New Paths to Informationfor a New Year: Information Resources at the WLD for Seniors

February 7, 2007

Four pathways of information we’ll explore today: WLD’s website: www.mylibrary.us WLD’s online catalog: HIP (Horizon

Information Portal) Online Databases such as Novelist Senior Resources on the Medline

Plus/National Library of Medicine website

Our website: www.mylibrary.us

Using the online catalog is not that different from the old card catalogs, now you click and type instead of “thumb.”

Feeling overwhelmed? Then remember:

The video overview is a tutorial you can use over and over.

We offer free computer classes to help you feel more comfortable using computers.

Our Outreach staff can come to your site and provide more training on using the catalog.

Just explore! The more you use the site, the easier it gets.

Now let’s look at some fun and useful sites—all accessible from www.mylibrary.us .

Book club kits NoveList—an easy way

to find information on all sorts of authors and titles

Senior Resources available from the National Library of Medicine family of websites

We make it easy to organize and run a book club at your senior center with our Book Club Kits:

We have kits that contain 12 copies of a book, a list of questions and background information for popular titles such as: Angle of Repose (Wallace Stegner) Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) Plain Song (Kent Haruf) Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café (Fannie

Flagg) The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom) To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) Over 50 titles to choose from!

Other Resources for Readers: Ever found an author you

enjoyed so much that you want to read everything he/she has ever written?

How can you obtain a complete list of that author’s publications?

Try one of our online databases such as NoveList!

NoveList: What is it?

An online database that provides readers’ advisory. It allows you to search more than 135,00 titles by author, title

or series. Use it to find “read-alikes” by author or plot description in

your favorite genres. Consult it for lists of “Best Books,” book discussion guides,

feature articles and author interviews. Once you find a title or author you want to read, with one

click you can easily check the WLD catalog to see if the book is available.

To get to NoveList, click on the “eResearch Tools” button on www.mylibrary.us .

Look for the “Arts, Literature and Entertainment” subject heading (top of the list). To the right, look for and click on the “Researching Literature, Authors, Books and More subheading.

Scroll down until you see NoveList. Be sure to click on the “Remote Access Button.”

This is what you’ll see when you scroll down to find NoveList.

After you click on the Remote Access Button for NoveList, this is what you’ll

see. Enter your library card number in the box and click on “Login.”

When you get to this screen, scroll down until you find NoveList and click on it again.

This is what the “Home” page to NoveList looks like. One click will get you help or suggestions on how to use the database.

From the “For Readers” tab we can find authors whose books are similar to those of Janette Oke, for example.

Scroll down to find the name of the author you want, Oke in this case, and click on it.

Here’s an example of the results you’ll get:

You’ll also want to use www.mylibrary.us to find information that helps you in your daily life.

We have gathered online databases and links to “external” sites about: Community and local organizations Government entities Finances Genealogy Computers Travel Health and Wellness

We’ll finish today by highlighting two of the many health resources available at www.mylibrary.us .

After you click on the “Consumer Health Information” link, scroll down to see these choices:

Medline Plus, a part of the larger family of National Library of Medicine websites and databases, provides many paths to explore. You can even get the information in Spanish.

Why use Medline Plus?

Medline Plus indexes the web for information and weeds out the “junk” unlike Google and other search engines.

1st NLM resource to target consumers October 1998 – 22 health topics September 2006 – 700+ health topics Interactive health tutorials – 165+ Drugs, Supplements and Herbal Information Illustrated Medical Encyclopedia Medical Dictionary News articles from the past 30 days Directories Surgical Videos Spanish Version

Let’s look closer at senior health resources on Medline Plus because:

The site offers clear explanations of many health issues affecting senior populations;

It is a reader friendly site: Allows modification of contrast (white on black

or black on white) on screen Allows increase or decrease of print size “Speech option” on pages so user can hear the

information read aloud

You can get here by following the links from Medline Plus or using www.nihseniorhealth.gov . Select your settings, then, just click to begin!

Spend some time exploring this site to see all the topics discussed. It is well worth your time!

Scroll down to see the list of all 31 topics.

There is even information on the Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage and plans.

That’s all folks! Remember that with www.mylibrary.us the library is “open” day or night. Or, come see us at: BRANCH LIBRARIES

Bookmobile Services 2227 23rd Ave., Greeley 80634-6632 (970) 506-8640

Carbon Valley Branch 320 Maple St., #B Frederick 80530-7003 (303) 833-3510

Centennial Park Branch 2227 23rd Ave., Greeley 80634-6632 (970) 506-8600

Farr Branch 1939 61st Ave., Greeley 80634-7940 (970) 506-8500

Lincoln Park Branch 919 7th St., Suite A. Greeley 80631-3909 (970) 350-9210

MEMBER LIBRARIES

Eaton Public Library 132 Maple Ave., Eaton 80615-3441 (970) 454-2189

Fort Lupton Public and School Library 425 S. Denver Ave., Ft. Lupton 80621-7190 (303) 857-7180

Glenn A. Jones, M.D. Memorial Library Idaho and Jay Streets, Johnstown 80534-0457 (970) 587-2459

Hudson Public Library 555 Min St., Hudson 80642-0188 (303) 536-4550

Northern Plains Public Library 216 2nd St., Ault 80610-0147 (970) 834-1259

Platteville Public Library 504 Marion Ave., Platteville 80651-0567 (970) 785-2231   Affiliated Library Wellspring Library at NCMC 1801 16th St., Greeley 80631-5154 (970) 350-6074