Thanks, Edgartown!

At our annual town meeting on April 10, Edgartown voters overwhelmingly supported construction of a new library. At town elections on April 12, voters made it official by a tally of 480 to 206: With a $5 million grant from the state, we're building a new Edgartown Free Public Library on the site now occupied by the 1924 Edgartown Elementary School building.

At town meeting, voters also passed two related articles, transferring the Warren House next-door to our current library from the library trustees to the selectmen, and authorizing the selectmen to dispose of the property in the best interests of the town.

Now the work -- and the fun -- begins: Edgartown is launched on its path toward a new library to serve the people of town for generations to come. To everyone on the library building commitee who worked so hard to build a consensus around this plan, the staff of the Edgartown Public Library extends its thanks. To the voters who participated in this historic town meeting, we commit ourselves to providing library services worthy of your trust and your investment.

2011 in Review: The Library's Annual Report

Each year the Edgartown Library prepares a report on its year for inclusion in the Town of Edgartown Annual Report. Our three-page contribution to this annual project has now been approved by the library trustees and has gone to the printers -- and we are sharing it with you here, in downloadable PDF form.

CLAMS Network Sees Explosion of Interest in eBooks

If you need a vivid picture of what geometric growth looks like, take a peek at the graphic at left, which tracks the circulation of digital media by patrons of our CLAMS library network.

The year 2009, when we first started offering books, music and videos through the OverDrive service, saw a circulation of just 5,819 items. That number jumped to 19,188 in 2009, to 31,349 in 2010 -- and in 2011, surpassed the 60,000 mark.

Most of the digital activity in 2011, just in terms of sheer numbers, has been in audiobooks, as patrons grow increasingly comfortable getting their books online and loading them into portable devices like MP3 players and smartphones instead of checking out boxes of 12 or 16 audio discs. But by far the fastest-growing category lately has been eBooks, the sort of digital books you read with your eyes -- on devices from the Sony Reader to the iPad and Amazon Kindle.

Digital book readers were evidently popular Christmas gifts for CLAMS network patrons this year. Checking the Overdrive service in the first week of January, we found nearly 3,700 eBooks in the network's collection -- and nearly 60 percent of them were checked out.

Language Learning Service Adds iPhone, iPad Apps

At the Edgartown Public Library, on behalf of our patrons, we recently expanded our subscription to the online language-learning service, Mango. And now the folks at Mango, who continue to win prizes for their service, have added a rich set of new features for all our language-learners to enjoy.

Most important of these is the new, free Mango app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It's called Mango Mobile Library Edition, and it gives you access to all the free language courses offered through your library. This new service works just like Mango online. Simply touch the screen to reveal answers and to hear pronunciations by native speakers.

We've been offering the Mango Languages service free to our all our patrons since early in 2009. This January we expanded our contract with Mango so that our patrons now have access to all 36 language courses offered by the service.

This service is available to you, as a library patron, from any internet connection — at the library, a coffee shop, or at home. All you need to log in is your 13-digit library card number.

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Free eBooks in Kindle Format Are Available Now

One of the most popular new services we offer, through the CLAMS library network and the Overdrive service, is the ability to download free eBooks to your Kindle readers.

Most of the eBooks in our network's Overdrive collection are now available in Kindle format, as well as in formats that work well with the iPad, the Nook, the Sony Reader and a range of mobile devices.

We encourage you to watch this 4-minute video, which explains the download process. We also invite you to visit our downloadable book site, read all about downloading titles to your Kindle devices -- and enjoy!

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Free Music Service for Edgartown Patrons

The Edgartown Library has subscribed, on behalf of our patrons, to a new service which offers free access to songs from the Sony Music catalog of legendary performing artists.

The service is Freegal, and you can sign in here with your Edgartown library card number and PIN. Once signed in, you can select and download two free songs each week in the MP3 format.

We're trying this new service for one year to see if it's popular with our patrons. We hope you'll visit Freegal, give it a test-drive and let us know what you think!

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Click to See Your Town Government at Work

All year 'round, Edgartown Town Hall is a bustling center of civic activity, with important decisions being made at public meetings almost every day. Now, we're happy to report, there's an easy way to check in and find out what's on the agendas of every Edgartown board and committee.

Just visit this handy link and you'll be whisked to the page of Edgartown's excellent municipal website where all meeting agendas are posted. You might be surprised at all the work that's going on -- and you might find a reason to become more involved in the decisions that shape the future of our town.

Planning a Visit to Boston?
Stop Here First for Museum Passes

On your next trip to Boston, perhaps you'd enjoy an hour or three at the Museum of Fine Arts or the Children's Museum. If either of these is on your itinerary, do stop at our circulation desk before heading north -- and pick up discount passes. With these passes, purchased for our patrons by the Friends of the Edgartown Library, your admission to the museums will be at reduced prices. That's one more great reason to visit the library.

As you plan your fall travels around New England, you should definitely visit this page of the CLAMS network catalogue. It lists discount tickets to all sorts of destinations, from Battleship Cove to Mystic Aquarium, from the New Bedford Whaling Museum to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Enjoy!

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$16,500 for the Library -- in Nickels

Who would have guessed that nickel and diming could add up to $16,500?  Since 2007, volunteers have collected and redeemed bottles and cans, and this fall their efforts hit the $16,500 mark. 

The folks in charge of this project have earmarked these funds for Edgartown Library programs, services, and library wish list items. If you're interested in pitching in, please call the library or drop off your bottles and cans in the bins at the back of the Warren House, adjacent to the library. 

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Our New Microfilm Scanner
Is Ready to Assist You

The furnace puffback that closed our main library building for the first half of 2008 took its toll on our electronic equipment, and one of the machines we didn't replace until recently was the microfilm reader.

Now, we're pleased to report, the Edgartown Library has a slick new Canon microfilm scanner, driven by an attached PC, that can make digital files with just a few clicks from our collection of Island newspapers dating back to 1846. These files are perfect for printing, for storage or for emailing to your computer at home. For help with your microfilm research projects, just visit the library front desk and we'll get you started.

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