I love Montana Library 2 Go - it's one of the first places I check when I want to read a book, or if a student needs a book that we don't have at the school. I have cards for the Bitterroot Public Library, Darby Library, and the Missoula Public Library - all of them link to Montana Library 2 Go. When I first started using it a few years ago, it was more difficult to use - you had to download the book to your laptop and then switch it over to my iPad. It's so much easier now. If you have overdrive loaded on your iPad, you can click on it and it will download directly to the iPad. My mother uses a Kindle sometimes, and we have had good luck downloading to that as well. We also found that the Missoula Public Library librarians are very accomodating and easy to work with if you have questions about how to download.
Books that are very popular have a long wait list, but you can stock a few in your wait list. It just emails you when they are ready for checkout. I didn't enjoy reading books on my laptop, but I don't mind using my iPad to read books (although I still like a real, paper book to read!).
I use Montana Library 2 Go with students. Most of our students have Darby library accounts and quite a few of them have e-readers. If they need a book for a class or one that we don't have in our library, I use Montana Library 2 Go. I have also used it for audio books for students - especially ones that are poor readers. I will download the audio book for them onto their ipod or one of mine and they can listen to the audiobook as they read. It's one more way to get books into the hands of kids, and I am thrilled that it's an easy resource to use and to teach to students.
What a great resource! I wish that I could have access to such a great opportunity. I liked your comments about using your cards from different libraries for students and letting us know that popular books have a wait list. It seems pretty easy since they just email you when the book is available. Do you know if libraries can purchase multiple copies of popular books so that the wait isn't so long? Thanks for sharing about how you use ebooks and audiobooks at your school!
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience with Montana Library 2 Go. They have made some huge leaps as far as usability in the last couple years.
ReplyDeleteI also like your idea of how to use eReaders in the room. I have a set of ipods and am planning on using them in a very similar way.
I agree that listening to the audiotape as some students read is great for them and this is something that can be done with Montana Library 2 Go. I will have to do that as well if I can get my hands on more devices! It's great that so many of your students have library cards; many of DeSmet students did not last year so I will talk about it a lot and encourage students to get them.
ReplyDeleteThank you thank you for sharing your experiences with actually using it in your school. I was hoping people who used it years ago and threw in the towel would look again -- they've made impressive strides in usability. I have caught a couple who said, "This was terrible, but now I can do it!" It was bad. It's much better.
ReplyDeleteGenerally schools shouldn't subscribe, but should coordinate with their local public library, which hopefully subscribes, to get access for students and parents. Its a great way to call up your local public librarian and get some collaboration going. you can bring a librarian in, you can provide library card applications, you can put overdrive on your school computers to facilitate use -- everything but buy the subscription!