Update to our eBooks service!

Hello eBook people - if you use an iPhone, iPad or Android based smartphone to read our eBooks, you're going to love this!

Overwhelmed by ennui, I've just cut and pasted the instructions we received from our service suppliers - but what it boils down to is that you can now download directly to your devices! Hoorah!

Here's the cut and paste bit -

Direct Download to iPhone/iPad/Android Devices

We are pleased to announce that we are now able to offer direct download to both Apple (iPhone/iPad) and Android Devices.

Browsing the eLibrary Catalogue from these devices has always been possible but until now, downloading has not been an option. Our new download platform is now able to detect the device being used and offer the appropriate download methods.

Apple Device

Accessing the download window from an Apple device will result in the following screen being displayed:

Note: This download service requires that the previously recommended 3rd party app ‘BlueFire’ is installed on the device.

Hitting the download link will result in the title downloading directly into BlueFire with full digital rights management.

NOTE: BlueFire does not offer a download status bar. Therefore, there will be a period of inactivity whilst the title is downloaded. The app will only display a message once the title finishes downloading.

Android Device

Accessing the download window from an Android device will result in the following screen being displayed:

Note: This download service requires that the previously recommended 3rd party app ‘Aldiko’ is installed on the device.

Hitting the download link will result in the title downloading directly into Aldiko with full digital rights management.

Support

We still recommend that titles are downloaded via a PC/MAC through Digital Editions and transferred to the Reader at this stage and this would be our first suggestion to anyone having any direct download problems.

Full download instructions are available in the Help/FAQ section of your eLibrary web site.


So there you have it - I shall now leave you to your own devices (ha ha - see what I did there?)

Go give it a go.

Alan McGee introduces Broken Vinyl Club and Chris Pattermore at Cardiff Central Library.

You may remember Alan McGee for completely dominating the 90s music scene, with his Creation Records bestriding a fast flowing river of record releases like a mighty colossus.  He launched such names as Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub, The Libertines and Cardiff’s very own Super Furry Animals.  Oh, and some small indie band called Oasis. Clearly the man knows talent.

Now McGee’s back with a new band called Broken Vinyl Club. Hailing from Aberdare they specialise in 60s style rock and have the jangling guitar sound of The La’s, The Kinks and the catchier Stone Roses numbers.  With the popular single ‘I Want You Girl’ under their belt on Cardiff’s Monkey See, Monkey Do label, they’ve found favour not only with McGee but spiritual mod-revival godfather Liam Gallagher as well.

Central Central Library is proud to present Alan McGee’s showcasing of this promising new band, one he’s convinced are ready to become massive. See them before fame strikes at this free event on Level 3 of Cardiff Central Library on Saturday 27th August at 1 pm. Definitely worth a look.

Borrow eBooks from Cardiff Libraries!

Hi, eBook lending is live!

This is a very brief, rough and ready guide to the new eBooks for Wales service.

The eBooks for Wales service is a one-year pilot project funded partly by CyMAL and partly by the participating Welsh authorities.  The project will initially run for one year – if you have any observations to make about the service please contact me at rboddy@cardiff.gov.uk

You can access the service at http://www.wales.libraryebooks.co.uk/  or via our webpages here. You will need your borrower number (the one on your card beginning 80…), and your PIN to log in – if you don’t know your PIN please contact me.

Here are some of the main aspects of the service.

• This service is free!

• It does not work with Kindles, but there is a list of devices it does work with.

• Why oh why doesn’t it work with Kindles? Kindles are a proprietary device sold by Amazon – their primary aim is to store/display e-books purchased from Amazon.  At the moment, at least in the UK, Amazon has no interest in loaning ebooks.

• You will need to download and install Adobe Digital Editions via an automatic pop-up, which will help you manage your ebooks – there is no charge for this.  If you want to transfer it from your pc to a mobile device you may need to install additional bit of software.  The recommended software for the particular device is listed in the FAQs section on the eBooks for Wales website, and the software is free.

• If you wish to download your ebook to an iPad or iPhone then there’s a fine walk-through here.

• You are able to borrow and/or reserve up to 4 items (i.e. you can have 1 on loan, and 3 reserved, or vice versa, or 2 and 2).  This will be in addition to the 15 items you are currently allowed.

• You will be able to select in days how long you wish to borrow an ebook, but the default period is 3 weeks.

