Sutherland Shire Libraries Staff News

Since we launched Overdrive I have fielded several questions along the lines of, "What kind of ipod / mp3 player should I buy to listen to audiobooks downloaded from your website".

Unfortunately this is far from a straight forward question.

In the general community the popularity of the Apple product line has led to the word "ipod" almost becoming the generic name for audio players.

Only Apple make ipod's. Every other manufacturer has a different name for their portable media players.

Although ipods (and Macintosh computers) will play mp3 files they will not play wma files. (wma is the file format for most of our overdrive audiobooks)

Almost all other brands of audio players will claim to play wma files. But that is no guarantee that they will play wma audiobooks downloaded from sutherland.lib.overdrive.com

The problem is with digital rights management (DRM), a software based way to protect copyright.

The wma audiobooks on sutherland.lib.overdrive.com have a level of DRM protection which can be decoded by your home PC, (Not Mac) but many audio players (even though they can play unprotected wma files) cannot handle the DRM protection used by overdrive.

To further confuse the issue, the problem exists even within the same product line so its not even safe to assume that say all Creative mp3 players are suitable.

(For example if you buy a Philips GoGear HDD1630 it will play wma audiobooks from overdrive. Buy a Philips GoGear SA3245 and it will NOT! - Dont ask me how I know :-( )

So to get back to the original question "What kind of ipod / mp3 player should I buy to listen to audiobooks downloaded from your website"

The only safe reply is to refer the user to the Overdrive Device Resource Center, which is linked from our Sutherland Shire Libraries Digital Downloads page at sutherland.lib.overdrive.com - Getting Started - Supported Audio Devices

Here they will find a list of players which have been tested and found to work with Overdrive wma audiobooks.

Whether or not these players are sold on the Australian market is another issue.

Any questions, please contact me.

cheers,
Max.

I've been getting a lot of requests for the seniors newspaper when we've run out of copies. I had a look online and found a link to the digital edtion at:
http://www.thesenior.com.au/publications.asp

Access to this is free but requires the entry of a valid email address. I'm sure many of you already knew about this but it is news to me. I thought it could be a good alternative for those Seniors able to access and use the Internet.

Karen

Here are a few answers to some perennially curly questions ...

Five facts : Sutherland Shire

• What are the Shire’s official colours?
  Black, sky blue and white
• Does the Shire have a floral emblem?
  No
• Does the Shire have a crest?
  No
• Is there a logo which represents the Shire?
  No
• Is there an official Shire flag?
  Yes. The Captain Cook tradition is seen in the Sutherland Shire flag, which is based on the British Navy Ensign. In the centre of the flag, on top of the red cross of St George, are Cook’s coat of arms displaying the ocean, globe and polar stars in recognition of his discoveries. They are surrounded by a laurel wreath. The flag was designed at Council’s request in 1927 by Mr C R Wylie who also designed Canberra’s coat of arms.

Five facts : Sutherland Shire Council

The Shire was proclaimed in the Government Gazette of March 7, 1906 and the provisional Council first met at the Miranda School of Arts on June 18th of that year. The first elections were held on 24 November 1906 and council held its first meeting on 5 December. There were 1,500 residents of Sutherland Shire in 1906, but only ratepayers were allowed to stand for and to vote in local government elections.

• What is Council’s official colour?
  Teal blue
• Does Council have a floral emblem?
  No
• Does Council have a crest?
  No
• Is there a Council logo?
  Yes. Captain James Cook
• Is there an official flag for Council?
  No

Kris O.

Once in a while you may receive a customer enquiry relating to early issues of the Government gazette of N.S.W. (as I have just had) and the following information may be of use to you.

* Sutherland Library Ref Desk currently carries the following years on CD-ROM 1832-35, 1838, 1843, 1850, 1855, 1865, 1875.

* Sutherland Library Stack Ref carries the following years in hard copy Jan. 1996 - March 2002.
* Council Archives (Bath Rd, Kirrawee) carry the gazette from 1925 onwards. If customers wish to view the gazette they need to fill out an 'Access to information application form under Section 12 of the Local Government Act, or the Freedom of Information Act'. They can do this online from Council's website (just go to the 'Publications & Forms' link under 'About Your Council' on the menu bar) or apply in person at the customer help desk at the White House. There is no charge for lodging this application, the only charges incurred may be for photocopying the gazette (70c per page). Customers will need to view the gazette at the depot.

Hoping this is of assistance. I seem to get this enquiry about once a year and thought it may save other staff having to ring around.

Kris O.

You may have been asked by a borrower if you know of anywhere that fixes computers. I know I have.

There is s local company, Computer Troubleshooters Sutherland, 59B east Parade Sutherland, ph. 1800 775 991, who solve computer problems and will even come to your house if requested.

I have no association with this company but they are local and their operation looks professional.

This is not a recommendation. Just information that some borrowers may find useful.

Max

Do you know about www.docdownload.com.au? If not - read on!

