Author Archives: carly232

My Favourite App: Pandora

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Our Digital Hub Assistant Julian tells us about his favourite app…

I was having a discussion with a group of friends about their favorite apps and 2 of us simultaneously mentioned Pandora. What is it that makes this streaming radio service one of the apps that I keep coming back to?

pandoraFirstly it is free to create an account and to use. It is ad-supported but this isn’t intrusive and doesn’t interrupt the songs. You can always upgrade to a paid subscription if you want to remove the advertising.

It is really easy to use – you search for an artist, group or song and it starts a station based on music that is of a similar style. You can interact with the music playing by either hitting the ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ buttons. The more you do this the better it knows the type of music that you are into. The only downside is that I am always going back to the app to hit the ‘thumbs up’ button as I find I like nearly every song it plays!

julian_phoneThe range of musical styles on Pandora is vast and I find there is something for everyone. You can even find a selection of comedy on there as well. You can add more stations as you go and even shuffle a mix of the stations that you have created.

I can use it on multiple Internet-enabled devices so it is available anywhere, anytime. If you have a computer you can play it through this or on your Android or Apple smart device. There are even some Smart TVs and cars that have it built-in (just be aware that using it on your mobile will consume some of your data plan).

These are the things that guarantee to get my feet tapping and to keep on using Pandora.

Want to find out more about apps? Try the links below, search the library catalogue or check out some of the informative group sessions available at the Modbury Digital Hub this month.

Apple Store – for iPads, iPhones or Mac computers

Google Play Store – for Android tablets and smart phones

Do you have a favourite app? Leave us a comment and tell us about it!

Books and films to look forward to

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Looking for an exciting new read? Here are some recent titles to keep an eye out for…

Inferno by Dan Brown – his latest thriller featuring Robert Langdon, hero of The Da Vinci Code

16128105Big Brother by Lionel Shriver – bestselling author of We Need to Talk About Kevin

Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns by Lauren Weisberger – sequel to the hilarious The Devil Wears Prada

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini – author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns

If you’re more of a film buff, check out these new and upcoming book-to-film adptations. If any of these interest you, it might be a good idea to read the book ASAP – books often become very popular just after their movie comes out!

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, this dazzling film is now out at cinemas.

Carrie by Stephen King – this Stephen King horror novel was first adapted into the well-known 1976 film and will be remade later this year.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – this sci-fi classic from 1985 is finally coming out as a film in late 2013, with Card as co-producer.

Horns by Joe Hill – Daniel Radcliffe is set to play quite a different role to Harry Potter in this supernatural thriller.

Click any title to visit our catalogue and put it on hold!

eBooks are here!

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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.

PCs still unavailable

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Just to update you on our PC issues from earlier this week, they are unfortunately still not available. Our IT department are working hard to get our PCs up and running as soon as possible, but continuing issues have meant that work will need to continue into next week.

All we know at the moment is that the PCs are unavailable until further notice – but we will let you know as soon as we know more. We look forward to providing PC access soon, and once again we apologise for the inconvenience.

PC issues

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There was a misprint in this week’s Messenger newspaper which said our public PCs are back up today, but unfortunately they are still out of action.

 We are now experiencing a few complications with our PC booking system so we are unsure when our PCs will be available again – but we’ll let you know as soon as we have more information. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

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Our PCs are unavailable

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 …but it’s for a good reason! 

The Modbury Digital Hub is taking shape in a big way, with some important renovations scheduled for this week. You may have read about this in our previous blog post. 

Our Training Room is looking a bit bare at the moment

Our Training Room is looking a bit bare at the moment

By Friday you will see some brand new computer desks in the Library, along with new carpet in the Training Room. We’re also eagerly awaiting the arrival of our Apple Macs over the next week!

We need to allow some time to get the desks installed and PCs reconnected, so our PCs will be unavailable from Wednesday 6 March until Wednesday 13 March.

In the meantime we recommend visiting Hive 12-Twenty Five or Salisbury, Campbelltown or Port Adelaide Enfield libraries to use a PC.

Pets + books = ?

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A few weeks ago we had a visit from a customer wanting to talk about something she had borrowed. Unfortunately her mischievous cat had gotten to the book when she wasn’t looking, and some of the corners had been chewed.

The title in question? “You can train your cat” by Gregory Popovich.

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Books chewed by customers’ dogs are also reasonably common, and in one case we even had a book brought back in pieces after it was destroyed by a sulphur-crested cockatoo!

If you’d like your pet to be better behaved – whether it’s a dog, cat, bird, rat or rabbit – we have a great selection of pet training books that may help out.

Weird book titles

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Sometimes we come across books with titles so strange or oddly specific it’s incredible that someone actually wrote a book about it! Here are some notable examples you can find on our catalogue…

giraffesThe Manga guide to Calculus 

Ductigami: The art of the tape

Giraffes? Giraffes!

I told you I was sick : a grave book of curious epitaphs

Whose bottom is this?
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Wood nymph seeks centaur: a mythological dating guide

And that’s just the beginning – you can find many more in Abe Books’ Weird Book Room.

What’s the weirdest book title you’ve seen?

Calvin & Hobbes search engine

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For fans of the popular Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, there is now a search engine that enables you to find your favourite  C&H cartoons. Just when you thought you’d seen everything on the Internet!

It works really well – you just need to enter any words from the text, or even a description of the panels. We tried “library” and got lots of results, including these two cute comics.

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If you’re looking for more Calvin & Hobbes, we have the complete collection on our catalogue. Put one on hold today!

School holiday activities

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IMG_5678_2Christmas may be over for another year, but that doesn’t mean we’re finished with our School Holiday Program yet!

We’ve been having a great time with lots of themed Storytime sessions and crafts, and are off to a great start with our Summer Reading Club. Grab a reading log or book review form next time you visit us and be in the running for some great prizes.

And of course, we’ve still got our regular IMG_5716_2activities happening each week. Our popular Baby Bounce and Toddler Time sessions are on every Thursday, while older children can grab a Trail from the Ask Here Desk and follow the clues throughout the Library to get a prize at the end.

Escape from the heat and come visit us in the nice cool Library! For more details, take a look at our School Holiday Program here.