Library News

Some new features were added to the SWAN Online Catalog, in the hopes of making your search experience easier:

• Fiction/Nonfiction Facets - Now when you do a search in the catalog, you can limit your results to be either fiction or nonfiction.  This helps you weed out unwanted results to better find what you're looking for. Find the Fiction/Nonfiction limiter on the left-hand side of the search results page. Please be aware that this new limiter only applies to books and audiobooks, and not to any visual formats. Also note that poetry, plays, mythology, and folklore are all considered nonfiction.
   
• Lexile Numbers Added - The Lexile level number has been added to many kid and teen books.  You will find this information in the book's record under Reading Level.  (Please be aware that the Lexile information is not available for every book, as not every book has been evaluated for this leveling system.  For more information about lexiles, please visit https://lexile.com/)

Craig Pierce is the library's new Publicity and Adult Program Specialist.  Welcome to the library, Craig!

Feel free to let Craig know about any program ideas or topics that you would like to see offered at the library.  He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  Program ideas can also be submitted to the library through our Suggest a Program online form.

Are you having a hard time finding a book that appeals to you?  Did you know that you can use the library’s online SWAN Catalog to help you find books to read based on books that you have previously enjoyed?  To do this:

• Search the SWAN Catalog for a book you liked.
• Bring up that book’s record by clicking on its title.
• Scroll down the book’s record until you see the list of copies that each SWAN library owns.
• To the right of the Copies tab are other tabs: Summary, Reviews, Excerpts, and Novelist Recommendations.  Click on the Novelist Recommendations tab.
• You will now see a list of titles and authors that you might also like based on the same appeal factors of the book you previously enjoyed.

If you want even more book recommendations, you can also go to the library’s website and click on Research >> Research Resources >> Novelist Plus and go directly to Novelist, a database that lets you search for a good book by plot summary, author, title or subject, as well as, find read-alikes, reviews, author biographies and even book discussion guides.  

The library has four types of notices that you can receive to help you manage your library account:

• Hold Pick Up Notice – Notifies you that an item you had requested is available for you to pick up.
• Courtesy Notice – Notifies you 2 days before your items are due to help you remember to return your items on time.
• Overdue Notice – Notifies you when your items are 14 days overdue and again when items are 28 days overdue. (For 1 week loan items like DVDs, you receive notices at 7 days and 14 days overdue.)
• Billing Notice – Notifies you that an item on your record is 42 days or more overdue and that you are now being billed for the cost of the item.

You can choose to receive these notices by phone, by email, or by text.  However, to receive the courtesy notices, you must choose email or text. 

• Phone is the default way a notice is sent. You will receive an automated call that gives a looped message with your notification details.
• To receive email notifications, ask library staff to add your email address to your library account and mark your preference as email.
• To receive text notifications, you can login to your SWAN My Account and click on the “Set Up Text Messaging” option under the “Personal Information” tab or ask library staff to mark your preference as text and add your mobile phone number to your account.

If you do not know how you are getting notifications, need help setting a notice preference or would like to change the way you are receiving notifications, please call 630-323-8188 and a librarian will be happy to assist you.