Tag Archives: Your Library

Children and teens’ eReading Room

Now if children and teens are visiting Overdrive, our free ebook download service, they’ll find an area specially designed for them – http://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/overdrivekids . Overdrive Kids and Teens is accessed from Your Library or there’s a prominent link at the foot of the main Overdrive site.

Once in Overdrive Kids and Teens, it’s easy to jump back to the full main catalogue via the ‘Main Collection’ home button at the top left of the page.

Remember to tell us about any suggestions for books that you’d like to see on the Overdrive Kids and Teens site. Email informationdigital@edinburgh.gov.uk and we’ll look into them for you.

Issues Online via Your Library

Issues online is an invaluable tool for secondary students and it’s now available from Your Library!

The resource gives access to hundreds of high-quality articles on social issues such as drugs, war, poverty, mental health and the environment.

It is suitable for ages 14 and above and is brilliant for English, social studies, religious and moral philosophy investigations.

Britannica’s spotlight on Chinese New Year

Britannica frequently throws the ‘spotlight’ on calendar events or topics. It produces mini-sites which are designed for use by teachers, librarians and parents of primary school children. They give access to Britannica articles as well as colour-ins and puzzles in the ‘activity centre’ so that children can have fun as they learn.
Explore the latest spotlight on Chinese New Year or browse the archive listings by curriculum topic or diary dates.
Edinburgh Libraries’ readers can access Britannica Junior, Britannica Student and Britannica for free from Your Library.

Britannica Study Guides

Britannica have launched a new study guide feature!

They’ve put together a collection of activities to help students with some valuable essay-writing skills. The ‘Activity Centre’ gives several helpful hints on how to write a thesis statement and create an outline for an essay.

For this first edition, all of the activities are based on “mythology” and use the information within the Britannica article to show how to use research and information. There’s also some fun activities too like a crossword puzzle, word search and quiz.

Britannica are keen to get feedback, and also hear suggestions for future study guides topics. So it’s well worth signing up to receive newsletters and passing on your views.

Britannica Junior, Britannica Student and Britannica original editions are all available to Edinburgh Library members free of charge from Your Library.

Your new Your Library

We’ve just launched a brand new version of Your Library, Edinburgh Libraries’ gateway site to all our online resources and services. Your Library features links to more than fifty sites and apps, making it easier than ever for library members to find information, learn new skills and pursue their interests.
We’ve created a separate look and feel for children’s and teenage content and even a dedicated area for teachers which gives immediate access to hints and tips and lesson plans on how to use the different learning resources.
The site has been redesigned to give users a less cluttered more intuitive interface. Use  the drop-down menus and filter buttons to easily find the resources that best suit your needs and interests. There are embedded videos to give short, informative introductions to resources such as Scran and Whose Town?
So explore the site for yourself and if you have any comments, suggestions or questions about it we’d love to hear from you. And if you like what you see, click to share our fantastic free resources with colleagues!

Maths + Games = Fun

Mathletics, our free online award-winning maths website, now lets you play in the The Mathletics Four Nations Challenge taking place on 13th and 14th November.  Register to take part by going to the Four Nations Maths Challenge website and signing in with your Mathletics login.

If you’ve not yet signed up to Mathletics, then just go to our Your Library website, enter your library barcode number and complete the registration. A login will be sent to you by email within 48 hours. Then you’re ready to start the sums. Practice rounds of the challenge start on the 5th of November so you can start testing your skills before the competition takes place on the 13th and 14th of November. There are prizes for schools, classes and individuals.

Good luck!

Answers with authority

Let’s be honest. When you want to find something out sometimes a quick google or wikipedia search is all you need. We all do it often enough. But what about when you need authoritative facts and figures – information you know you can trust?

Like teachers, librarians care about where our ‘facts’ come from. Which is why over the past few days we’ve been spending a lot of time exploring the brand new updated Oxford Reference site (one of many sites available for free to anyone with an Edinburgh Library card), and it’s an impressive undertaking.

With bitesize chunks and longer essays taken from over 200 books, this really is an ideal starting point for anyone who’s serious about learning and reseach; whether it’s for work, study or personal interest.

This is stuff that’s been written and checked by the experts, world leaders in their fields. Oxford Reference covers just about any topic under the sun. We’ve found fascinating stuff on The history of documentary photography, The rowan tree in Celtic mythology and The origin of British place names.

Don’t miss the incredibly useful and labour-saving timelines section, which are browsable not only by date but by subject too.

What will you learn? Log in free with your library card and start exploring today.

Brand new e-resources helping children and teenagers back to school

We’ve just added two fabulous online learning resources to Your Library – Mathletics and Spellzone.
Mathletics covers all areas of maths and has over 1000 different learning activities for students aged 5-18 years. Make maths exciting and encourage pupils to compete against others users from countries all over the world in live maths games of speed and skill. Mathletics offers the opportunity to set up classroom activities such as organising inter-school maths competitions and is perfect for using with homework clubs. All you need is an Edinburgh City Libraries membership to register online and get running with Mathletics.
Spellzone is an interactive online spelling course for children aged 10 and up. Spellzone is suitable for helping children and adults with dyslexia and is also useful for learning English  Spellzone contains tests and games as well as a vocabulary ‘word list of the day’. And how about this for synergistic learning – today’s word list is all about maths shapes!
Access both these e-resources from the library or from home via yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/kidszone.

Language e-learning, for everyone

This month we’re focusing on our fantastic e-resources which can help you learn a new language, refresh your vocabulary or simply help you get by in the supermarche or bahnhof when on holiday.

You can learn a language from home with Tell me more and use the handy speech recognition software to get your pronunciation just right. Choose from English, French, German, Spanish, Italian or Dutch. There are levels to suit everyone from the complete beginner to advanced student. With sections designed to improve your reading, writing, speaking, listening and cultural skills, you can choose from a variety of activities to tailor your learning to suit you.

Transparent Language Online offers a range 80 languages and provides a diverse array of resources,  such as access to social media in the languate you’re studying and games to help practice your new found knowledge. There’s even an iPhone and adroid app (under its previous name of Byki) for learning on the go!

An Olympic summer of fun

With the Olympic torch in town this week, it’s time to gear up for a summer of sport and games. Here at the library we’ve put together a page on our Your Library site dedicated to how you can get into the Olympic spirit online. Download a great sporty read from Library2go, and enjoy it on the move. Or there’s craft ideas and colour-ins for when the weather might not tempt you onto the sports field.  Don’t miss London 2012’s very own webpages of interactive quizzes, games and challenges for ages 3 to 19! Or head back to Ancient Greece and find out where it all began over 2,700 years ago with the BBC’s excellent Olympic Games and Fun Facts such as:

The famous wrestler Milo was said to train by carrying a calf every day. As the calf grew heavier, his muscles got stronger.