Paws to Read to help collar literacy

Children can read to dog in Cd’A library program
The latest volunteer at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library is a retired showgirl – dog shows, that is.
Ginger, a 9-year-old Australian shepherd with a sweet face and a sweeter disposition is coming to the Seagraves Children’s Library to help children learn to read by being a good listener.
Ginger and her human companion, Sheila Darsie of Coeur d’Alene are part of a new program at the library – Paws to Read – to be offered this fall in conjunction with the Extreme Readers program for ages 5-8. Starting Wednesday, Oct. 17 the sessions will begin at 4 p.m. and 4:30-5:30 p.m. parents and guardians can schedule one-on-one time in 20-minute increments with Ginger for a child to practice reading to the dog.
Darsie and Ginger have been trained through the Delta Society’s Pet Partners program for Ginger to serve as a companion animal. Darsie said Ginger has been trained to be “off lead” and to respond to obey commands to sit, stay, and “leave it” – not to pick up items of food that have been dropped, for example.
She said Ginger has also been trained not to respond to loud noises or sudden movements. The dog is eager to enjoy human contact, Darsie said, and has been groomed with short hair to avoid the potential for children to pull her fur.
Ginger has lived with Darsie for since she was three when she was retired from the dog show circuit.
The Delta Society was founded in 1977 by a medical doctor and a veterinarian with the goal of improving human health through service and therapy animals. The society has trained more than 9,000 volunteers in the Pet Partners Program and provides a variety of related resources and referrals.
According to the Delta Society interaction with animals tends to lower blood pressure and anxiety levels and stimulates the release of endorphins that help people to feel good.
Literature from the Reading Education Assistance Dogs program – launched in 1999 by Intermountain Therapy Animals, a nonprofit organization – says children reading to dogs has been successful in encouraging literacy.
Animals can be ideal reading partners because they:
* Help increase relaxation.
* Listen attentively.
* Do not judge, laugh or criticize.
* Allow children to proceed at their own pace.
* Are less intimidating than peers.
To schedule reading time with Ginger during the Wednesday programs, contact Youth Services at the library by calling 208/769-2315 Ext. 438 or e-mail to info@cdalibrary.org.

Audiobooks available for free downloads at website

State library sponsors one-year eAudiobook, eBook project
Digital and audio copies of books are now available to be downloaded free from the Coeur d’Alene Public Library’s website, www.cdalibrary.org.
eBooks and eAudiobooks are available locally from the Idaho Commission for Libraries as part of a one-year demonstration project in cooperation with Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) West and NetLibrary.
The collection of downloadable books includes best sellers, book club favorites, timeless classics, CEV Holy Bible Collection, children's and young adult titles, and the Pimsleur Language Series.
In the collection are 3, 457 eBook titles – digital versions of books in a PDF format that can be read from a computer screen – and 2,162 eAudiobook titles downloadable to home computers and to many kinds of MP3 music devices. Idaho residents may access these collections from home 24-hours a day or from public computers at the library.
At www.cdalibrary.org click the LiLI link. New users should visit the library – 702 E. Front Ave. – or call the library at 208-769-2315 to receive the user name and password needed to access LiLI databases. Users will then create a Netlibrary account with a personal user name and password.
“Audiobooks, in the form of cassettes and CDs, have been popular in libraries for many years,” said Library Director Bette Ammon. “The ability to download eAudiobooks from the Web is being embraced by longtime listeners as well as new listeners who want material for their portable media devices.”
Users may check out up to 10 eAudiobooks at a time. Downloads can be accessed by the users for 21 days. eAudiobooks can be downloaded or played on any desktop, laptop or portable device that supports Windows Media Player version 9 and above. Users can also transfer favorite titles to a wide range of portable devices, including portable music players, portable media centers, and more.
MP3 players should have a capacity of at least 512 megabytes to use the downloads successfully. (Ipods and Zunes are not compatible due to differences in operating systems.)
eBooks are full-text, electronic versions of published books that library users can search, borrow, read, and return via the Internet.
“We are excited to offer eBooks as a new resource for the library patrons of Coeur d’Alene,” said Ammon. “Because eBooks are accessible anytime of the day or night from the Internet, people who can’t visit the library during open hours will still be able to gain access to these resources.”
OCLC NetLibrary provides content and technical delivery solutions to institutional libraries, corporations and government agencies that facilitate the purchase, management and distribution of research, reference, digital learning and general interest content via Web-based technologies. NetLibrary’s eContent solution is the most broadly adopted in the market, making the content of more than 400 publishers and eContent providers available through more than 15,000 libraries worldwide.