Farewell

September 6 will be my last day at the Eastham Library. I hope to see as many of you as possible to thank you for your support and wish you farewell and good luck. There will be a reception that afternoon. If you can I hope you will stop by.

It has been a privilege to work in Eastham during such a period of great transition. I have really enjoyed learning about Eastham's unique and wonderful history, and getting to know many of you.

It has been a busy and productive period for the library with the completion of a community -based long range service plan, technology planning, a Preservation Survey grant to get advice for the new building from the New England Document Conservation Center, instituting The Eastham Game, Geek Talks, E-resource trainings, community artist shows and talks and local history programing in the summer; while as a staff we continue popular programs like the Book Group, Stories in the Pines, the winter music series, the Turnip Festival and our popular and growing children's services programs.

It has been a pleasure to be part of such a beloved town institution and meet the many hardworking people who make the library's services possible. With such a small staff we could never deliver the extensive program Eastham residents enjoy without our committed volunteers who always cheerfully support both ongoing services and special events.

As documented here the building project is now well under way with our professional architects leading the Building Committee and staff through explorations of possibilities that we think will delight the community when the Capital Projects Committee allows us to share our plans with you.

Best regards and best wishes to all!

Cheryl

New Library Moves Into Design Development

Last week our schematic design was accepted and we are now moving in to design development of the new building. What does that mean exactly? While we were in schematic design we were determining where rooms, areas, stairs, elevators and doors would be in the new building. This process began last September when we started working with our architects and project management team. Now that the Board of Trustees, the Capital Projects Committee and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners , our granting agency, have all agreed on the basic layout we can begin to share our plans for what the new library will look like.

The architects are scheduled to show the plans for the new library at the September 16 Board of Selectmen meeting. Following their approval we will begin to schedule public meetings so everyone can see the new library.

We are now moving in to Design Development which involves placing bookshelves and furniture in the building, and determining what materials the surfaces will be made of. The architects will be gathering public comments and working with the Trustees and staff to determine what will make for a functioning and attractive new library.

The excitement is building!

Best regards,

Cheryl

I'm reading Letters From Skye by Jessica Brockmole

Tips and Tricks to Get the Most Out of Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is one of the most important sources of free ebooks on the web. This longest-established ebook project releases books that entered public domain, and can be freely used in electronic format.

World’s first ebook ever, created by the founder of Project Gutenberg Michael S. Hart, was officially added to the catalog in December 1971 – and, obviously, is still available for download.

Currently there are almost 43,000 ebooks in PG catalog. There are several file formats for download, including the ones compatible with Kindle (mobi), as well as Nook, Kobo or iBooks (epub).

Most epub and mobi books have two versions, with and without images, so you can not only enjoy reading the classic literature at its best, but also get the feeling of an old book.

I’m a fan of Project Gutenberg, not only because of its history, but also its clean interface and well-organized structure. It’s just a sheer pleasure to browse for new free books on PG, and I’m coming back to the site every week.

Some tricks to make it easily used are listed below.

1. Preview books online – with images

Before downloading any book from PG to your e-reading device, you can preview or read it in your web browser. The site offers two ways to do that.

First, you can read the book in a special reading interface. Click on a text link “Read this book online…” (No. 1 on a screenshot below). I like the other option, which preserves all hyperlinks, and most of all, it lets see illustrations, if they are a part of the book. All what you have to do is to click on “HTML” on a list of available formats (No. 2).

Project Gutenberg - preview books online

The “HTML” is somehow a hidden read-online option, as users can expect the file to automatically download on mouse-click. It is also very good to test how the book file is formatted.

Project Gutenberg files are very well prepared: the table of contents is working, and most of the elements of original print books are preserved.

2. Send ebooks in one click to Dropbox and Google Drive

At the end of 2012 the site added a very useful Dropbox integration. Google Drive joined in March 2013. What these integrations mean? You can send ebooks to any of the services in just one click. This is a huge time-saver. You can send the book to your favorite cloud storage service without downloading it to disc, and then upload it to the cloud.

Project Gutenberg - one-click send to Dropbox and Google Drive

When using Dropbox for a first time, click on a button and Dropbox will ask you to authorize Gutenberg app. Click Allow and the app will create a new folder, named gutenberg, where all the files will be sent and stored.

With Google Drive, you will be asked to grant access to your Google account. After that, sending files to Drive is a matter of one click. Unlike Dropbox (where books land in a special folder), files will appear in a main Drive catalog. You may want to move them to a special folder created especially for ebooks.

