Author name: Jessica Stroud

FBI warns of malicious flash drives mailed to the public

An organized group of cyber attackers–the same group responsible for the pipeline ransomware attack–are mailing malicious USB flash drives to the public.

Some of the flash drives have contained a message impersonating the US Department of Health and Human Services and claim to be a COVID-19 warning, and other drives were sent with a gift card claiming to be from Amazon. These flash drives install ransomware (malicious software that blocks access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid) on the computer into which they are inserted. Be wary of a USB drive if you do not know exactly from where it came.

In the news

Ransomware warning: Cyber criminals are mailing out USB drives that install malware

Hackers are mailing out USB drives infected with ransomware

Attackers are mailing USB sticks to drop ransomware on victims’ computers

 

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Harrison County Public Library’s hotspot collection grows to meet community need

HCPL recently added ten AT&T Unite Express 2 mobile hotspots and ten Verizon MiFi 8800L hotspots to the circulating collection. An additional eleven T-Mobile by Sprint hotspots will arrive in the near future.

Hotspots are available to check out at all HCPL locations. If you wish to place a hold on a hotspot to pick up at your branch, you may call and request that our staff place a hold for you or search for the term “hotspot” on HCPL’s online catalog. You will be prompted to enter your library card number, PIN and pickup library, and you will receive a phone call when your hotspot is ready to pick up!

If you do not have a Harrison County Public Library card or your card has expired, you can apply for a card at your local branch or by clicking here.

An adult 18 years of age or older who has a current resident HCPL library card in good standing may check out a hotspot. To view HCPL’s hotspot checkout policy, please click here.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Harrison County Public Library’s hotspot collection grows to meet community need Read More »

OverDrive - Databases & Streaming Services

HCPL introduces new databases and streaming services

Harrison County Public Library recently added more new and exciting subscriptions to its public digital collection. If you do not currently have an HCPL card, or your library card has expired, you may apply online for a Digital Access Card, or apply for/renew a resident library card.

These streaming services and databases are all available via the Libby app from your Libby library Libby library icon, select Extras. Libby is available for free from the Apple Store and Google Play. Click here to access Libby from your favorite web browser.

Download the how-to-access guide
Download the how-to-access guide


CLICK HERE to download a brief step-by-step guide to accessing these streaming services and databases.

New databases

IndieFlix

iNdieFlix streams classic and contemporary features, award-winning shorts, film festival favorites and documentaries from around the world. Explore thought-provoking, well-known and undiscovered content. iNdieFlix works directly with young up-and-coming filmmakers from all walks of life to seasoned professionals paying them for every minute watched.

iNdieFlix tutorial available from HCPL Niche Academy

  • Thousands of full length feature films, shorts, documentaries and series from around the world
  • Diverse voices, pop culture favorites and box office hits
  • Award-winning feature films, documentaries, and shorts
  • Thousands of hours of commercial free programming
  • Academy Award winning animation

Please note that some iNdieFlix content may include mature themes and language.

Qello

Stream the world’s largest collection of on-demand full-length music performances, concert films, and music documentaries. Qello Concerts transforms your connected devices into the ultimate live music concert film experience. Give your favorite headliners a standing ovation from the best seat in the house anywhere, anytime!

Qello tutorial available from HCPL Niche Academy

  • 1000s of concert films and documentaries
  • New concerts added every week
  • Streamed live concerts with major partners
  • Available on all your streaming devices

Please note that some Qello content may include mature themes and language.

Great Courses

The Great Courses Library Collection video streaming service is brought to you by The Great Courses—the leading global media brand for lifelong learning and personal enrichment. This collection includes more than 250 courses, led by the world’s top experts, covering a broad range of subjects, such as science, mathematics, philosophy, history, literature, fine arts and music, travel, business, and personal development.

Great Courses tutorial available from HCPL Niche Academy

  • Over 250 unique courses to capture your curiosity or help you to improve in areas you are passionate about
  • 3,000+ hours of carefully curated and commercial-free, entertaining and engaging content
  • Courses taught by brilliant, award-winning, and trusted experts in their fields
  • Twelve categories for all types of patrons with new content monthly
  • Guidebooks for each course to supplement course material
New streaming services

ArtistWorks

(Available October 22, 2021) ArtistWorks provides players world-class instruction from Grammy Award-winning music professionals. ArtistWorks for Libraries offers users a guided path of video lessons containing everything they need to reach their musical goals. All levels of player are welcome!

