ORL customers have free access to the OneClickdigital collection at home, in the library, or on the go. OneClickdigital is compatible with all popular listening devices, and a mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices. OneClickdigital features an easy-to-use interface with streamlined navigation, fast downloads, and automatic software updates. All you need is a library card to get started!

You'll find the OneClickdigital collection by clicking  through to the  “View all Digital Resources” page and scrolling down to the OneClickdigital link.

If you would like to learn more about how to get started with OneClickdigital, click here.

“There’s a great variety of titles, something for everybody, and no waiting lists for most of them!” says Fern Teleglow, Branch Head at the Kelowna Branch of the Okanagan Regional Library.

Try out the OneClickdigital collection today, with over 4,000 titles available, you won’t be disappointed!

Summerland – New Branch Report

                The Board heard an update about the status of the Summerland Plaza Development, where the board has been in discussions with the developers regarding a new location for the Summerland branch. The project has been unavoidably delayed due to a serious health issue with one of the developers. This unfortunate occurrence has set the project back by some months and the Board has agreed to defer further discussion until the fall meetings. The Board looks forward to being able to reach agreement with the developer by the fall to provide the residents of Summerland with a brand new library facility.

2012 Financial Statements - Auditor’s Report

BDO Canada has provided a clean audit to the Okanagan Regional Library Board for its 2012 Financial Statements. The significant items in the statements were related to the building and completion of the new Vernon branch

Facilities Guidelines

                The Board voted to make changes to the Facilities Guidelines based on input from the Policy and Procedures Committee. The new guidelines recognize location differences for urban neighbourhood branches and also address branch size requirements and hours of operations. The guidelines will be used over the long-term to further improve equitable library access in all the member communities.

2012 Executive Summary

                Executive Director Stephanie Hall presented the 2012 Executive Summary to the Board. The Summary can be found at http://www.orl.bc.ca/assets/files/About%20Us/Agendas/BOD%20Agd_15May13.pdf beginning on page 83.

Board Appointments

                Trustee Lisa Cameron, representing Lake Country, was acclaimed to the board of the BC Library Trustee Association at their recent conference. She will hold the position for a two year term and looks forward to being in an advocacy role for library patrons within the Okanagan Regional Library system and the rest of British Columbia.

                Executive Director Stephanie Hall has been elected to the board of the Association of BC Public Library Directors to the position of Vice-Chair and Chair-elect. Congratulations to both Lisa and Stephanie.

Customer Story

An Enderby customer recently noted, "By moving to a small town I thought I would have less choice at my library. But the ORL & the website (requesting items from home) are amazing! I love it!"

Saturday May 25th

Last May the Vernon branch opened the doors to a brand new building.  Mark this historic milestone and celebrate spring at the same time!  We are your community's entertainment and information source, as well as being a fantastic community space. Join us for the inaugural anniversary of the opening featuring a series of presentations about local food, permaculture, food writing and some delicious cooking demonstrations from local cookbook authors. All events are free and are drop-in

Schedule:

10:30-11:00am Special Children's Program - Food/Garden theme (Junior Department near the fireplace)
10:30-11:20am Adult Book Club - Discussion of Barbara Kingsolver's novel: Prodigal Summer (Upstairs Study Room)
10:30-11:30am "Composting & Water Harvesting" - Learning about Permaculture with Gord Hiebert (Meeting Room Downstairs)
12:00 Noon Cake/Toasts/Speeches to the new branch (Vernon Branch Foyer)
1:00-2:30 "Why Eat Local?"- with Kathryn Hettler, organic farmer & author of Real Food, Real Health: A Guide to Finding, Preparing & Enjoying Local Foods.  Food Demo (Meeting Room Downstairs)
2:45-4:00pm "Exploring Food Writing" with Judie Steeves, a columnist with the Kelowna Capital News, author of Jude's Kitchen, & co-author of Okanagan Trips & Trails.  Food Demo (Meeting Room Downstairs)

Saturday          10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Tuesday           10:00 am – 7:00 pm

Wednesday      10:00 am  – 2:00 pm

Thursday          3:00 pm  –  7:00 pm

Friday              10:00 am – 2:00 pm

During the closure, all book bins will be locked and items are not due over the closure period. Any items damaged or missing as a result of being left outside of branches will be the customer’s responsibility.

Wednesday, February 27 at 2pm at Oliver Branch

Thursday, February 28 at 7pm at Summerland Branch

Friday, March 1 at 7pm at Vernon Branch

Saturday, March 2 at 2pm at  Kelowna Branch

Okanagan Reads encourages participants throughout the Okanagan to read the same book: Shoot!, a western novel set in the Thompson Okanagan in the late 1800s by award-winning Okanagan author and Canada’s first Poet Laureate, George Bowering. Readers can follow the dialogue at okanaganreads.ca

Find out more about the new look here.

Check what else is new! You can now search the Enhanced Catalogue on the in-branch terminals. Prefer the Standard Catalogue? No problem. Just click on the Standard Catalogue link underneath the menu on the Enhanced Catalogue and go right on searching. 

The new look will feature the ORL’s Enhanced Catalogue. Why not explore the Enhanced Catalogue today? Find out more about the Enhanced Catalogue from the “Getting Started” page.

The ORL will not be the only ones to change their look. OverDrive, the company that hosts ORL eBooks and Library to Go, will be updating their platform. Expect a more streamlined checkout process and an easier book finding experience with filtered searching, personalized title recommendations and more.

