible worksheets, activities, and lesson plan suggestions available in PDF format

All articles in SIRS Discoverer are assigned a reading level of either Easy, Moderate, or Challenging based on age appropriateness, educational content, interest, and level of readability. All the materials in SIRS Discoverer are carefully selected for their editorial quality, reliability, and relevance.

Take an adventure into learning by visiting “SIRS Discoverer” on our Electronic Databases page at:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/edb/patronlinks.asp

4/ A Quick Byte – Increasing the Text Size in your Browser

Many people have trouble reading words on their computer screen. To help make web surfing easier, it is possible to increase the size of the text on a web page. To do so in Internet Explorer, first click on View in the tool bar at the top of the browser. Then slide your mouse pointer down to Text Size. Another small menu will appear to the right. Move your pointer onto this menu and select either Larger or Largest. This will increase the size of the words on the web page. Be aware that if the text is part of an image, such as in the library banner at the top of each of our web pages, it will not increase in size. Otherwise, whenever you need to see the words on a web page more clearly, use the steps above to make reading web pages easier on the eyes.

5/ Next Month in Books & Bytes

Next month we will look at Talking Books, a special service designed to help people who can not use regular library material. We will also show you how to search back issues of the Sun Sentinel newspaper in our Electronic Databases.