ArtistWorks tutorial available from HCPL Niche Academy

  • Blues, Bluegrass, Jazz, Rock, Classical and More
  • Hundreds of hours of high quality video instruction
  • Studio quality play-along tracks
  • Downloadable written materials, tablature and sheet music
  • Supported languages: English

LawDepot

(Available October 22) LawDepot’s extensive library of documents and legal resources provides easy-to-use assistance with a wide range of legal needs empowering patrons to create legal documents specific to their personal situation.

LawDepot tutorial available from HCPL Niche Academy

  • Hundreds of customizable legal documents
  • Easy customization through on-site prompts
  • BBB A+ rating

Learn It Live

(Available October 19) Learn It Live is a place to find and attend live online classes on 200+ topics in health, wellness, and personal development. At LiL, you can join a live yoga, pilates, or meditation class and interact with an expert on the other side of the globe. Can’t make it live? Watch one of the 1,000+ recorded classes at any time.

  • Daily live classes
  • 1,000+ Recorded Classes
  • 200+ Topics Covering Health, Wellness, Spirituality, Career and Personal Development, and More!

Method Test Prep Learning

(Available October 19) ACT® and SAT® test prep solutions from Method Learning are proven to raise scores! Tutoring, classes, and practice tests.

  • 150 points higher on the SAT, 3 points higher on the ACT
  • Learn every trick, strategy, and technique needed to raise ACT and SAT scores
  • Course includes full-length, timed practice exams
  • Video and audio lessons and explanations. Students learn best when they can see/hear the instruction
  • Supported languages: English

Universal Class

(Available October 19) Universal Class is the place to continue your education online and fulfill all your lifelong learning goals.

Universal Class tutorial available from HCPL Niche Academy

  • 500+ online courses on just about anything ranging from cake decorating to accounting & bookkeeping
  • Accredited CEUs for professional development
  • Self-paced, easy-to-use, 24/7 access – learn anything, anytime and anywhere
  • Supports assessments for the serious student or a view only version for the casual learner
  • Supported languages: English

HCPL introduces new databases and streaming services Read More »

Get your free copy and join us in the SoIN Big Read!

Harrison County Public Library, The Floyd County Library, Jeffersonville Township Public Library, Jeffersonville Public Art Commission, and Community Action of Southern Indiana are partnering with the Arts Alliance of Southern Indiana for the SoIN Big Read to promote a regional community reading event around The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.

Over 1,000 copies of the much-heralded novel, which was written in 1984, will be distributed at no cost throughout Southern Indiana. Harrison County Public Library will start distributing books on Monday, October 11 at each branch. The SoIN Big Read website notes that this book is best suited for high school students and adults, due to topics involving domestic and sexual violence.

“The House on Mango Street approaches the complexities of living life and growing through struggles of cultural, social, and gender challenges. It is a book for everyone,” said Brian Bell, Executive Director of the Arts Alliance of Southern Indiana. “We have chosen this title because of its broad spectrum of relatability to a diverse community. The sharing of stories that expose struggle and aspiration in everyday life connect us and strengthen community.  This is our intent with our Big Read.”

On November 6 at 11:00 a.m., Harrison County Public Library will hold a SoIN Big Read Walking Book Discussion at Rice Island in Corydon (if inclement weather occurs, the walk will move to the YMCA in Corydon).  Read The House on Mango Street and join in a book discussion while walking at the newly renovated Rice Island Park in downtown Corydon!

Two large community projects – “Hashtag Trees” and “Dream and Anchors Project” – are centered around this book will take place over the next few months. For more information about the SoIN Big Read, please visit www.soinbigread.com.

 

Get your free copy and join us in the SoIN Big Read! Read More »

Indiana Broadband Connectivity Program Launches Monday

Today the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce announced that beginning on Monday, September 27, 2021, Hoosier residents and businesses that have no access to broadband–or have service speeds less than 25 Mbps download/2 Mpbs upload speeds–will have the opportunity to log their addresses in the Indiana Connectivity Program database. The program will then provide that information to internet service providers, along with potential financial incentives, to help provide services and expand infrastructure in our most rural of communities.

