With awards season coming to a close, Adele’s Best Original Song Oscar for Skyfall got me thinking about how many great songs can be had for absolutely free with your San Jose Public Library card. You can download Skyfall, as well as many other popular tunes from Adele, by visiting the library’s Freegal page. 

Are you a fan of Mumford & Sons, whose album Babel won the Grammy for Album of the Year? Get it on Freegal. Would you like the Best Pop Vocal Album, Stronger, by Kelly Clarkson? It’s yours for free. Do your tastes run to Carrie Underwood, who won Best Country Solo Performance for Blown Away? Yep, it’s on Freegal too. And what about the Grammys' Record of the Year, Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know? Well, okay, that one’s not there... but you will find a great cover of the song by the band Walk Off the Earth.

Pink fans can download her latest album, The Truth About Love, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album. Check out her single Just Give Me a Reason featuring Nate Ruess, lead singer from the Best New Artist band Fun.

Freegal gives you access to songs from over 10,000 music labels including the Sony Music catalog. Find the Freegal link in the Downloads section of sjpl.org. Enter your library card number and pin, and get five new MP3 songs each week!

 We are happy to announce that we are bringing back our Vineland Poetry Podcast! We have posted seven new poems since our hiatus and we’re not stopping now. Back in April of 2010, we started a weekly podcast where staff members would read a variety of poems for our customer’s listening pleasure. Over two years have passed and we’ve returned with the posting of our 70^thpoem! That’s 70 poems read by our library staff! We have a huge collection of recorded poems from the short and funny to the long and dramatic, including favorites from Poe, Shakespeare, Frost, Dickinson, and more. We’ve also included links to our catalog so you can check out books of poetry from the highlighted author. We hope you’ll visit our page and scroll through our poems to give some of them a listen. Thanks again for listening and we hope you enjoy our Vineland Poetry Podcast! 

For those San Jose Public Library customers who need support and assistance with eBook downloads, the following companies have staff available to answer any technical questions:

Axis 360 Help

• by Phone: (209) 720-2280 - 7 AM to 3 PM, weekdays only

EBSCO Help

• by Phone: (800) 758-5995 - press the #3 key after calling in

OneClickdigital Help

• by Email: support@oneclickdigital.com
• by Phone: (877) 77-AUDIO - 4:30 AM to 3 PM, weekdays only

If you have a problem with OverDrive, first please make sure that your account is clear of any issues.  If you have a fine or an expired card, you cannot use OverDrive.  If your account is clear and you are still having download problems, you can contact our eBook support team at: sjplebooksupport@gmail.com.

If you have a Kindle/Nook and need help getting started, please view the introductory videos:

Kindle: http://youtu.be/eS6I7vJKZS0, Nook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6EKw_yQocM

Did you receive an eReader as a gift?  Are you interested in buying an eReader, but you don't know which one to buy?  Do you want to learn how to download library books onto an eReader or a smartphone?   You are invited to attend an eReader Petting Zoo at the Edenvale Branch Library on Tuesday, January 10 from 2:00 - 4:00 pm.  Meet the Kindle, Sony Reader, iPad, and other devices for e-Reading.  We will discuss all the different different types of ebook and emedia collections available through the library, and show you how easy it is to borrow free library e-books on your device!  We invite you to bring your own smartphone or eReader device to this event.  This drop in demonstration will last for two hours.   Please feel free to come in anytime between 2:00 and 4:00 with your questions.  

What do you come to the library to do? A good book, information for a research project, computers for using Facebook, story times, and adult programs, a comfy chair for lounging in while drinking coffee and chatting with friends - yep, that's right, you can get it all at the library.

Not only this, but in these tough economic times, doesn't it make sense to check out those bestselling books and DVD's from your library? Why spend money on books and music when you can get these things for free on our Freegal and OverDrive databases.  You don't even know what those are, you say?  Check out our Downloads page to learn more about all the great resources you can get access to with your library card.

The library is no longer a place you go just to get books and information; it's now a place to go to make life more enjoyable. Books, movies, computer access, programs, and community. This is today's library.