Knox County Public Library, Knoxville, TN

Ebook help sessions

We now have over 8500 ebooks for children, teens and adults, with more being added on a regular basis. With a Knox County library card, ebooks can be downloaded to an e-reader, smart phone, or computer, and you'll have access to them for up to 3 weeks.

Need a little guidance? Join us for a help session where you'll be able to see a demonstration showing how to install and register the required software, and download an ebook to a device. Bring a wireless-equipped laptop and e-reader (with some mobile devices, no laptop or PC is required), and we will help you through the download process on your own equipment, time permitting.

Ebook help sessions:
February 6, 6:30 p.m. at Powell Branch Library
February 16, 5:30 p.m. at Lawson McGhee Library
February 28, 6:30 p.m. at Bearden Branch Library

Learn more, see what devices are supported, and view our ebook collection.

For more information, troubleshooting and download support, please contact the Reference Department at 215-8700.

Get widgets and apps

You can use mobile features and widgets (such as search boxes) for some of our online databases.

Catalog

BookMyne is an iPhone app that allows users to easily find your nearest library location, search the library’s catalog, place holds, and renew currently checked out items. You'll need your library card number and PIN to access your personal account information and place holds using the BookMyne app.

The BookMyne app for Android is still pretty buggy, and we can't recommend it yet.

Music Online

You can send an audio track, album, or playlist from the streaming collections to your mobile device to listen to later. The item that you send stays on your device for 48 hours.

At this time, this functionality is supported on Android and iPhone (3G or better).

Also, there are free biweekly downloads on Music Online. For more information, visit the Music Online Help page.

Novelist Plus Mobile site

This isn't an app or a widget, but it is a mobile version of the Novelist database which supplies reading recommendations. For example, enter a book you've enjoyed and get recommendations of similar books. Scan this QR code and go to the URL, and set a bookmark. Then login with your library card. You can add the bookmark to your home screen if you wish.

Gale databases

You can get widgets for the Gale databases here and put them on your personalized web page, such as iGoogle. You'll need our library identification code, which is tel_p_knoxcpl.

You can also get iPhone and Android apps for the Gale databases.

WorldCat

Two free iPhone apps, pic2shop and Book Bazaar, work through our WorldCat subscription and are downloadable through Apple’s iTunes App Store. For Android, there's a BookMinder app.

There's also a mobile website, a Google Gadget and a Facebook app for WorldCat.

Quick Search Bar engines

You can add these search engine plugins (called "search providers" in Internet Explorer) on your browser's Quick Search box:

• Our library catalog
• Oxford English Dictionary
• WorldCat

 

Fun with WorldCat lists

I've been enjoying this list of "100 best first lines from novels" on WorldCat. The public list was created by a WorldCat user just like you, and of course WorldCat also allows you to make and keep private lists. Have you found (or created) an interesting list you'd like to share?

Are you signed up for email notices?

With email, you are notified instantly that your requested material is available for pick up--with paper notices, it takes up to 3 days to get to you. We'll send an email reminder automatically 3 days before your book is due to help you avoid late fees. Be assured we won't clutter your inbox with unwanted email.

The best part? You're helping the Library at the same time! Right now, the Library mails over 200 paper notices each day. That's $106 every day, or $38,690 or a year in postage & printing fees.

It's easy! Sign up today and you’ll start saving trees, time and money right away. Just click here (you'll be prompted to log in to your account first), or call any library location and tell them you want to make the switch!

Keep lists, share lists

There's a list feature in the "e-Library"  (catalog/My Account software).

• You must log into the e-Library to use the My Lists feature.

• It will be up to you to keep updating a list of items you've checked out.

You'll find that the list feature is handy for many purposes. You can create a "to read" list, a "have read it" list, and any other lists.

It's not "Mark"

When you click the Mark button for items in a search results list, you're creating a Marked Items bibliography. The Marked Items bibliography is temporary because it lasts only for the length of the current e-Library session. 

My Lists versus Marked Items

• Only one bibliography of marked items can be maintained in an e-Library session, but you can have many My Lists.
• From a list in the My Lists feature, you can go to the details of an item in order to request that item. This is not available in Marked Items.

Other library databases with personal lists:

1. WorldCat

WorldCat includes not only our library catalog, but the catalog of thousands of other member libraries. So, in making your reading lists on WorldCat, you're not limited to just items that Knox County Public Library owns.

You start by going to http://kcp.worldcat.org and registering for your account there. Then you can search for an item, and when you find the one you want, add it to a list. You can make your lists public or private, and you can add your own comments and reviews. You can also subscribe to someone else's public list if you find another user who has tastes similar to your own.

From any item in your list, if we own it, you can click the link that is our library's name and be taken to our website where you can reserve the item. Interlibrary Loan can try to get items for you that we don't own.

Your WorldCat account also allows you to post your stuff on social networking sites, install a WorldCat browser tool, or even a mobile phone application if you're super high-tech.

2. NoveList

You can make multiple lists in the NoveList database, and from any item in NoveList you can link to our catalog to look for the item. Here's more about NoveList.

Please call Melissa Brenneman at 215-8723 if you have any questions about any of this.