This past Tuesday Emmet O'Neal Library hosted representatives from both Gale and Recorded Books. They gave us an overview of their products as well as free trials so we can do some online language learning of our own!
Mike Poynter from Recorded Books spoke first about their resource called BYKI. The free trial information is here:
http://library.transparent.com/skipjacklibrary/flashcards/login
Please also see the attached link:
http://www.recordedbooks.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=rb.bykionline_lib_all
Username: emmet1 Password: test1 Start Date: 03/12/10 End Date: 03/26/10
Username: emmet2 Password: test2 Start Date: 03/12/10 End Date: 03/26/10
Username: emmet3 Password: test3 Start Date: 03/12/10 End Date: 03/26/10
Username: emmet4 Password: test4 Start Date: 03/12/10 End Date: 03/26/10
***Please keep in mind these trial IDs are shared, so you will see other people's work as well as your own - this is JUST meant to give us an idea of BYKI and its resources***
Mike also sent me additional passwords. These have an extended date for the trial (the 31st of March) and can be found here:
Dear Library,
Thank you for your interest in byki Online Library Edition, our new web-based language subscription service. Below are the usernames and passwords you requested which will allow you to use the service on a trial basis. The service is accessible through the following URL:
http://library.transparent.com/skipjacklibrary/flashcards/login
Please also see the attached link:
http://www.recordedbooks.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=rb.bykionline_lib_all
Username: jeffersonco1 Password: test1 Start Date: 03/17/10 End Date: 03/31/10
Username: jeffersonco2 Password: test2 Start Date: 03/17/10 End Date: 03/31/10
Username: jeffersonco3 Password: test3 Start Date: 03/17/10 End Date: 03/31/10
Username: jeffersonco4 Password: test4 Start Date: 03/17/10 End Date: 03/31/10
Username: jeffersonco5 Password: test5 Start Date: 03/17/10 End Date: 03/31/10
Username: jeffersonco6 Password: test6 Start Date: 03/17/10 End Date: 03/31/10
Username: jeffersonco7 Password: test7 Start Date: 03/17/10 End Date: 03/31/10
Username: jeffersonco8 Password: test8 Start Date: 03/17/10 End Date: 03/31/10
After Mr. Poynter we heard from Kathy Tran of Gale about their language learning resource called Powerspeak. A few weeks ago she sent out a link to a free trial which I posted in a previous blog post, but here it is again for convenience sake! This link includes the ESL version of Powerspeak:
http://access.gale.com/k12trial/go/?key=19442_JEFFCO-OP
At our meeting I also reminded our members about other online language learning resources, in particular those that we have on our JCLC Databases: BBC Languages and LiveMocha. We talked about Rosetta Stone and Aurolog which we have also used. I would also remind you about Mango Languages which is another for fee resource that we could try out if there is interest.
Also, Recorded Books does offer their language learning resource in USB format. So far a few JCLC libraries have tried them out.
We briefly discussed the chats offered at Hoover which have been popular. They are led by a moderator and all chats are conducted in the given language. For instance, on Italian night patrons drop by the library for a chat in Italian. These have been so popular there have been requests for multiple languages several times a month.
We discussed libraries that have resources in foreign languages. Both Birmingham Public (Central) and Hoover have resources in Spanish. BPL also has resources in Chinese and Russian.
If you have any thoughts on language learning and resources, please leave them in the comments!
In attendance at the meeting were:
Katie Moellering Emmet O'Neal Library
Mary Donlevy Emmet O'Neal Library
Nancy Klasterka - Hoover
April Wallace - Irondale
Caleb West - Central (BPL)
Jiemin Fan - Central (BPL)
Alice Singleton - Hoover
Dianne Clark - Bessemer
Ruth McCarroll - Bessemer
Jason Baker - Trussville
Leslie West - Vestavia Hills
Ellen Lawrence - BPL Springville Road
Shanae King - Hoover
Mondretta Williams - Leeds
