New & Noteworthy @ WHPLibrary

Our first blog is just the start of what's new at the West Hempstead Public Library. We'll use this new communications tool to update the library community about what we do in our respective departments and to share our plans and preparations for the changes that the new building will bring.

Our new website name www.whplibrary.org is now operational and identifies us as a unique entity, rather than an appendage of the Nassau Library System. Email names associated with our new website have been assigned, to make it easier for patrons to communicate with us. We will be making improvements to the website as the year progresses. Watch for changes!

Our databases are high quality and expensive resources that are replacing many of our printed reference books and encyclopedias. For students, these are more reliable resources than the information they often find when they search the world wide web. Unfortunately, most people find it easier to search the web than to search our databases. Our job is to try to make students, and the public in general, aware of our valuable resources, and to make the resources easier to access.

Check out our Research Online pages on our library website.

Give us your suggestions on how to make these web pages and our databases easier to use!

The Library will be closed on Monday, January 15 to celebrate the national holiday honoring Dr. King. Learn about his life, test your knowledge with a little quiz or take some action to make this day special.

Much as we love to see people in the library, here is another reason to stay at home. You can now browse the actual contents of over 327 reference books in our library's e-book collection right from the library's online catalog. These are some of the titles in our electronic book collection:

• Encyclopaedia Judaica;
  
• New Catholic Encyclopedia;
  
• Countries and Their Cultures;
  
• Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia;
  
• Middle Ages Reference Library;
  
• Encyclopedia of World Biography;
  
• Capital Punishment: Cruel and Unusual.
  

1. From our library website www.whplibrary.org click on SEARCH OUR ONLINE CATALOG or go directly to the library catalog at www.alisweb.org
   
2. Click on “Special Collections”.
   
3. Click on “Virtual Reference Library”.
   
4. In the alphabetically arranged results list, find and click on the title you want.
   
5. In the catalog description for that title, find and click on the link in the “Connect to” box that says "Available via Gale Virtual Reference Library..."
   
6. You now have access to the contents of e-book you've chosen. You can read pages online or download them.