Longmont Public Library has a rich collection of books, media and other resources available in its library at 409 4th Ave., Longmont, CO 80501 (303-651-8470). More information about its collections, hours and services may be found on their Website at http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/library/index.htm.

Longmont, Colorado, located within Boulder County, is a city with 22 square miles, over 300 days of sunshine, and a spectacular view of the Rocky Mountains. Longmont sits at an elevation of 4,979 feet above sea level. With over 1500 acres of parks and open space, Longmont is perfect for outdoor enthusiasts. Longmont is also home to several high-tech companies and a vibrant restaurant scene. It is conveniently located 37 miles from Denver, 16 miles from Boulder, and 30 miles from the scenic Trail Ridge Road.

Prospector has 41 public and academic libraries with 12 million unique titles with over 30 million copies. The system includes books, ebooks, journals, movies, music, government documents and other many other items. In this partnership, patrons may request all lendable items from any partner library with quick delivery to your local library at no cost. The typical delivery time is three to four days.

More information about Prospector may be obtained from your local library or by contacting the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries at help@coalliance.org. Access to Prospector is available at http://www.coalliance.org/prospector.

Prospector Development Team

Adams State University (contact about holiday schedule)
Arapahoe Library District Dec 24-25 & Jan 1
Auraria Library: Closed Dec 25-Jan 1
Aurora Public Library Closed Dec 25 & Jan 1
Basalt Regional Library District (contact about holiday schedule)
Boulder Public Library (contact about holiday schedule)
Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library, Broomfield (contact about holiday schedule)
Bud Werner Memorial Library (contact about holiday schedule)
Colorado Christian University Closed: Dec 22-Jan 1, Jan 6 & Jan 13
Colorado College Closed: Dec 15-Jan 6
Colorado Mesa University Closed: Dec 24-Jan 1
Colorado Mountain College
Steamboat Springs location Closed: Dec 22-Jan 2
Glendwood Springs location Closed: Dec 22-Jan 2
Colorado School of Mines Closed: Dec 24-25 & Dec 31-Jan 1
Colorado State Publications Library Closed: Dec 24-25 & Jan 1
Colorado State University Closed Dec 24-26 & Jan 1
Colorado State University-Pueblo Closed: Dec 24-Jan 1
Eagle Valley Library District Closed: Dec 25 & Jan 1
Fort Lewis College Closed: Dec 15-Jan 3
Garfield County Public Library District (contact about holiday schedule)
Grand County Library District Closed: Dec 24-25 & Jan 1
Gunnison County Library District Closed: Dec 24-25 & Jan 1
Jefferson County Public Library Closed: Dec 24-25 & Dec 31-Jan 1
Louisville Public Library Closed: Dec 24-25 & Jan 1
Mesa County Public Library District (contact about holiday schedule)
Pitkin County Library (Aspen)(contact about holiday schedule)
Poudre River Public Library District Closed: Dec 25 & Jan 1
Regis University (contact about holiday schedule)
Salida Regional Library Closed: Dec 24-25 & Dec 31-Jan 1
Summit County Libraries (contact about holiday schedule)
Town of Vail Public Library (contact about holiday schedule)
University of Colorado at Boulder Closed: Dec. 22-25 & Dec. 29-Jan 1
Univ.of CO-Colo.Springs Closed: Dec 22-25 & Dec 29-Jan 1
CU–Health Sciences Center Closed: Dec 22-Dec 25
University of Colorado – Law Library (contact about holiday schedule)
University of Denver (contact about holiday schedule)
University of Denver-Law Library Closed: Dec 22-Jan 1
University of Northern Colorado Closed: Dec 24-25 & Dec 31-Jan 1
University of Wyoming Closed: Dec 22-Jan 1
Western State Colorado University Closed: Dec 24-25, Dec 29-30, Jan 1, Jan 5-6
Wilkinson Public

The Colorado Alliance is making a concerted effort to get interlibrary loan privileges (resource sharing) for ebooks which it licenses.