Addresses may be registered by contacting the Indiana Office of Rural Affairs at (833) 639-8522 or by visiting in.gov/ocra/broadband . Individuals and business owners may also contact the Chamber of Commerce of Harrison County for assistance registering by calling (812) 738-0120 or via email at [email protected].

Please include your full name, address where service is needed, telephone number, email address (if one is available) with all email correspondence.

Please share this information with your colleagues, friends, families and neighbors!

For the complete press release, please visit Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs website.

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HCPL adds Harrison County Election Documents to Digital Archives

The Harrison County Public Library has recently added Harrison County Election Documents, 1833-1864 to its online digital archives. This collection of important historic documents consists of more than 1,700 images of original nineteenth century election records. Full transcriptions of the documents accompany the digital images and are easily searchable.

These documents are official, handwritten, election records from each township in Harrison County. Elections include local, state, and national ballots and range from voting for township constables and justices of the peace to county sheriffs and coroners, to state officers and legislators, governors, congressmen, and senators, as well as presidents and vice-presidents. Typically, there are three types of documents per township for each election. These are: 1) a list of voters, which is a numbered list of the names of those who voted in the election; 2) a tally sheet that contains tally marks next to the names of each candidates; and 3) an official returns statement that lists confirmed results. For several larger elections there is also a “canvas sheet” that provides totals from across the county. Beginning with the 1856 set of records, printed forms and poll books were used to record the information. However, the information recorded on the forms continued to be written by hand.

Polling sites were located in principal communities within each township such as Bradford, Buena Vista, Corydon, Elizabeth, Laconia, Lanesville, Mauckport, New Amsterdam, New Salisbury, and Springdale. In less populated areas, such as Blue River, Scott, and Spencer Townships, early elections took place at an individual’s home, and later at schoolhouse or other community building.

These unique and valuable resources will be of interest to researchers, genealogists, and the public as both important primary sources of Indiana’s early history and significant genealogical records that document residency in Harrison County.

This digitization project was made possible by a Library Services Technology Act (LSTA) digitization grant through the Indiana State Library and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

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Raising a ruckus

Raising a Ruckus: coming to a device near you

On August 26, 1920, Hoosier women won the right to vote.

At first glance, the meaning behind that statement is simple enough, but the real story goes much deeper. In Indiana, almost seventy years passed between the first calls for women’s voting rights and the passage of the 19th Amendment. Though momentous, 1920 is just one milestone in a long and ongoing journey, and access to the voting booth is just one part of what it means to be an equal part of the democratic process.

Explore this chronological history of women’s suffrage in Indiana on April 20, 2021, at 12:30 pm virtually from your favorite device with access to Facebook!  Join in on HCPL’s Facebook page to view the live virtual presentation “From Amanda to Zerelda: Hoosier Suffragists Who Raised a Ruckus” by Marsha Miller, a member of the Indiana Women’s Suffrage Centennial’s Speaker’s Bureau.

Dressed in historical costume and carrying a suffragist song (or two), special guest speaker Marsha Miller introduces Hoosier women who helped shape the movement, including:

  • Amanda Way, “mother of Indiana suffrage”
  • Helen Gougar, a feisty publisher and lawyer based in Lafayette
  • Zerelda Wallace, one of the founders of Indiana’s Equal Suffrage Society
  • Women who moved into the national suffragist sphere including May Wright Sewall (educator and civic organizer) and Ida Husted Harper (journalist and close friend and biographer of Susan B. Anthony).
Marsha Miller
Marsha Miller

Marsha Miller has taught more than 4,800 information literacy sessions at Indiana State University from 1985-present and coordinates library social media. Her degrees are from Central Michigan University (History) and the University of Michigan (Library Science). Since 2012, as a member of the League of Women Voters of Vigo County, she has served on the steering committee for the annual celebration of Women’s Equality Day. She has created biographical badges of suffragists and collected the songs that they sang when they gathered and marched. She currently serves as the Indiana president of the American Association of University Women, which was founded in 1881. She plays the clarinet and is known as the “Purple Librarian.”

This virtual program was made possible through a grant from the Indiana Women’s Suffrage Centennial, Lilly Endowment, Inc., and Hillenbrand, Inc.

