Thursday, July 17, 2008

What's new?

Thank you for your use and support of the Lafayette Public Library System.

Here's what's new.

North Regional Library opened on September 29, 2007. The Library serves North Lafayette Parish and is
located at 5101 N. University in Carencro, next to the Carencro Community
Center.

South Regional Library is currently under construction. A late 2008 opening is anticipated.

The Main Library renovation is currently in the planning stages.

Discussions on where to locate the future East Regional Library and the future West Regional Library are underway.

Saturday July 19th election

The Library has a proposition on the ballot this Saturday, July 19th. It is
a renewal of an existing property tax millage at 1.61 mills, and is dedicated solely to the support and operations of the Library.
It is covered by homestead exemption. Residents of the city of Lafayette, the municipalities (Broussard, Carencro, Duson, Scott, and Youngsville), and the unincorporated areas (including Milton and other parts of the parish) all support the library with this property tax. The Library offers 10 physical locations throughout Lafayette Parish, including the city of Lafayette, Broussard, Carencro, Duson, Milton, Scott, and Youngsville as well as our e-services.

July programs: Many children's, teen, and adult programs will occur over
the next few weeks as we wind down our 2008 Summer Reading. Check them out

Reminder notices - we are emailing you library reminder notices several
days before your items are due. The link in the notice lets you quickly get
to our site where you can renew if necessary.

Text message Library notices - A free, third party service, not affiliated with the Lafayette Public Library, is being used successfully by some library patrons who refer receiving text messages on their cell phones. Note, carriers may charge a fee for text messages -- check with your carrier for relevant fees.
This service is called "Library Elf". The web site is http://www.libraryelf.com and the link to signing up as a Lafayette Public Library user is http://tinyurl.com/lpllibraryelf. The service is free, but be sure to read the privacy policy and terms on their web site, as well as their FAQs.

Book Club Kits to Go - Are you in a book club? The Lafayette Public
Library offers book kits for your club's use. Thirteen titles are currently available and we plan to add titles each year. Each kit has 10 copies of the book as well as a discussion guide. To reserve a kit or join inquire about Book Discussion Groups, please contact the Main Library at 261-5787. Thanks to the Friends of the Library for funding our Book Club Kits project.

Audio books - The Library offers online, interactive audiobooks for
children (Tumblebooks).

The Library offers over 200 audio titles in Playaway format. Each title is circulated on an individual mp3 type player that can be checked out for 3 weeks (you use your own headphones and AAA battery for the device).

The Library now offers downloadable titles from Overdrive compatible with Windows pcs and portable audio devices (mp3 players) capable of supporting Windows Media Player 9 and higher. Although the service does not currently support the iPod format, we hope to offer that when Overdrive makes it available to us. The service has been very popular in the 3 months since it began. You may have to place a hold on an e-audio title if it is currently checked out by another patron.

We continue to offer over 2000 book titles on CD. More information about
Tumblebooks, Playaway, and Overdrive can be found here.

Computers and Internet -- Our Internet connection has been 'super-sized'.
We have a 50 mbps connection to the Internet. The public can reserve a
computer to access the Internet or use one of the many library databases or
application software packages we have available. A library card is needed
to use a library computer. All library locations also offer wi-fi if you
wish to use your own laptop or pda while in the Library.