3. Get complete works of popular authors

When it comes to collections, Project Gutenberg does a fantastic job in putting together the works of popular authors. So, instead of several books (files) by Mark Twain, you can download all his titles published earlier on PG – in one file.

You can find here complete works of not only Mark Twain, but also William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, or Winston Churchill. What’s very important, if any of the collections is being updated, you can get an update via RSS, if you subscribe to it.

The best way to browse PG for these books is to type in a search box a keyword “complete” or “complete works“.

4. Get new entries via RSS feed

RSS feed is one of the strongest benefits of Project Gutenberg. Any new book added to the catalog will appear in the feed, but as mentioned above, also updates to older files will be seen.

You can subscribe to PG feed right from this link:

New on Project Gutenberg – RSS feed

There are between 10 and 20 new books added each day. In the feed, you’ll see the title and language the book is written. That’s enough if you are hunting for a specific author or series. For instance, I’m subscribing to the feed, to get noticed if there are any new issues of Astounding Stories of Super-Science added to the catalog.

5. Get new entries via email once a day

New ebooks on Project Gutenberg - daily email updatesIf you don’t use RSS or want to move away from it, Project Gutenberg also offers email subscriptions. However, notifications are sent as-it-happens, so you’ll get between 10 and 20 emails per day.

If you use Gmail, you can create a filter that sends PG notifications to a special folder. Alternatively, you can use a special email subscription I created using Feedburner:

New on Project Gutenberg – email once a day

You will receive an email with new/updated Project Gutenberg books between 5.00 and 7.00 PM Greenwich Mean Time.

6. Search for vintage images

This is a totally fascinating topic – images from old books. Do you know that you can search them very easily using Google? It took me half an hour to find these wonderful vintage illustrations of people reading, including rare images of Charles Dickens and Abraham Lincoln.

The site which is best suited for Google image search is Project Gutenberg, no doubt about it. As I mentioned above, all books are offered in html format – and that means their content can be accessed by Google web crawlers.

To find images on Project Gutenberg:

1. In a Google web search type the command that limits search to one site only. For Project Gutenberg this is:

site:gutenberg.org

You can follow it with a keyword or key phrase you are looking for:

site:gutenberg.org library

2. Then, click on an Images search tab:

Finding images in public domain ebooks

The results are astonishing. You won’t see here scanned book pages, like on other sites. You’ll see only images that were included in the original books as illustrations or photos.

Below there is a screenshot with images returned for a “library” query:

Project Gutenberg - images from public domain ebooks

7. Access Project Gutenberg from your mobile phone

Project Gutenberg also has a mobile version. When you enter PG’s URL address in a browser on your phone, it does not automatically load the mobile interface, however there is an easy fix for that.

Project Gutenberg mobile siteIn the address box, replace “www” with “m” (which stands for “mobile”), and you’ll get a clean and very functional mobile interface that loads really fast.

So, the URL address to mobile PG site is:

http://m.gutenberg.org

You can use search book to browse for books. On a front page there are three sections you can use for a quick search: popular, latest, and random books.

What’s even better is that you can download ebook files from a mobile browser right to your e-reading application.

For instance, if you use Kindle app to read books on your iPhone, tap on a link to Kindle file and you’ll see a button “Open in Kindle”. Simple as that.

8. Browse Project Gutenberg from Google web search

Project Gutenberg is the only ebook site that has special treatment on Google. Like major news sites (NYT, Guardian, Forbes), you can search PG directly from Google web search.

Type “project gutenberg” in a search box, and you’ll see the extended site info. At the bottom there is a search box that will let you limit results only to Project Gutenberg. It works similarly to key phrase “site:gutenberg.org”.

Project Gutenberg - search via Google

What’s very good about this feature is that you can search PG using all available search options and tools Google offers (images, search by custom date range, sorting results, etc.)

Piotr Kowalczyk

About Piotr Kowalczyk Founder of Ebook Friendly. Ebook enthusiast, technology geek, iPhone artist, and self-published author from Poland.

We've started a very busy summer here at the Eastham Library. We have over 160 children participating in the library's summer reading program. The Tuesday evening programs for families at the Council on Aging have been drawing crowds of over 100 people. Adult programs include Stories in the Pines, local author presentations, and an exhibit and demonstration by local textile artist Susan Pellowe. Her weaving, felting, and handmade paper creations are on display for the month of July. All sales benefit the Library Building Fund.

