The Power of the MVLC Library Network

by Megan Sullivan

Have you used the MVLC website, (mvlc.org)?

It's easy enough to login. You just need your full library card number and a pass (PIN) number. You can call the library to get those numbers.

Here are some of the great resources on the MVLC website that you may not know about.

• Find and order books that the Dunstable library may not have. You can search the catalog by subject, title, author, etc. to request books and materials from any library in the network, then pick them up from our local library.
• Order CD's of all types from other libraries.
• Download audio books for free. This is a great tool for those who like audio books. Instead of checking out audio book CDs at the library, you can check the books out online and download them for listening. They are adding more and more books, and the software is easy to install and use.
• Rosetta Stone online learning language center. Great for learning languages. As long as our library participates in MVLC, you can use your library card to register for online courses to learn almost any language you want for free.
• The MVLC website also gives you free online access to a large number of high-quality local, state, and regionally funded databases that come in handy, particularly for writing research papers for school. You can access them from home, any time of day or night. Here are a few of the full-text periodicals, health and business resources, biographical and literary databases that you can tap into from the Answers... To Go! page:
• eLibrary - A full-text database of consumer-oriented magazines, books, newspapers, newswires, television and radio transcripts, photographs and maps.
• InfoTrac® PowerSearch - makes it possible to find subjects from A-Z in one or several of the Thomson Gale's periodical databases in a single search.
• General Reference Center Gold (Thomson Gale)- Full-text magazines, newspapers & reference books containing information on current events, popular culture, the arts and sciences, sports, etc.
• NewsBank, Inc. - Full-text access to Boston Globe (1980-current), Boston Herald (1997-current), The (Springfield, MA) Republican (1988-Current), and Worcester Telegram & Gazette (1989-current).
• General BusinessFile ASAP - Full-text business and management topics. Includes directory listings for over 150,000 companies as well as investment analysts' reports on major companies and industries.
• Grolier Online - Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and New Book of Knowledge.
• Infotrac Junior - Designed for students in junior high and middle school with access to a variety of indexed and full-text magazines, newspapers and reference books.
• Kids InfoBits - Covering 75 full-text curriculum-related magazines and 7 reference books, InfoBits targets the research needs of K- 5 students.
• OCLC® WorldCat - (the OCLC Online Union Catalog) Offers more than 46 million bibliographic records--representing 400 languages--and holdings information vital for collection development, cataloging, authority control, and retrospective conversion services.
• Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections Directory - A guide and locator of collections residing in Massachusetts libraries, archives, historical societies and town clerk's offices.

Many libraries also have a number of passes that you can check out for free or discounted admission to museums and other fun activities in the area. MVLC gives you access to passes from any library in the network.

The following article describes the requirements for library certification:

Potential impact of FY08 municipal override failure on Library

For a user perspectives on the value of the MVLC library network, please read:

What's lost if the library loses certification
Letter of support from Bill and Mary Mahoney