If you cannot make the live event or do not have a Facebook account, it  will be recorded and made available on HCPL’s Program Videos page for future viewing. Click here to view and share the Facebook event.

For more information, call the the Frederick Porter Griffin Center (FPGC) for Local History and Genealogy at 812-738-5412.

Click image to see the Story of Women's Suffrage in Indiana.
Click image to see the Story of Women’s Suffrage in Indiana.

Raising a Ruckus: coming to a device near you Read More »

The Art of Taking It Easy

The Art of Taking It Easy: the next Big Library Read encourages you to relax

Big Library Read begins today! Visit HCPL’s digital collection or download the Libby app to borrow the featured title The Art of Taking It Easy by Dr. Brian King with no waitlists or holds.

Register now to join a live conversation with the author and Professional Book Nerds on Tuesday, April 13 at 1:00pm.

If you share your thoughts on social media using #biglibraryread, you will be entered for a chance to win a tablet and a book signed by the author

The Art of Taking It Easy

From a psychologist and stand-up comedian comes a practical, yet laugh-out-loud guide to embracing humor to reduce stress and live a happier, fuller life.

Dr. Brian King got a degree in psychology before becoming a world-touring comic and the host of humor therapy seminars attended by more than ten thousand people each year. In this brilliant guide he presents hands-on techniques for managing stress by rewiring our brains to approach potentially difficult situations through a lens of positivity. To do so, Dr. King explores what stress is, where it comes from, and what it does to our bodies and brains. He delves deep into how to address everyday stress—as well as anxiety, insecurities, repression, and negativity—and gives insight into resulting ailments such as anxiety disorders, depression, hypertension, obesity, substance abuse disorders, and more. Dr. King’s techniques are chemical and cost free, and embrace humor, resilience, relaxation, optimism, gratitude, and acceptance. Instead of a dry medical approach to dealing with stress, this unique volume is filled with life-changing tips and instructions presented with humor and a wealth of memorable, smile-inducing anecdotes.

Read a letter from the author
Read a letter from the author
View the Book Discussion Guide
View the Book Discussion Guide

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IUS to hold virtual International Festival

Practioners of Bharatanatyam, a sacred dance of India, from the Guru Vandana Arts Academy. Photo courtesy of Akila Iler.
Practioners of Bharatanatyam, a sacred dance of India, from the Guru Vandana Arts Academy. Photo courtesy of Akila Iler.

On April 5, the Study Abroad and Global Awareness (SAGA) Committee will hold the annual virtual International Festival to celebrate cultural diversity. This festival will feature a wide variety of entertainment and cuisine. Christopher Lee Proctor II, the representative of Indiana University Southeasts’s SAGA committee says that “we are excited to welcome international performances from cultures spanning the globe. Examples include, inter alia: Andalusia, Cuba, India, Ireland, West Africa, and Zimbabwe.”

The calendar and registration are available here. Join and explore the world virtually!

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Her Story: reads for Women’s History Month and beyond

Women’s History Month was borne from a week-long celebration of women’s contributions to culture, history and society organized by the school district of Sonoma, California, in 1978.

A few years later, the idea had caught on across the country. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8 as National Women’s History Week. The U.S. Congress followed suit the next year, passing a resolution establishing a national celebration. In 1986, the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned Congress to expand the event to the entire month of March. More information about the history behind Women’s History Month is available at History.com.

Following are select titles to commemorate Women’s History. Click here to browse OverDrive for all Women’s History titles.

eBooks and Audiobooks | available from OverDrive and the Libby app

800 Years of Women's Letters
800 Years of Women’s Letters

 

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown
The Paper Daughters of Chinatown

 

Bad Girls Throughout History
Bad Girls Throughout History

 

A History of U.S. Feminisms
A History of U.S. Feminisms

 

Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist
Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist

 

For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts Advice to Women
For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts Advice to Women

 

The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience
The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience

 

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War

 

10 Women Who Changed Science and the World
10 Women Who Changed Science and the World

 

Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law
Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law

 

The Feminist Revolution: A Story of the Three Most Inspiring and Empowering Women in American History: Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, and Betty Friedan
The Feminist Revolution: A Story of the Three Most Inspiring and Empowering

Her Story: reads for Women’s History Month and beyond Read More »

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