We hope to wrap up schematic design with our architects this summer so soon we will have at least a layout of the new building to share with you.

Hope you are enjoying these beautiful days of summer. Cheryl

We've now had two reviews with the architects and MBLC Building consultant Lauren Stara and plans for the new building are coming together nicely.
The Library Trustees have cancelled the public presentation planned for June 12 so they can first meet with the Capital Projects Committee and Board of Selectmen with the plans to date.
We will let you know as soon as possible when the public meeting has been rescheduled.

Eastham Library Recieves Grant Funding

We have now signed a contract with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) for the release of grant funding amounting to $4.3 over a period of five years. The first Payment is due before the end of June this year and we can file for the second payment after July 1 this year when the MBLC has approved our plans.
The photo above shows back row: Director Cheryl Bryan, Board President David Payor, and MBLC Consultant Lauren Stara and Front row:Architects Conrad Ello and Mathew Oudens reviewing the new schematic design for the building.

The excitement is building!
Cheryl

Beginning work with our new architects

On Monday , February 25 the Board of Trustees and I met with our new architects to review the new Building Program. The excitement is building now that we have begun work on the schematic design of the new building. We expect the new building to include more seating, more windows overlooking the pond, small and a large meeting room, a children's activity room, an expanded archive area, a modest coffee service, more seating with access to electricity for laptop and tablet users among other things.

If you have not yet attended any our Saturday winter music programs this is your invitation to join in the fun. The music begins on Saturdays at 1pm and continues through the afternoon.

Thanks to Stephanie Foster for sharing her Dune Experience photographs with us for the month of February!

Cheryl

I'm reading Bill Bryson's At Home and Tracy Chevalier's Last Runaway

Fear Not the New Gadget

If you can not attend the Library EBooks on Your Kindle, Ipad, Iphone or Andoid session at the library January 22, at 6:30 here are some tips that may prove useful.

You may have just gotten comfortable with the current models of e-readers and tablets that you got last year and brought to the library to learning how to use them, only to realize that you are now faced with a whole new set of problems and questions this year because every company is offering a newer, prettier, faster device for the Christmas buying season. Fear not! The basics you struggled to learn last year still hold true! Knowing some basics will help you navigate each device, no matter the maker.

Home Screen Every device has a home screen and some degree of personalization options. The e-ink readers usually have options to sort the titles on the screen by most recent, title or author. The color devices often have a multi-screen home page (designated by a series of small dots at the top or bottom of the screen) or a favorite’s shelf. Books can be added to the home page or placed in the library for later use. Typically, holding your finger on the book icon will open a menu for making changes on where to place the title. Some Color devices also allow for you to personalize the background of the home screen with wallpaper. The wallpaper menus are usually found in the settings menu or by pressing and holding a finger on a blank area of the home screen.

General Settings Every device has a list of settings. Settings usually include lists of options for setting up Wi-Fi, brightness, volume, display, date and time, security, and parental controls. They may also include options for connecting to social media, setting up the home screen, shopping for new material, and adjusting the keyboard to personal tastes. To find the settings menu on a device look for something that looks like a cog. The symbol styles vary slightly in look, but most devices have some version of a cog to tap to open the settings menu.

Menu Menus allow you to select various options. Sometimes the settings options will be opened first through a menu. On e-readers the menu might be opened by a button. On touch devices the menu will look like a piece of paper with lines on it or bullets and lines.

Reading Settings When reading books on digital devices, there are several settings that can be adjusted to make the reading experience more comfortable for the reader. The print settings are found by tapping the icon with two A’s. The typical adjustments include the font size, the margins, the line spacing, the color settings, and the font settings.

Device Storage Each device will store a number of books. Many devices will allow you to add newspapers, magazines, music, videos, and apps. If these items are not visible on the home screen they will be found under the menu by the name of the material you are searching, in your device library, or media shelf. Most companies also offer archived storage. This allows the user to remove a purchased item from the device to free up space. The content will live on the user’s account associated with the device. The content can be downloaded to the device again at any time.

Wi-Fi Nearly all mobile devices have the ability to connect to the Internet. If you have wireless Internet at home, a local restaurant, a motel, or your Public Library you will have to connect your device to the network. Be aware that some hotels charge for this service and it will be added to your bill at check-out. Look for the Wi-Fi symbol on the screen. If you do not see it or it looks empty, with no lines showing connectivity, then you are not connected to the Internet. Go to the settings menu to turn on the wireless and connect to the local Wi-Fi.

