I’ve been scheming about the best way to add digital e-books and audiobooks to the library’s collection. I know that lots of you have e-readers and prefer the convenience of having all your reading material on one device. In addition to the Kindle from Amazon and the Nook from Barnes and Nobel, lots of people are reading on their smart phone, tablet computer, as well as on their PC. It is simple to download free e-reading software to your phone or personal computer.
The world of digital content, especially e-books, is very confusing. Publishers are unsure of how to market their titles in digital format. When you add libraries to the mix it gets even more confounded. The publishing houses are nervous that library lending will cut into sales and these fears have sparked a variety of limitations to making digital content available to libraries. For example, in February 2011 Harper Collins announced that it would no longer sell e-content to libraries for unlimited use. Libraries can still purchase e-books but after 26 check outs the license expires and the library must purchase the content again if it wants to continue to keep the title in the collection. More recently, Penguin Press announced it would withhold all new titles from its stable of library lending e-books. Two others out of the “Big Six” publishers, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster have never offered their content for e-lending. Smaller publishing houses recognize the exposure library lending gives to their products and are much more willing to sell to libraries.
I have been talking to vendors looking for the best e-lending platform for our library and I hope to negotiate a solution soon. For now NC Live has some collections of e-books and e-audiobooks that are available with no charge. Click on the link to NC Live from the library Website. From their home page you can browse for audiobooks or e-books. Audiobooks are available from One Click Digital and require a simple software download to your computer to acquire the books and transfer them to your audio device. The e-books available from NC Live are mostly reference, nonfiction, and literary classics that you can read on your computer. One more interesting gem on NC Live is the Open Library NC Project. Open Library is a growing collection of over 200,000 titles available to read in a browser or as an Adobe Digital Edition. It’s a fascinating collection that is fun to browse.
I am currently reading ‘Caleb’s Crossing” by Geraldine Brooks and an advance edition of ‘Robert B. Parker’s Lullaby, a Spenser Novel” by Ace Atkins. I hope you enjoy reading every day.
Ebooks and what-not | Robeson County Public Library
I’ve been scheming about the best way to add digital e-books and audiobooks to the library’s collection. I know that lots of you have e-readers and prefer the convenience of having all your reading material on one device. In addition to the Kindle from Amazon and the Nook from Barnes and Nobel, lots of people are reading on their smart phone, tablet computer, as well as on their PC. It is simple to download free e-reading software to your phone or personal computer.
The world of digital content, especially e-books, is very confusing. Publishers are unsure of how to market their titles in digital format. When you add libraries to the mix it gets even more confounded. The publishing houses are nervous that library lending will cut into sales and these fears have sparked a variety of limitations to making digital content available to libraries. For example, in February 2011 Harper Collins announced that it would no longer sell e-content to libraries for unlimited use. Libraries can still purchase e-books but after 26 check outs the license expires and the library must purchase the content again if it wants to continue to keep the title in the collection. More recently, Penguin Press announced it would withhold all new titles from its stable of library lending e-books. Two others out of the “Big Six” publishers, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster have never offered their content for e-lending. Smaller publishing houses recognize the exposure library lending gives to their products and are much more willing to sell to libraries.
I have been talking to vendors looking for the best e-lending platform for our library and I hope to negotiate a solution soon. For now NC Live has some collections of e-books and e-audiobooks that are available with no charge. Click on the link to NC Live from the library Website. From their home page you can browse for audiobooks or e-books. Audiobooks are available from One Click Digital and require a simple software download to your computer to acquire the books and transfer them to your audio device. The e-books available from NC Live are mostly reference, nonfiction, and literary classics that you can read on your computer. One more interesting gem on NC Live is the Open Library NC Project. Open Library is a growing collection of over 200,000 titles available to read in a browser or as an Adobe Digital Edition. It’s a fascinating collection that is fun to browse.
I am currently reading ‘Caleb’s Crossing” by Geraldine Brooks and an advance edition of ‘Robert B. Parker’s Lullaby, a Spenser Novel” by Ace Atkins. I hope you enjoy reading every day.