The MackinVIA app (or the website at mackinvia.com) allows BPMS Bees (including staff members) to peruse, borrow, and/or download items for enjoyment online or -- in the case of eBooks and eAudiobooks -- offline.  Once an item is downloaded, which can be done with Wi-Fi or regular Internet access, then the item is available for use without any data or Wi-Fi connection needed.  And, just think: eBooks can't ever be lost, damaged, or turned in late.  You can request to be notified when an item becomes available for borrowing and you can often read a preview of an item even if it has been checked out by someone else!  Several items in our collection can have an unlimited number of users, as well. 

LOGGING IN to MackinVIA from off campus: When typing in the library name, take care to select the Brooklyn Park Middle School in Baltimore, MD, as there are other schools across the country with the same name.  The user ID is the SIX-digit, school ID number (or lunch #) and the password is the last FOUR digits of the same number.  Anyone having difficulty logging in should email the school librarian (leveritt@aacps.org) for assistance. 

There are additional eBook platforms accessible from our online catalog at: https://ls2pac.aacps.org/AACPS/contentpages.asp?loc=49&schooltype=2&sID=150.  We even have online magazines accessible from our MackinVIA Home screen (DOGO News) and online magazines about current events accessible from our online catalog: https://ls2pac.aacps.org/AACPS/contentpages.asp?loc=42&schooltype=2&sID=150 (scroll to the bottom)

Have a look at all of our wonderful collections! I think you will greatly enjoy what you find there.  If you have any suggestions for additional items to purchase, go to our Library Weblinks page to tell us:  https://blackboard.aacps.org/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_39507_1&content_id=_910639_1&mode=reset. That is also the place to find a document with passwords for any online programs requiring them.

Let's not forget all the academic databases and other links available.  For example, in MackinVIA there are "Groups" of resources specially curated for particular student projects, such as the one shown below for students doing research for a science project earlier this year. The databases won't require individual logins and passwords if you go to them from MackinVIA. Click the red [Groups] or the [Databases] buttons to explore academic items and click the [Categories], [eBooks], or [Audiobooks] buttons to narrow the vast array of online resources to a smaller subset of more interest.  

 

Enjoy! Feel free to post your thoughts to my Twitter page: @VibrantLibrary or email me at leveritt@aacsp.org.  And keep on growing as a thinker and a reader: those roles go hand in hand.

 

Sincerely yours,

Ms. Leslie Everitt, Library Media Specialist, eCoach, Treasure Hunter

 

PS Try this website for classic literature in other languages:  http://en.childrenslibrary.org/