• At the end of the chosen period the ebooks will disappear from your hardware.

• There are no renewals as such, but after the loan period has expired and the file is deleted, you will be able to download it again immediately unless someone else has reserved it.

• Whilst the ebook is in your selection basket it will not be available to anyone else.  If you don’t download the ebook within 30 minutes, it disappears from your basket and goes back on the e-shelf.

• When you reserve an item you are told when it will be available (there will be no late returns as the item is automatically returned after the selected loan period).

• If you reserve items you can choose to be notified by email 72 hours before the book becomes available. 

• You have 24 hours to download an available reserved item.  After 24 hours it goes back on the shelf or onto the next person in the reservation list.

• If you do not choose to be notified by email, then you will need to remember to check the site.

• There will be a Welsh version of the interface by the time of the full launch in September.

• At the moment there are very few e-books in Welsh available.

• Phew, that’s it!

As mentioned, this is a one-year pilot programme and will be reviewed continuously throughout this period.  Your views and experiences are vital to improving the service and we welcome all feedback, good or bad!

There will be happy shiny publicity material later in the year, but we hope this will be enough to get you started.

The service is live NOW!  Go grab an ebook!.

Man Booker Prize 2011 Longlist announced.

The longlist for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction was announced yesterday, Tuesday 26 July. They are:

• Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending
• Sebastian Barry On Canaan's Side
• Carol Birch Jamrach's Menagerie
• Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers 
• Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues
• Yvvette Edwards A Cupboard Full of Coats
• Alan Hollinghurst The Stranger's Child
• Stephen Kelman Pigeon English
• Patrick McGuinness The Last Hundred Days
• A.D. Miller Snowdrops
• Alison Pick Far to Go
• Jane Rogers The Testament of Jessie Lamb
• D.J. Taylor Derby Day

You know the drill - click on the individual titles to check availability, or if you're feeling particularly indolent, you can click here to bring up the complete list (radical new departure this - see how much we value your time!)

As usual, what we don't have, we'll get as soon as we can and update this list accordingly.

The shortlist of six authors will be announced on Tuesday 6 September and the winner will be announced on Tuesday 18 October at a dinner at London's Guildhall and will be broadcast on the BBC.

Win 2 free tickets to our wonderful Wine Tasting Evening!

On Friday 29th July, Cardiff Central Library is hosting a Wine Tasting Evening - doors open at 7, corks pop shortly thereafter.

Tickets for this event are retailing at the very reasonable price of £10.00, but you Dear Readers, you have the opportunity to win 2 of these much sought-after items!

"How, oh how?" I hear you cry.  Well, I'll tell you.

All you have to do is answer these six easy questions and email your answers to centrallibrary@cardiff.gov.uk

And to make life even easier for you, I'm allowed to tell you that all answers can be found via our e-Reference resources here.


Right, here we go -

1. What is the difference between Syrah and Shiraz?
2. What is terroir?
3. Who painted "Bacchus and Drinker"?
4. In which country would you find Rioja?
5. The Master of Wine, Mrs.N. L. Lander is better known as who?
6. What is phylloxera?

Judges decisions are final (unless you're bigger than us), and will NOT be influenced by envelopes of unmarked, small denomination notes with non-sequential numbers left in a phonebox and/or supermarket car-park.

All correct entries will be placed in The Library Hat and a winner drawn on 22nd July.

Good luck.

I'm finding this quite exciting!  Must get out more.

Cardiff Central Library Author Event - Kris Taylor.

When she was four years old in 1917, Ruth’s German mother abandoned her and her brother in a children’s home in Dresden. When her Jewish father came there to reclaim his children two years later, Ruth was influenced by the matron to reject him. She never saw him again.

At fourteen she left the children’s home to become a Haustochter, and spent the next eleven years in various domestic posts. Despised as a half Jew, she escaped from Nazi Germany just eight weeks before the beginning of WWII, to become a refugee in England.

This book, written by her daughter, chronicles Ruth’s life in Germany, England and Wales. Struggling against poverty all her life, her fortune was dramatically changed by a very large inheritance from a totally unexpected source when she was eighty two.

Throughout her life she regretted her rejection of her father, and expressed a desire to know what had become of him. This led to her daughter’s ten year search, a DNA test, and an astonishing discovery.

Join Kris at the author event at the Central Library this Wednesday.