Tech Thursday: Jasmine Digital Library

Happy Thursday! This week, I am continuing my undying support of our public libraries! I use the public library all the time, and I love it! I hope that you all will begin to love it as much as I do! One of my new favorite things about having a library card is that I can use the Jasmine Digital Library. This gives me immediate access to tons of e-books and audiobooks which I can read on my computer, phone, tablet, laptop, listen to in the car, or share with students on the Promethean board. Here's a walk through to get you started.

Like last week, you will start at the Chesterfield County Library System page. It looks like this.

Click on the Jasmine Digital Library button. You'll be taken to the home page. From here, you should sign in just like you would with SC LENDS. Click "sign in" in the upper right-hand corner. Then you will need to select your library (Chesterfield County Library).

After you do this, you will sign in with your username and pin number just like with SC LENDS. If you don't have a pin number for your library card, just give one of the Chesterfield County libraries a call, and they'll set you up.

After you sign in, you can start looking for books. The menu at the top of the screen will help you narrow down if you are looking for a specific type of book. There is also a search box if you're looking for a specific title, author, subject, etc.

I am looking for books to share with my classes, so I selected "Children's Fiction" from the top menu. This is what the results screen might look like.

I wasn't looking for anything in particular, so I just browsed through the results. You can select "Available Now" if you only want to see books that are currently checked in. If they are checked out, the icon over the cover will be faded to gray also, so you can tell without clicking on it. You can place a hold on items that are checked out, and you will be notified when they become available.

I scrolled down and found a book that looked interesting. I clicked on it, and it looked like this.

From here, you can find out more about the book. It's available as a Kindle book, which you can read using the Kindle app for computer, phone, tablet, or on a Kindle. It's also available through Overdrive Read, which is also an app you can use on just about anything. I have both, because they were both free apps. You can also see a description and the book's level information. I decided to borrow this book. It was a Book Fair book last year.

When I click Borrow, I get a confirmation popup that it was added to my bookshelf, and there is an option to go to my bookshelf. This is what my bookshelf looks like.

Your bookshelf can also be accessed by clicking the "Account" button. From here, you can download books to your devices, or you can read or listen in your browser. Read/Listen in your browser is a quick way to get a book up on the Promethean/Smart board to share with your class. If I click Read in you Browser, it looks like this (I clicked through a few pages to get to the first page of the book.) It's very easy to navigate the book. You just click the right side of the page to turn to the next page or the left side of the page to go back. The menu button lets you see an overview of the book, search within the book, see the chapters if there are any, place a bookmark, download for offline access to the book, as well as some tips & secrets for moving around in the book.

The picture looks great on the board, and it's easier for students to see small details that might be missed in a picture book being held by a teacher (though this is certainly no substitute for that!) It's a fun additon to what you're already doing, and gives you quick access to books without having to drive to the library or bookstore, or place an order and wait for it to come in. Plus, it's all free!

Also on your bookshelf are buttons to renew a book if you wish to keep it longer and to return it when you are finished with it. The books will automatically return themselves at the end of the 14 days if you don't renew it. You don't even have to remember to return it!

I really enjoy downloading audiobooks from this site. I download them using the Overdrive app on my phone and play them through the bluetooth connection in my car. I love listening to books in the car, and kids love it too.

Once you download the Overdrive app, you will just select your library again, and you can sign in the same way you do on the site. You can download ebooks or audiobooks to the app, and you're ready to go. They will return themselves at the end of the loan period. The Help section on the Jasmine Digital Library page has some good videos and tutorials on getting started. Here is the link to the tutorial on how to get started with the OverDrive app. Just select the device you're trying to use and the issue you are having. The tutorials are pretty easy to follow after that.

I think you all will really like this site if you try it out. It's a great offering that we have available for our use! I love having books available right away and for free! There are chapter books, picture books, nonfiction, some picture books with narration, and of course books for us grown ups as well. Check it out, and let me know what you think. If you have questions, of course feel free to ask. I'd love to help you get started with Jasmine Digital Library!

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