Ebook use on the rise in Star City
IN THE CITY
by Lisa Neal Shaw
In 2011, library card holders from Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library downloaded 1,049 ebooks from Maine InfoNet. InfoNet is the statewide consortium of Maine libraries who have entered into an agreement to share access to library ebooks through Overdrive, the vendor who supplies the access to these books.
Rarely a day goes by in the typical public library now when a question about accessing library books on an ereader does not come up. Demand for library ebooks is on the rise: December of 2011 was the highest month for number of downloads and number of new patrons registered to download — not just at Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library, but statewide. In fact, the statewide registration of new ebook patrons was up 60 percent over the next highest month of November. Patrons of Turner Memorial Library want access to ebooks, but because the demand is so high statewide, they often have to wait for the books they want to become available.
In response to this demand, we are now pleased to be able to offer ebooks purchased and available especially and uniquely for patrons of Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library. Axis 360 is a program that will allow our staff to purchase ebooks based on our patrons’ needs and wants, add them to our own library catalog, and cut down the wait times for our patrons for library ebooks.
Our library ebooks can be viewed two ways: Through a link on our website to a “wall” of books that looks very much like browsing a traditional bookshelf, and through our library catalog in the same way as any other book. These books are viewed on a free reader app called Blio, which displays the books in the same beautiful way that the writer and publisher intended, and which is the first reader app to be 100 percent compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These books will currently run on any Windows PC and on iOS and Android mobile devices. Axis 360 will soon be available for Nook, Kobo, Sony, Mac desktops, WebOS, and they are in talks with Amazon for Kindle compatibility. Meanwhile, Turner Memorial Library will continue its membership with InfoNet to allow our patrons with Kindles uninterrupted access to library ebooks.
The landscape of publishing and books is changing rapidly, and new developments arise almost daily. The library staff are working to ensure that our patrons maintain access to as many items as possible in the ways that are most convenient to those patrons. If you have questions about our ebooks and your devices, please call (207) 764-2571 during business hours or contact us any time via Facebook under Presque Isle Librarians or by e-mailing lisanealshaw@presqueislelibrary.org, diannaleighton@
presqueislelibrary.org, or pimelibrarian@gmail.com.
Lisa Neal Shaw is reference librarian at the Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library in Presque Isle. She can be reached at 764-2571.