3G and 4G Some devices can be purchased with 3G and 4G connectivity. These devices will connect to the Internet over cell phone connections. This type of connection is generally slower than a Wi-Fi connection; however you can access the Internet from more places. The cape does, but many areas of the country do not yet offer 4G cell connections and some still do not offer 3G.

Battery Mobile devices run on rechargeable battery power. A single charge will expend at varying rates depending on the activity being done with the device. Reading takes less power than surfing the Internet. Watching videos takes even more power. A symbol on your screen that looks like a standard battery will show you how much power is remaining. The center of the symbol will change color as your battery discharges. If the battery goes completely flat, the device will not turn on until it has been plugged in for up to 30 minutes.

Shop/Store New purchases can be made right from the device. Most devices will use the words “shop” or “store” and/or an icon with a shopping bag to indicate how to access their available online content. Depending on the type of device the content available may include books, magazines, newspapers, apps, videos, and music. The device will have to be connected to the Internet in order to shop or purchase content. Many books and apps are free and the stores usually allow the user to search for content by key words like “free.” CLAMS has it's own app and the Overdrive app (to borrow ebooks from CLAMS) is free for users to download on color devices and allows the user to borrow books from their local library.

At this point I think the only thing we can really count on is that change will continue and we will be attempting to keep up with it. Cheryl Bryan

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas/Hanukkah and the time of winter solstice at the Eastham Library. Deb Abbot and Judy Sebastian from the Friends of the Library created the holiday tree above from books from the Friends Booksale. You might want to try this at home!
We have been very busy this past month updating the Library's Building Program for our new architects. The Building program submitted with our grant proposal was based on data from 2004, and we have added quite a few books and other media to our collection since then. This also gives the Board an opportunity to look again, with fresh eyes at the decisions that were made about what will be in Eastham's new library.
I had an opportunity to attend this month's Chamber of commerce meeting, show some slides of the current conditions in the library and some examples of the new ideas we'd like to include in the new library like a 125 person meeting room for our popular library programs, and displays by local artists and artisans, and better outdoor seating for those who use our wifi when the library isn't open. Time for me to prepare for our community carol sing on Saturday, December 15 at 2pm. Meeting room or not, we still hold programs between the adult stacks

Here's hoping the Holiday season brings us all peace, hope, and the pleasures of friends and family, Cheryl Bryan

EPL Building Commmittee Moving Forward

The Eastham Library Board met with our new architects and Project Manager to review the conceptual plans that were submitted with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) grant, the engineering studies that have been conducted regarding water storage and required set backs from the adjacent pond, and the list of comments from the MBLC grant review committee and MBLC staff.

Board and community members at the meeting stressed that we plan to retain the "cozy" feel of the library and it's present open airy atmosphere. The architects along with their record for planning energy efficient libraries expressed an interest in blending in a community center feeling in the new library with easily accessible meeting rooms for both library and general community use. It was agreed that we will revise and update the Board's building program and resume work in the new year.

Eastham Hires New Architect Firm for Library

We are happy to announce the Eastham Capital Projects Committee has hired both a Project Manager and an architectural firm for our new library project. There were seven very qualified firms in the RFP process. Three finalists were selected for interviews. All had library experience. The committee selected Oudens Ello and we were able to negotiate a contract with our top choice. WE will keep you posted as our planning proceeds toward the new building. Right now Oudens Ello is completing the Millis Library and planning the West Tisbury Library on Martha's Vineyard. Here is a the model from the Millis Library.

Notifications of new library materials! Sign up now!

A new service is available to Eastham Library users that sends weekly emails to subscribers to let them know what is on order at the Library. You can sign up at You will be able to reserve the newest titles directly from the weekly newsletter and view google preveiws of some titles.

Please let us know how you like the service.

Cheryl I'm reading The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

BlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

Eastham Readers Best Books of 2011

We took a poll of best books for 2011 at the library and on our facebook page. Here's Eastham's list of the best reads this past year.
Fiction:
Cutting for Stone Verghesse
Explosive Eighteen Evanovich
The Help Stockett
Hotel on the corner of Bitter and Sweet Ford
How to save a Life Zarr
Night Road Hannah
On Canaan's side Barry
The Postmistress Blake
Rin Tin Tin Orlean
Second Grave on the Left Jones
Swedish Blond Amiard
We, the Drowned Jensen
When She Woke Jordan
Wild Child Boyle

NonFiction:
Cocktail Hour Under Fuller
Heaven is For Real Burpe
The Swerve Greenblatt
Steve Jobs
The Warmth of Other Suns Wilkerson

Any you would add to our list?

