Sabah State Library - Borrowing eBooks

I gave up my Sabah State Library membership many, many, many years ago. But, reading in yesterday's newspapers, I saw an article about another "FIRST" in Sabah. The Sabah State Library (SSL) was the first in Malaysia to have an eBook service.

This system allows the borrower to borrow the book (ie download an electronic copy) online without physically visiting the library.

I immediately went to the State Library to join the eBook service. I thought the State Library was at the Beautiful Building situated next to the Agriculture Ministry and near The Gaya Teacher Training College. Very nice architecture and huge parking lots.

The interior was nice too. Unfortunately, I was told this was the Library HQ and held only reference material.



I took up the membership at RM10 (for 2 years - cheap!). I was told it can be used at the Kota Kinabalu Library and also at the Penampang Library. You could also register for free wi-fi usage at the library premises (using your personal laptop).

I asked about the eBook service, but no info was given. I thought I could get more at the KK Library.

This was the KK Library, next to the KK City Hall. I enquired about the eBook service but only received blank looks and vague comments. I specifically asked if any other steps or any forms that had to be done to use the service. No help, so I went home to try it online.

The official website pointed me to the Overdrive Sign In page (Overdrive provided the Digital Library Systems). The sign-in page asked for Library Card Number and PIN (as usual). The "Info for Beginners" page explained that the Library Card Number was your IC number and the PIN was ssl2010.

WHAT KIND OF CRAP SECURITY WAS THIS!

The Beginners' Info page also said that the service had to be activated at the branch. I was upset that the KK Branch did not know this. I called the guy in charge of the Branch. He said that they had NOT BEEN TRAINED YET on this eBook service. OMG! why announce the service when your staff had not been trained? Anyway, I asked for the name of the staff at HQ I could contact for assistance. No one answered the phone at HQ (4.35pm).

This morning I tried and was kindly assisted by a staff at HQ, who activated the service for me.

Upon activation, you get to browse through the available books. You are allowed a maximum of 4 books at any one time. The borrowed books can be downloaded to your PC and read (or listened to in the case of an audio book) for specified borrowing period. "My Bookshelf" page showed that I had borrowed 2 books (1 an audio book) which could be downloaded and read (or listened to) until the expiry dates.

The eBooks were in a number of formats (PDF and ePUB). You will need to install Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) as the reader (see screen capture above). You will discover that ADE meant that the "protected" books could only be read on your PC and certain eBook readers (eg SONY eReader). No ADE versions for iPhone or Android phones (so no reading on mobile devices).

For audio books, you will need to install Overdrive Media Console. This software was available for PC, iPhone and Android. So most of the audio books are available for mobile devices.

To conclude, this adventure in eBook borrowing from a library was not very user friendly in all aspects.

Although I was very grateful, I felt that activating the eBook service on my account over the phone was not really security-conscious of the library. The seeming lack of security in the account login was also a concern. If anyone from the SSL reads this; please take these comments constructively.

I do intend to be a user of this eBook service as it should become very convenient for both the user and the library. Because of the convenience, I would only borrow 1 book at a time.

QE Hospital KK Demolition - Week 15

Getting near The End.

To the right of the first photo was the QE Hospital Specialist Block, where the small sign on the road caught my eye ...

... ONLY JKNS (Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri Sabah - Department of Health Sabah) shuttle bus CANNOT park here. It must mean that all the rest of us CAN!

The sign-writer must have been pretty happy about that (see the smilie).

QE Hospital KK Demolition - Week 14

Another week; another floor gone. Good progress; December completion within sight.

Amnesty Month - Car Parking Fee Arrears in Kota Kinabalu

Once a year, there is an amnesty month ; where the penalties on the unpaid street parking fees in Kota Kinabalu are mostly waived (95% waiver).


This year, they were collecting the arrears (after waiver) at a booth in Tanjung Aru (one of the collecting locations) yesterday and today. In Kota Kinabalu, street parking fees are payable with 21 days.


It seemed there were "customers". I submitted my vehicle number for checking ...

It seemed that the statement was issued by The Mayor of Kota Kinabalu; who seemed to be managed by a company called Wawasan Iktisas Sdn Bhd!