Local dignitaries, community partners, and other literacy supporters were in attendance as Minister George Abbott presented the 2012 COFLA literacy award to the Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society (LASS). The COFLA award recognizes LASS for its exemplary commitment to community collaboration, innovative literacy practices and positive learning outcomes for all learners. The ORL is proud to collaborate with LASS in support of literacy initiatives.

(Jennifer Findlay, the Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society Co-ordinator, accepts the Council of the Federation Literacy Award from Minister George Abbott on behalf of the B.C. Government. Photo Credit: LASS)

(LASS received the Council of the Federation Literacy Award from Minister George Abbott. Pictured L to R, LASS Board Members: Janet McClean-Senft, Leslie Kiehlbauch, June Stewart, Jennifer Findlay (LASS Co-Ordinator), Minister George Abbott, Rene Dahms, Wendy Woodhurst, Roswitha Klawitter (Salmon Arm Branch Head), and Lynne Wickett. Missing: Bonnie Johnson. Photo Credit: LASS)

The database features over 6,500 colour photos and 1,575 maps. Topics include society and culture, travel essentials, business culture, communications and more. Created by an international team of researchers, cartographers and writers, the database is continually updated.

The ORL is proud to offer this rich, colorful content as a free service to library members who are researching cultural information, preparing to travel abroad and to students doing country reports. With Global Road Warrior, you can find accurate world data and become a roving globetrotter without leaving your desk.

To grab your boarding pass, visit the ‘Reference and Research’ page and scroll down to the Global Road Warrior link.

During the holiday closure, all book bins will be locked for security reasons. Any items damaged or missing as a result of being left outside of branches will be the customer’s responsibility. However, items will not be due over the closure; loan periods are being lengthened so that items that have a typical three-week loan period will not be due until January 2013. Visit your local ORL branch soon to take out books, movies, music and more for the holiday season!

Tuesday 1:00 – 6:00
Wednesday 3:00 – 8:00
Thursday 1:00 – 6:00

For further information, please contact Julie White, Silver Creek Community Librarian, at 250-832-4719

The new branch schedule will be as follows:

Saturday             10:00 – 1:00

Tuesday             12:00 – 7:00

Wednesday       12:00 – 5:00

Friday                  12:00 – 5:00

For further information, please contact Community Librarian Janis Winter at 250-295-6495.

With your library card and PIN, you learn to speak French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, as well as English as a second language for Spanish speakers, all in the comfort of your own home.

To get started, visit the Reference & Research page and scroll down to the Powerspeak Languages link.

Just click though to the “Reference and Research” page and scroll down to the Zinio Link.  From there, use your email address and library card to sign in and view the collection, and then create a Zinio account when you find magazines you would like to read.

Popular titles in the Zinio collection include Consumer Reports, Car and Driver, Elle, Good Housekeeping, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and many more.

With the growing population in West Kelowna and Westbank First Nation lands, this expansion will better serve the community with a larger children’s area, increases in seating and study space, the addition of a public meeting room, two fireplaces, and a cafe counter where the public can plug in their laptops and other mobile devices.

Customers should note that the library will remain open for much of the construction, though some noise and disorder are to be expected during the transition. The branch will close at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 25 for moving the collections, and it is anticipated the branch will re-open on Wednesday, September 5 at 10:00 a.m.

Finding digital books in the Standard Catalogue:

• After performing a search, you will now see titles with [electronic resource] next to them, these are titles from our ORL eBooks collection.
• When you find an interesting book, click on the title to view its information.
• Check the notes area to see if it an eAudiobook (MP3, WMA) or eBook (EPUB, PDF).
• If you want the digital copy, click the link next to “Click here to access this electronic title”. You will be taken to the ORL eBooks collection where you can check for copies and availability, download the book, or place a request on the book.

Finding digital books in the Enhanced Catalogue:

Type in the keyword for the books you are interested in. On the results page...

• Digital titles are denoted by “eBook” or “Downloadable Audiobook"; the “Format” option on the left hand side of the results page will let you choose to view only the eBooks or the downloadable Audiobooks.
• If you want the digital copy, click on the link “Click here to access this electronic title”. You will be taken to the ORL eBooks collection where you can check for copies and availability, download the book, or place a request on the book.
• Clicking on the title of the book will let you view the information for the book while remaining in the enhanced catalogue.

Records for digital titles in ORL eBooks will continue to be regularly added to the ORL catalogue.

Please note: If you are using our new mobile app, the links in the mobile catalogue are not live and you cannot click through to download the title. However, you can simply search for digital books that are available now under the “eResources” option, or you can explore the whole ORL eBooks collection through the OverDrive Media Console app.

“We’re very excited to enter the mobile world,” says Chantelle McGee, the ORL’s new Virtual Branch Head. “ORL Mobile has some very innovative features that will make using the library even more convenient and enjoyable for our tech-inclined members”.

For example, the app includes a feature called “BookLook” which on most devices can scan the ISBN code of any book and link to the ORL catalogue to show available copies. Then it is easy to place a hold request. Customers can also browse available eBooks and eAudiobooks titles in either of the ORL’s two digital book collections through the app and download them to their device.

To access this free app, simply scan the QR code below with your smartphone or visit orl.boopsie.com on your mobile device. You can also find the app at the iTunes app store or Google Play store by searching “Okanagan Regional Library”. More information about the app is also avaible on our mobile webpage.