Digital Literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills. Libraries have an important role to play in improving our nation's digital literacy. The Maine State Library and other libraries, educational institutions and government agencies around the country have provided a number of resources to assist small libraries like us in providing digital literacy training. For our part, we are offering a Tech Tuesday at the library.
Every Tuesday evening from 7:00 to 8:30 a member of our tech support staff will be on hand to help you with your computer hardware and software questions. We will try to provide answers to your questions and if we can't, we will help you get them answered.
On this page you will find links to various sites with computer related information.
UPDATE: The Maine InfoNet Download Library has migrated to OverDrive's Next Generation digital library website (see a three minute video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncRTkQkgZcU). The new webiste features 'One-Step Checkout', 'OverDrive Read' (browser-based eBooks), and many search and navigation improvements.
The Maine State Library, along with the Long Island Community Library and other Maine libraries, purchased over 2,500 popular eBooks, known as the Maine InfoNet Download Library. All you need is your LICL patron number and an e-reader or computer to access this collection free of charge. Click on the following link for instructions on how to access the Download Library: Getting Started with eBooks, or you can stop on a Tech Tuesday to get hands on help with e-books.
In addition to the Download Library there are many free books available because they are in the public domain (out of copyright) or otherwise accessible license-free. Here's a short list of links to sites offering free e-books:Project Gutenberg - www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
- Over 36,000 free public domain ebooks available to download to PC, Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Android, or other portable device. ePub, Kindle
- ManyBooks - www.manybooks.net
Over 29,000 free public domain titles; 35 languages represented. ePub, Kindle
Mobile version: mnybks.netePub, Kindle
- Open Library - www.openlibrary.org
A project of the non-profit Internet Archive. Claims over 1 million titles. Search for eBook specifically by checking the box that says "show only eBooks" under the main search box. ePub, Kindle
Free Public Technology Training
There are a lot of sources of free technology training on the internet. In this section we will list these sources as we become aware of them.
Maine Public Library Information Commons In additional to Digital Literacy this site has links to information about getting a job, health information, e-government and legal assistance.
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