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Xanthe · 12-05-2010, 11:47 PM

Finally renewed my library card and decided to see what was what now regarding ebooks and my library. As far as I was able to discover, there is no mention on my library's site that ebooks are even available for download. The library is part of a consortium of libraries encompassing the whole county, so I checked out that site. If you click on a link to listen to audiobooks, it takes you to another site that has audiobooks and ebooks available for download, but no mention is made on the original site about ebooks also being available. So right off the bat, ebooks are not easily accessible from my town's library's website and the lack of mention of them would lead people to think that they are not available. Oh, and on the library consortium website, the drop-down menu for the type of item being searched for does not have an entry for ebooks.

I went to the audiobook/ebook site to see how many ebooks were available. They have 902 fiction books and 325 non-fiction books available - this in a county that has 790,000 residents. They do provide access to over 15,000 public domain books but anyone can get those books with a simple google search. Almost all of the ebooks available have waiting lists, and I only saw only 1-2 ebooks available for the ones that had no waiting list.

The loan time for the books is 14 days. I found four books that I would conceivably want to read, opened up ADE and tried to download to it. I got a download error. I apparently have to download the initial file first to my computer and then double-click on it to run and install the book.

I put two books on my Aluratek Libre and two books on my Sony PRS-350. On the Libre, the books installed in the main ebook category, outside of all of my other folders there, with no mention of any expiration date. On the Sony, they installed in the regular Book library. One of the books I downloaded to the Sony has a small "14" by its entry and the info screen shows the future expiration date. The second book doesn't show the small 14 nor does it show an expiration date in its info screen (it's a Kelley Armstrong book, so it's not public domain). It'll be interesting to see 14 days from now what happens to the books; I won't open up the ADE software until after that date.

12-05-2010, 11:47 PM	#264
Xanthe Plan B Is Now In Force Posts: 1,894 Karma: 8086979 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Surebleak Device: Aluratek,Sony 350/T1,Pandigital,eBM 911,Nook HD/HD+,Fire HDX 7/8.9,PW2	Finally renewed my library card and decided to see what was what now regarding ebooks and my library. As far as I was able to discover, there is no mention on my library's site that ebooks are even available for download. The library is part of a consortium of libraries encompassing the whole county, so I checked out that site. If you click on a link to listen to audiobooks, it takes you to another site that has audiobooks and ebooks available for download, but no mention is made on the original site about ebooks also being available. So right off the bat, ebooks are not easily accessible from my town's library's website and the lack of mention of them would lead people to think that they are not available. Oh, and on the library consortium website, the drop-down menu for the type of item being searched for does not have an entry for ebooks. I went to the audiobook/ebook site to see how many ebooks were available. They have 902 fiction books and 325 non-fiction books available - this in a county that has 790,000 residents. They do provide access to over 15,000 public domain books but anyone can get those books with a simple google search. Almost all of the ebooks available have waiting lists, and I only saw only 1-2 ebooks available for the ones that had no waiting list. The loan time for the books is 14 days. I found four books that I would conceivably want to read, opened up ADE and tried to download to it. I got a download error. I apparently have to download the initial file first to my computer and then double-click on it to run and install the book. I put two books on my Aluratek Libre and two books on my Sony PRS-350. On the Libre, the books installed in the main ebook category, outside of all of my other folders there, with no mention of any expiration date. On the Sony, they installed in the regular Book library. One of the books I downloaded to the Sony has a small "14" by its entry and the info screen shows the future expiration date. The second book doesn't show the small 14 nor does it show an expiration date in its info screen (it's a Kelley Armstrong book, so it's not public domain). It'll be interesting to see 14 days from now what happens to the books; I won't open up the ADE software until after that date.