Databases

TUTOR.COM coming next week

This came together quickly. We will begin offering our patrons access to Tutor.com beginning sometime next week. This is a special offering due to the COVID-19 crisis and will be available through June, after which we will determine if we will extend the service period.

The Tutor.com Learning Suite combines online tutoring, homework help, and test preparation with powerful diagnostic tools and self-study resources to provide a well-balanced and flexible educational environment designed to meet the individual needs of all learners.

There will be a webinar for Lane staff on Friday, April 3 at 11:00 a.m. If you are interested in attending, your manager can send you the details. All staff are welcome to participate.

2020 Tutor.com Learning Suite – Overview (.pdf)

Ohio Historic Inventory updated and integrated with public catalog

Brad Spurlock and staff at Hamilton have added all of the .PDFs for Butler County from the Ohio Historic Inventory to the public catalog. There are almost 2500 properties on file. If you haven’t seen these before, I encourage you to review them. You need to be aware of these when a patron is searching for the history of a home. You can search addresses or names of residents, e.g.:

Clicking the link will download a .PDF file.

The former home for these files, http://lanepl.org/ohioweb, is now deprecated.

Public catalog test – new tabs for digital

We are working on a test profile of the catalog that segments print, digital and digital music. You can see it here. Your feedback is welcome.
[Postscript: reaction to this has been very positive and the main question is “when?” It is still in development but my expectation is to have it live no later than August 31. -CK]

We are pursuing this in order to join Freegal Music records with Hoopla records in the Digital Music tab, which will give us coverage of all major music labels. We have yet to add Freegal records, so you will not see them yet. It will also allow patrons who are interested only in e-audiobooks and ebooks to limit more easily.

[caption id="attachment_771" align="alignleft" width="664"] https://lnpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/test[/caption]

Changes coming to Lynda.com

This summer, Lynda.com’s parent company LinkedIn will be absorbing the content into a new platform called LinkedIn Learning. LinkedIn Learning will be integrated with other LinkedIn features, and therefore will require Lynda.com users to have a LinkedIn account. The transition is expected to start in late July, with most libraries transitioning in August and September.

What Patrons Will See

  • If a user already has a LinkedIn account, she will log into it, then verify her library card number and PIN. Any Lynda.com history—learning paths saved, playlists compiled, certificates earned—will transfer over.
  • If the patron does not have a LinkedIn account, she will need to create one and complete LinkedIn’s introductory process. After that, she can use her library card and PIN to get access to LinkedIn Learning as above.

Without a LinkedIn account, patrons will not be able to reach Lynda.com content, including any certificates they’ve acquired or courses they’ve completed.

Please visit oplin.ohio.gov/lynda-transition for more information.