Some examples include:

Springer ebooks- over 45,000 Springer imprints in science, technology and medicine are available for lending to any Prospector member even though only twelve libraries in Prospector license the package. Borrowing is done like a printed monograph except that the user receives a PDF of the book without DRM

Oxford Scholarship Online (OSO) – Starting in fall 2012, nine Colorado Alliance member libraries licensed this package. As part of the contract, free access is made available to any other public or community college library in Colorado or Wyoming. A site may contact Oxford for free MARC records and access.

Tips

Librarians use the phrase “electronic resource” following the title to indicate if something is digital. So if you want to narrow your search to ebooks or other e-resources when doing “keyword” searches enter your search terms and add the phrase “electronic resource.”

The ability to download e-resources into Kindles, Nooks, iPads, smart phones and other devices is a function of both the device, its apps and the provider of the e-resource. If you can’t figure out how to download something when you get to the full-text of an e-resource contact your home library for advice and help. Your local library is there to help. Remember that not everything can be downloaded into a local device so it may have to be viewed on the host server.

If you find an e-resource in Prospector from your local library you can get in by using your library (or student) card. Remember that public libraries in Colorado participate in the Colorado Library Card (CLC) program where you can visit almost any public library (a few exceptions) and get a card. With these cards you can get additional e-resources from those libraries. Academic libraries normally limit access to their e-resources to faculty, staff and students.

Always feel free to click on links to see if you can get in even if the link is from a library where you don’t have a card. If you gain access to the resource then it is open access for all.

Contact your local library for help and advice

Salida, Colorado is known as the “Heart of the Rockies” and is the Chaffee County seat. The city anchors the Upper Arkansas River Valley in central Colorado. Although flanked by majestic 14,000-foot snow capped peaks, at just over 7,000 feet in elevation, Salida enjoys a surprisingly mild climate that some refer to as the Banana Belt. Settle into Salida and its relaxed pace, hometown ways and world-class recreational opportunities and you may never want to leave.  Salida is the county seat of Chaffee County and its largest city, with a population of approximately 5,300. The city is the service, supply, and tourism center for the Upper Arkansas Valley.

The library in Salida has roots back to the 1890s and the current library building was dedicated in 1909.  The library is open seven days a week and has a collection of print, media, e-resources and a strong local archival collection.  More information about Salida Regional Library may be found on their Website at http://salidalibrary.org/

Prospector is a regional catalog of over 40 libraries  and information may be obtained from your local library or by visiting the Prospector Website at http://www.coalliance.org/prospector.  It was made possible for Salida Regional Library to join Prospector as a result of their membership with the Marmot Library Network (http://www.marmot.org/).  Prospector is managed and operated by the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (http://www.coalliance.org) who may be contacted at help@coalliance.org.

The Prospector Team

A couple of helpful suggestions for identifying textbooks in Prospector include:

1. Make sure that you are getting the proper edition of the book required for class. Publishers frequently publish new editions in order to keep sales strong and minimize the used book market.
2. If you have the ISBN for a textbook this can be used to search for an exact edition. Just enter this in the search box (without dashes or spaces) to look for a specific title
3. Remember that Prospector allows for a three week loan period with one renewal. This means you can keep a book for up to six weeks. Find out when the title might be needed in the semester. Sometimes you may be using the Prospector version as a tide over if your item is back ordered.  If you need a book for longer, order a second copy (if available) about a week before the first book is due back.  Then return the book that is due back.
4. Prospector supports link-outs to ecommerce sites for ordering new or used books. In the new Prospector interface go to a full-record and look for the Google Preview which will allow you to peek inside a book and make purchases. In the Classic version of Prospector use the “Find More Resources” button to find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google and other source
5. Is an ebook available to meet your needs?  Although many ebooks are only available to registered borrowers from a specific library, there are some which can be lent or accessed.  Feel free to just try links, if they work they may be open access.  Otherwise look for copies that are offered from libraries for which you have library cards.

Good luck with the new semester in school.

The Prospector team.

The Prospector team.

The Prospector Team

Our apologies for the inconvenience.

George Machovec

Executive Director, Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries

help@coalliance.org