Starting the New Year

We are moving into the new year making plans for the changes to come at the Eastham Library once our building grant becomes available.
A new technology plan is underway. We are currently gathering information on what is now available in the library so we can make everything as consistent and stable as possible while we are in our current building. The town has recently installed equipment so we can both broadcast and show the town's government tv channel at the library. In the next few months the town will be moving to a new voice over internet phone system so we will build those capabilities in to our planning. And then we'll be moving into planning flexible and useful technology for the new building.

This year the trustees will be developing a new five year plan for library services. We will be gathering community ideas on services they think are most important to our users.
What do you value most about the library and its services to the town?

I'm reading The girl in the garden by Kamala Nair

Wishing everyone the very best in the new year,
Cheryl

The Season of Hope

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.”
Annie Lamont
Christmas takes on new meaning for those of who have moved through the years of setting out a plate of cookies and waiting to see what Santa will bring. This is a special time of year for family and friends to draw close together; and to sing, or listen, to songs about peace and joy. As we sing those familiar songs, see the bright lights on our neighbors'homes and compose season's greetings to those we care for, the spirit of the season seeps into our thinking. A large part of the season's joy is a shared hope that the best of human potential will emerge in the coming new year.

Hope is active here at the Eastham Library. Some rather large elves have been busy decorating the library and baking for our annual holiday sing. The Board of Trustees has voted to issue the Request For Proposals for the next stage of our building project. Eastham Library Building Fund Inc is organizing committees to move ahead with planning some fundraising events and developing materials for the upcoming campaign. Hope and joy are alive and well at the Eastham Library. We hope you will find a way to participate over the next few years in our project to build the best possible library to serve the town for many years to come.
Wishing you a joy filled holiday season
Cheryl

Eastham Geeks its library among many other things

Turnip festival attendees told us they geek many things from golf to singing. Geek the library is a national campaign to get people talking about what they are passionate about; and thinking about how the library supports them in learning about their passions. The public library inspires and empowers users through internet access, knowledgeable assistance and local programs, like last weekend's Eastham Turnip festival. Over the next few months we'll be encouraging you to tell us what you geek.

I'm reading A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny.

Eastham joins trend of libraries ramping up ebook circulation

It seems a good number of the questions we answer now are either, "How can I reserve books and DVD's from my computer at home?" and "How can I download ebooks on my ipad, Kindle, and Android phone?" Every month our number of ebooks circulated raises and we have more registered borrowers every month on Overdrive the ebook download company for CLAMS members. So eastham is part of a national trend toward downloadable materials to read on our own devices, but there are still many who prefer a book in the hand. Why ebooks fail to kindle bibliofiles desires. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-15/news/ct-talk-grossman-ebook-1115-20111115-40_1_e-book-readers-book-lovers-bibliophiles.
I'm currently reading The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian.

Good Reads!

Eager's bookshelf: read




More of Eager's books »

Following Atticus at NELA Burlington

While attending the New England Library Association Conference in Burlington, Vermont this fall I had an opportunity to hear Tom Ryan talk about his experiences climbing the White Mountains in New Hampshire with his faithful dog Atticus. The dog was there to verify his stories of their close relationship. I think everyone in the audience smiled when a few moments into the talk Atticus went form attentive to resting his head on Mr. Ryan's shoulder while he continued his talk about the healing experience of hiking with his dog.
I'm reading  Joyce Rupp's Walk in a Relaxed Manner: life Lessons from the Camino .

Kiwanis Talk

On September 30 the Kiwanis invited me to speak at their breakfast meeting about current trends in library buildings.  I talked showed pictures and talked about the following trends:
Libraries as interior commons where townspeople can find people with similar interests.
Improved way-finding with visual cues that direct people through the building and signs in everyday language.
Comfortable seating and smaller tables so people can find quiet places to read alone.
Zones where people can informal gatherings and places to have coffee and relax.
Interactive displays like games or puzzles so visitors can find something to entertain them when they visit the library.
Furnishings that provide electrical connectivity for laptop users.

What would you most like to see in the new library here in Eastham?
I'm now reading Erin Morgenstern's Night Circus
http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311121683s/10131648.jpg