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Library Resources Available 24/7 with Your Library Anytime

To celebrate National Library Week, the library is launching "Your Library Anytime" - http://www.chelmsfordlibrary.org/anytime - to highlight all of the library services and resources that are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Whether you're trying to finish your homework the night before it's due, sitting on a beach and want to download an ebook, riding the train to work and feel like reading a magazine, or missed last week's speaker on your favorite topic - the library can help, even after our doors are closed.

Your Library Anytime is divided up into general sections, with links to specific resources - both library tools and free online resources - which are all available 24/7. And we'll be adding more links as we grow, so we'd love to hear your feedback - let us know what you'd like the library to offer! Send your comments to Becky Herrmann, Library Director, bherrmann@mvlc.org - or better yet, go to http://www.chelmsfordlibrary.org/anytime and choose one of the other ways to connect with us, 24/7.

How to See New Library Books, Movies, and Music

We now have an easy way to view all the brand new books, DVDs, and audiobooks that get added to the library catalog each week.

To see this list, just click the New Book Alerts button on our homepage. Once there, you can use the menus on the left to see just DVDs, or just Childrens books, etc.

Along the top, you can click to see previous weeks, or see more than one week at a time. These new items lists just started last week, so it'll take a few weeks to build up.

Speaking of book lists, did you know the library has a Reading Room webpage devoted to provided reading suggestions? From there you can find best seller lists and lists of award winners, "read-a-likes" similar to your favorite books and authors, staff picks, and also a list of places from which to download ebooks.

And if you'd like to have reading suggestions delivered to you automatically, via email or RSS feed, check out our Electronic Signups page. You can sign up to receive notifications of new items, best sellers, library events, our Twitter feed and more!

If you have any questions about these options, please contact the Reference Desk.

Electric Car Charger at the Library

The first two electric car charging stations in Chelmsford were installed last week - one in the parking lot of the main library, and one in Vinyl Square.

Both chargers were funding by a grant from the Department of Energy Resources, and Chelmsford was one of 25 Massachusetts towns to earn the grant to install chargers.

The grant also covers the expense of charging electric cars for the first two years - so anyone charging up their electric car and do so for free. You can read about the chargers in the Chelmsford Independent, Chelmsford Patch, and the Lowell Sun.

More information is available on the library website, or by contacting the Town of Chelmsford's Department of Public Facilities.

Changes in the Library

If you've been in the library this week, you may have noticed a few things have moved around.

In our continued effort to make information at the library - whether in the form of books, movies, or anything else - easy to find, library staff spent last Thursday morning shifting, merging, weeding, and generally reviewing some of our collections. Here's the major highlights of what moved and where, and please ask library staff if you have any questions:

• All non-fiction DVDs moved downstairs, and are now interfiled with our non-fiction books. This way, if you're looking for, say, travel information to England, books and DVDs are now in the same place
• All items having to do with languages - books, DVDs, books on CD, etc - are now shelved together in a new "Language" section upstairs, right next to the music CDs. We're still in the process of labeling all of these items as "Language" both with a sticker on the item and also in the call number in the catalog
• Most of the movies and audiobooks have shifted a few aisles over, to make room for the new Language section, and to fill in where the non-fiction DVDs were
• The Young Adult section also has quite a few changes:
  • New books will no longer be in a separate section - they will be interfiled with the rest of the YA fiction books
  • We're starting a new section for books in a series (like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, etc) - these eventually will all have a "Series" label both on the book and in the catalog
  • Video games are now on the back wall

If you have any trouble finding anything, or any questions about these moves, please ask any library staff person.

Patron Survey: What Do You Think of Our Catalog?

When the Chelmsford Library, as part of the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium (MVLC), got the new Evergreen catalog earlier this year, part of the funding came from a grant awarded to MassLNC. One of the requirements of that grant is to report back on how patrons like the new catalog.

To that end, all MVLC libraries are asking their patrons to complete a short survey to share their experiences. There is also a spot to make suggestions for features you'd like to see added.

Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey - it will be available through the first week of January 2012.

If you need any help or have questions about using the catalog, please contact the Reference Desk. Thanks!