It seemed that I had parking fees of RM6.95 outstanding up to June 2010 (data-entry chores are A Bitch!!!). The penalties were supposed to be RM80.00. Was it any wonder that no-one bothered to pay the fees after the 21-day grace period?

Anyway, they graciously waived 95% of the penalties (net payable RM4.00); leaving a net payable of RM10.95. As a law-abiding citizen, I paid up.


Noticing my cousin's car parked near our Tanjung Aru Post Office, I phoned him and went for "yam cha".

Do notice that the gate (behind the lady in the center of the photo) had come off the guide-tracks; so everyone can enter the post office compound at ALL hours (the post boxes are on the external wall of the building) to collect their mail! It had been that way for more than a week. Bureaucracy at work!

All The BS from Timothy Geithner

I read this bunch of BS by Timothy Geithner (US Treasury Secretary) on 18 October 2010, on his way to G20 "hot-air" meeting in Korea.

Geithner Vows US Will Not Devalue Dollar

Published: Monday, 18 Oct 2010 | 6:46 PM

"... "It is not going to happen in this country." Geithner told Silicon Valley business leaders of devaluing the dollar. ..."

"... On Friday, the dollar index hit a 10-month low against a basket of major currencies, while the greenback has been plumbing fresh 15-year lows against Japan's yen. ..."

"... Geithner said in Palo Alto that he believes China will continue to lift the value of its yuan currency to aid the rebalancing of its economy away from exports and toward domestic growth.

Asked how much higher China should allow the yuan to rise, Geithner said: "Higher."

"You can't know how far it should go. What you know now is that it's significantly undervalued which I think they acknowledge and it's better for them, and of course very important for us, that it move. And I think it's going to continue to move," Geithner said. ..."

He can really talk BS - If the Yuan is undervalued, and is to appreciate against the US dollar, then the US dollar will drop. How does that make a STRONG US DOLLAR?

So, the US did not devalue, but other countries revalued. So the end result is a lower US Dollar, BUT don't blame him (or the US), they didn't devalue!!

Yesterday's Reuters Report gave even more BS from Timothy Geithner:

"... He reiterated that he wants to see China to accelerate its move toward a market-determined exchange rate.

"China is well into a very promising and very ambitious program of domestic reforms to strengthen domestic growth because China recognized that it cannot afford to rely as it has in the past on such an export-dependent model for growth," Geithner told a news conference. "We want to see that progress continue."

"Of course as a part of that, it's not ready for its exchange rate to rise more rapidly in response to market forces," Geithner added of China. ..."

He said that China was instituting domestic reforms to up growth (domestic consumption) so he said China was NOT ready for its exchange rate to rise rapidly (cannot appreciate fast).

So he wanted a STRONG DOLLAR, but also wanted the Yuan to APPRECIATE (= weak dollar), but also said that the Yuan was not ready to appreciate .

No wonder at the G20 meeting, the German Economy Minister said that the US was the one manipulating the exchange rate!

As expected the meeting ended with the usual meaningless communique:

"... In a final statement after two days of heated negotiation, the G20 said it would “move towards more market-determined exchange rate systems” and that the International Monetary Fund would “deepen” its supervision of exchange rates. ..."

Then:

"... While several member countries of the G20 hailed the summit in South Korea as a success, Japan immediately broke ranks to declare that, contrary to the spirit of the communique, it would continue to devalue the yen if it saw fit. ..."

Ex - Sembulan Stalls Site

On my way out this morning, I passed by the Ex-Sembulan Stalls site. The area in the foreground was previously occupied by some temporary stalls; selling vegetables and fish (seafood). The stalls were demolished on 12 October 2010 by Kota Kinabalu City Hall.

Turning right, you can see the size of the "drain", that led all the way to the sea. The fishing boats (small ones) could bring their catch all the way up-drain ("up-river") to this point each morning and each evening. Thus those stalls were very popular for buying fresh fish (early mornings and late afternoons).

But the boats still landed here.

No more stalls didn't mean no more customers. The loyal customers still came round.

This lady customer must really want it "fresh off the boat"!

QE Hospital KK Demolition - Week 13

Another week; another floor gone. Looked like good progress.

Not that many floors to go.