Countywide Library Service Memo
Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties
December 2002

Electronic Resources

In addition to the nearly one million books, magazines, audiotapes, videotapes, DVDs, and CDs owned by the thirteen libraries in the Eastern Shores Library System, customers also have electronic resources available to them.  All of the libraries have public computers with Internet access.  The information on the Internet has become another source of information for library customers.

BadgerLink (www.badgerlink.net) is a project of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Division for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning.  Its goal is to provide Wisconsin residents with access to quality online information resources.  DPI contracts with two vendors to provide access to articles from over 6,000 magazines, as well as numerous newspapers from throughout the country.  More than half of the articles are available in full-text; the others can be requested through the local library’s interloan service. 

In addition to searching for periodical articles, BadgerLink can be a connection to many other links to library, education, government, and general reference sites.

BadgerLink began in July 1998.  The project costs approximately $1.85 million per year and is funded through the Wisconsin Universal Service Fund.

WISCAT (www.wiscat.net) is an online catalog of items owned by public, school, college, university, and special libraries in Wisconsin.  Customers can search for items at home, at school, or at a public library.  If the item they want is not available locally, they can contact their local public library’s interloan service to obtain it.  Eastern Shores customers regularly obtain items from libraries throughout Wisconsin, as well as libraries in other states.

NetLibrary (www.netlibrary.com) is a collection of electronic books jointly owned by a consortium of public library systems and public libraries.  Eastern Shores is a member of the consortium, which makes the 7,000 titles available to all residents.  ebooks can be browsed online from a library, or from home, school, or place of business or they may be “checked out” and read at your leisure.  To check out an ebook, a customer must have an account, which can be obtained at any public library.  A typical customer does not read the entire book online, but uses it to search for specific pieces of information.  The electronic books are indexed and searchable by subject or words within the text.

EasiCat (www.easicat.net) is the shared online catalog of all of the items owned by the 13 public libraries in Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties, the Eastern Shores bookmobile, and Lakeland College.  Customers can search the catalog from any library or any other place with Internet access and see what is available.  They can also view the information about which libraries own the item and whether or not it is currently on the shelf.  They can also place a “hold” on the item and choose the library where they want to pick it up.  That library will contact them when the item is available.  Customers can use the Internet to see which items they have checked out and when they are due back, which items they have on hold, as well as renew any items that they would like to keep for a longer time.  Funding for EasiCat comes from the state of Wisconsin, Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties, local municipalities that support public libraries, and Lakeland College.

The websites from both counties have links to the ESLS website (www.esls.lib.wi.us), where you can access all of the electronic resources listed above.

Sheboygan County (www.co.sheboygan.wi.us)
Ozaukee County (www.co.ozaukee.wi.us)

Items Borrowed from Public Libraries and the Bookmobile by Customers from Municipalities without a Library – September  – November 2002 

 
www.easicat.net