Word on the Street

Library Journal raves over American History in Video

Forgive us for boasting, but we wanted to share the Library Journal review of American History in Video. Already hugely popular among librarians, students, and academics, American History in Video is winning over reviewers as well.

 “Based on content, design, and price, this product is a solid ten. It tops any other similarly themed resource in its field and, at this price, is an amazing deal. . . . This is a product I wish every library in the United States could make accessible to its researchers, from elementary-school children to history scholars, and everybody in between. Resoundingly recommended.”—Library Journal

You can read the entire review on Library Journal's Web site.

And for those of you who already subscribe, American History in Video just got even better! We recently added 70 new videos, including PBS documentaries Summer of Love, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, and Huey Long.

If you'd like more information, including a price quote for your library, please email us at sales@alexanderstreet.com.

Scheduled maintenance - Thursday, August 20th

On Thursday, August 20, 2009, we will be performing scheduled maintenance on all Alexander Street collections. Services may be disrupted sporadically between the hours of 9:00 PM and 3:00 AM EDT / GMT-5.

Please note that maintenance WILL NOT be occurring on August 13th, as previously announced in the July edition of the Product Updates Bulletin. Please adjust your calendars and schedules accordingly.

We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this maintenance may cause. If you have any questions prior to maintenance, or if you experience access problems after the times listed above, please contact Customer Support.

If you are the technical contact at your library and would like to receive email notifications about future service interruptions, please sign up here.

Bookmarks are here

Looking for physical marketing tools to publicize your electronic resources? Try our new customizable bookmarks for your Alexander Street online collections.

Bookmarks are great reminders for library patrons that there is a whole world of electronic resources available to them. And in many cases, these resources are available from home.

Each bookmark can be customized with your library or institution name, and detailed instructions for patrons wishing to access your online collections from a home computer. The editable regions can be customized using Adobe Reader.

 

To see a complete list of available bookmarks, and to download the customizable PDF files, visit http://alexanderstreet.com/resources/bookmarks.htm. We're adding new bookmarks all the time, so be sure to check periodically.

If you don't see a bookmark for a particular collection, or if you have any questions, please contact us.

Search widgets for libraries

We're working on several new marketing tools to support libraries and help boost usage. Just released are the embeddable search widgets for select Alexander Street collections.

The embeddable search widgets provide a great way to publicize your online collections, while also allowing your library patrons to quickly search the collection from any page on the Web. Embedding the widget is as simple as copying a few lines of code and pasting it into the HTML code of your Web  page or blog. If you're an experienced HTML user, you can customize the widget to match your page's theme. Take a look at The University of Pennsylvania's Music Library Web page for an example of a customized Music Online search widget.

Below is an example of the American History in Video widget.

Alexander Street Press: American History in Video

Search hundreds of hours of newsreels and documentaries in streaming video

Please note, that this particular widget is set up to authorize you based on your IP address. If you are not a subscriber to American History in Video, or if you are outside of your subscribing library's IP range, access will be denied. To enable access from off campus, you'll need to amend the URL in the HTML code with your proxy prefix.

Detailed instructions and HTML code for the embeddable search widgets can be found at http://alexanderstreet.com/resources/widgets.htm.

Recipients of the 50-State Giveaway announced

We’ve given away 52 one-year subscriptions to American History in Video—one to a library in each state, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands! The complete list of recipients can be seen here.

This is part of our response to the economic downturn—it’s one of the things we can do to help libraries facing budget cuts. We've also launched a new marketing program for all subscribers to American History in Video. Join our discussion group on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/pt9h95 and be part of the conversation on driving usage.

You'll also find a wide range of American History in Video marketing tools for your library at http://alexanderstreet.com/products/ahiv.marketing.htm, including customizable bookmarks, video tutorials, posters, and more.

So if your library was not one of the 52 recipients, you can still join the conversation and see what happens when publishers and libraries work together to drive usage.