LEWISTON — More than 1,400 eBooks, including best-selling fiction, nonfiction, young adult and children’s titles, are available free from the Auburn and Lewiston public libraries Web sites.
The downloadable eBooks, in addition to more than 1,800 free audiobooks, are available to libraries participating in the Maine InfoNet Download Library.
The eBook collection is made possible through a grant from the Davis Family Foundation and through contributions from participating libraries from across the state. By working together, libraries are able to offer cutting-edge services that are not economically feasible otherwise.
Also known as “digital books,” eBooks can be read on a computer screen or with portable e-reader devices. The eBooks available from Maine InfoNet are also compatible with most computers, laptops and netbooks, and should soon work with the Apple iPad and Android-based smartphones. The eBooks available through this system are not supported by the Amazon Kindle.
APL and LPL are now lending an assortment of eReader devices to library card holders age 18 and older.
“Readers like to ‘kick the tires’ and try out the reading experience on a portable device before buying one for themselves,” said LPL Reference Librarian Ellen Gilliam. “We’re expecting a lot of questions from patrons about how to use their new eReaders after the holiday gift-giving season, and with this program we hope to be better prepared to help them navigate the devices and to find and load good stuff to read.”
APL and LPL are lending Sony eReaders and Nooks. LPL also offers an Amazon Kindle and APL is circulating a Kobo.
To access eBooks or audiobooks and information on how to use the Maine InfoNet Download Library service, customers may log into the LPL (lplonline.org) or APL (www.auburnpubliclibrary.org) Web sites and click the “download” icon. For more information or to inquire about borrowing an eReader, contact the local library.
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