We have exciting news for Public Library users thanks to Brad Rutter, all-time Jeopardy Champion! Rutter has donated funds that have been used to support Syndetics Unbound, which is an online catalog enhancement tool that is now available. The Lancaster County native has been contributing funds for the past eight years through his Lancaster County Community Foundation donor-advised fund to benefit the Public Libraries in Lancaster County. The only stipulation by Rutter is that the funds he donates be used to support technology-based services that will benefit many library users throughout the county.
Our previous Content Enrichment package was very text heavy and did not include the special features listed below. Lancaster County is a fast growing, tech savvy community that expects these features from their modern library. In fact, these enhancements are also available on mobile devices. Many of our neighboring counties offer these enrichments already.
Syndetics Unbound Catalog Enhancement Features
- More Cover Art: Library users will see the cover pictures for items such as books, DVDs and CDs. This way, customers will know exactly what they are requesting.
- Readers’ Advisory: This add-on service will give “tell me more” information such as recommendations, what books are in a series, other formats available, related titles and more about items the library user might like to borrow. This will help our customers to find more items that they love from the library.
- Reading levels: Are now listed by age, grade and Lexile® level **
- Awards – Click on the award and see additional award winning titles and their availability
**Lexile® Measure: A popular method used by schools to measure a student reader’s ability. Lexile measure is a valuable tool for teachers, parents, and students. It serves two unique functions: it is the measure of how difficult a text is OR a student’s reading ability level.
Brad Rutter’s story…
Brad Rutter is a Lancaster County PA native and long-time public library user who earned the distinction as All-time Jeopardy! Champion in 2005. He credits his record-breaking success on the popular game show to a passion for reading that started with his early visits to the public library. It is no surprise that Brad decided to name public libraries in his hometown as beneficiaries of his success. In 2005 Brad set up a donor-advised fund with the Lancaster County Community Foundation. His intention was to have the fund support public libraries in the purchase of technology that would enhance library services countywide. Rutter who is passionate about libraries sees the funding of library services as a way to give back to the community that will benefit readers and library users, “I am proud to have the benefit of ever-changing, improving technology to assist readers of all ages at the libraries.” He foresees technology programs as keeping libraries on the cutting edges as essential community resources. About his generosity to public libraries, he states, “I want to experience the impact of my giving now, while I’m young and while I can see the results.”
In 2013, Rutter’s funds were used to develop the Lancaster County Libraries Mobile App — another popular resource for library users to access the online catalog and other electronic resources from their iPhones and other mobile devices. During the past several years (2014 – 2017), he generously funded the Public Libraries e-Book collection that is accessible online to all Lancaster County residents who have a library card.
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