In recent weeks we have had requests like "Where can I get a Power of Attorney form? " or "I need a blank stat dec". Whilst there are government department websites which offer specific forms for download, these forms are invariably related to the work of that department. The Guardianship Tribunal, for example, has downloadable Appointment of Power of Attorney form.

Rather than searching for a specific website, your request may well be met at www.docdownload.com.au - The definitive source of commercial, academic and personal document templates. The service is free but you have to register (using your junk gmail/hotmail/yahoo email address of course : - ).

The wonders of our federated system of government mean that in many cases the same basic form has to be produced in multiple formats, often one for each state and territory and one for the Commonwealth. So make sure you are downloading the relevant one.

Max

LawAccess NSW has a free telephone service for people who need legal information, assistance, advice and referrals. They also have offer legal advice by telephone for priority clients. These services may be helpful for those persistent few who want you to solve all their problems for them and make you feel guilty when you say you can help them no further.

LawAccess can be contacted on 1300 888 529 or if the customer requires the assistance of an interpreter, by contacting the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) on 131 450 and asking to speak to LawAccess on 1300 888 529. We operate Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) between 9am and 5pm.

The LawAccess web site is listed on our Legal Information page but here is some more information about the service:

A recent study of the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW into the access to justice and legal needs of disadvantaged people in NSW found that the most common response by people to a legal problem is to do nothing about it. The study found that 'Most people who have legal problems do not go straight to a lawyer for help. If they do seek help at all, they tend to turn to non-legal sources, such as friends, government agencies, welfare agencies and other professionals such as teachers and doctors'. The study also found that even though friends, support workers and the like may refer people to an organisation for legal assistance, more often than not it turns out to be an inappropriate service for the person's particular legal problem. The person may be referred again to another service which may also be in appropriate. The study found that people will give up if they are not referred to the appropriate service the first time round and what is called 'referral fatigue' sets in.

The study recommended that LawAccess NSW raise awareness of its service to non-legal service providers to raise the level of awareness of its service recognising that non-legal service providers and support workers can play a valuable role in assisting people to find legal help.

LawAccess NSW is part of the Attorney General's Department of NSW and was established in 2001 as a joint initative of the Attorney General's Department, Legal Aid NSW, Law Society of NSW and the NSW Bar Assocation. LawAccess works very closely with its partners including Legal Aid and the Community Legal Centres of NSW.

LawAccess NSW is a free Statewide telephone service for people who need legal information, assistance, advice and referrals. When a customer calls LawAccess NSW they will speak to a Customer Service Officer (CSO). The CSOs are not lawyers but are trained to assess the customers problem and the best way to assist them with that problem. It may be enough for people to receive general legal information from the CSOs and they have a range of legal resources to provide that information. They can follow up the call by sending out plain english information in the mail. For people able to self help, they can refer people to a website and navigate the customer to the relevant page of that website.

After listening to the Customer, the CSO may assess that the person needs further assistance such as face to face legal advice or referral to a specialist community legal centre for example, for customers who have credit card or experiencing mortgage stress may be referred to the Consumer Credit Legal Centre. People may be referred to a range of services dealing with, for example, domestic violence, tenancy issues, issues for older persons, and Legal Aid.

The CSO's try to refer to people to free legal assistance services however where there are no free legal assistance services for the particular problem or a customer may not meet a means test, the CSOs can assist the person to find a private lawyer through the Law Society's solicitor referral scheme. The CSO can send the customer's details to the Law Society who will send the customer the contact details for three lawyers who are in the customer's area and who deal with the particular issue. They can also indicate if the lawyer speaks languages other than English.

The other service provided by LawAccess is to give telephone legal advice by one its lawyers. The CSO will assess whether the customers problem is suitable for telephone legal advice. This service is available to our 'priority clients' who include: people living in regional, rural and remote areas of NSW; Aboriginal people; people from a CALD background; people with a disability; people who have an urgent problem and where there is a person at risk of harm. The lawyers are able to give telephone legal advice in family law, civil law and criminal law. We cannot provide advice on immigration law. As the nature of the service is by telephone only, the lawyers are not able to represent people in court for example.

If you would like further information or have any feedback about our service please do not hesitate to contact Wendy Elder, Project Manager - regional outreach Telephone: 8833 3164 or Email: wendy_elder (at) agd (dot) nsw (dot) gov (dot) au.

Earlier today I had an enquiry about a new collection of maps detailing coastal walking tracks in Sydney. A patron had read in the newspaper (not sure if it was the Leader or not) that she could collect these maps from Sutherland Council but was asking also if the library held copies.

Council's customer service staff were able to confirm that the contact person in Council for these maps is Brendon Graham (x 5405). Brendon is going to forward a complete collection of maps in the weeks to come for us to put out for patrons to take. (Council are currently waiting for the completion of the Cronulla map). Reference will distribute the maps to branches accordingly.

Please visit Walking Coastal Sydney for more information including printable maps.