Prairie Cat is new and improved!

Now when you arrive at the login page which has been personalized for Schmaling, you will see many scroll bar menus featuring national bestsellers and new items from various genres at Schmaling.

Toward the bottom of the page, you will find links to eRead Illinois and a new ebook service: biblioboard.

Biblioboard differs from eRead IL in that you are able to actually download most books that they offer (public domain stuff), as opposed to limited borrowing time or waiting for availability. Furthermore, ANYONE in IL can access this for free – you don’t need a library card! You just must physically be in Illinois when you first create your account due to their geolocation-based authentication system.

To describe biblioboard in their own words: they boast of “a growing assortment of rich historical and locally curated multimedia content–available to all with the ease of unlimited, multi-user access.”  Upon visiting the site a few times, I have noticed a large and changing variety of subject groupings that they refer to as curations.  Some have included British Children’s Literature, Scholarly Works on Film and Media, Shakespeare, Historical Primary Source Documents, Exhibits from National Libraries and Archives, Mathematics, Business and Law, Comic Books and Graphic Novels, Community History … there are seriously to many to name.  There are also video and audio selections, including music.  And while it isn’t necessary in order to utilize biblioboard, they do offer a Kindle app.