C.H. Booth Library To Add E-Book Borrowing To Services

By Nancy K. Crevier

After months of waiting for other library e-book borrowing services to come on board that might offer Newtown residents superior access and broader choices to the OverDrive service used by the Bibliomation consortium of 43 other libraries in the state, to which C.H. Booth Library belongs, the local library has determined that it benefits library patrons to subscribe to OverDrive, despite some reservations concerning user access and cost.

“We’ve been watching the market and kept hearing about other services, but nothing has appeared that is better than OverDrive at this time,” said Brenda McKinley, technical services librarian. With the inclusion of Amazon Kindle e-reader devices to the OverDrive system in December 2011, the exclusion of which had previously concerned the staff, the library decided it was time to get going on providing the option to borrow e-books locally. That service will be available to patrons of the library who hold a current library card as of February 28, said Ms McKinley.

The library has offered a very limited selection of e-books, on very specific subject matter, through another database. A list of free e-books is also available at the library, with information on how to access them.

“This new service [from OverDrive] will give access to more than 2,000 fiction and nonfiction popular titles and 1,100 audio e-books,” said Ms McKinley, with 30 to 40 new titles added each month. Since February 1, the service has also added 230 young adult and children’s book titles, as well as a few audio e-books for that age group.

“That’s not a lot of titles,” said Alana Bennison, children’s librarian, “but it’s a start. People have been asking me for years when we are going to get e-books. A lot of Newtown children have electronic reading devices now. The public thinks we’re ignoring technology, but that’s not true.”

Library staff has taken into account several factors before dipping their toes into the waters of e-book borrowing.

“It’s a changing environment,” Ms Bennison said, “for one thing. It requires people to own a device that is compatible, and time to train staff to assist with checking out the e-books.”

She also brought up Ms McKinley’s greatest concern. The OverDrive system only allows single user access, from the entire consortium, to each e-book.

“That means that while there are multiple copies — and I mean perhaps four or five of a title — each e-book can only be checked out by one user at a time. The rest will go onto a waiting list, if they want to borrow the e-book. We had been hoping that other companies might come forward with a system that is not single-user access, but we can’t keep waiting,” said Ms McKinley.

The other factor that has held the library back from implementing an e-book borrowing system is the cost.

“Because of the way publishers charge libraries for these e-books,” said library director Janet Woycik, “some of the e-books cost three times more than what we pay for a print edition. Publishers are not making it easy for libraries to do this.”

When the library “buys” an e-book through the subscription with OverDrive, explained Ms Woycik, it is actually a lease situation. The e-books do not “belong” to the library, and therefore, the library cannot build an e-book collection of its own, without extraordinary expenditure.

It is thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library that Newtown library patrons will soon be able to borrow e-books, free of charge.

“This service would be beyond our normal budget, if not for the support of the Friends,” said Andrea Zimmermann, reference librarian, and in order to maintain the service, the library will continue to depend on outside sources to cover the subscription cost each year.

The upside of the OverDrive system, said the librarians, is that it supports nearly all major e-readers, tablets, and mobile devices. Literature provided to the library by OverDrive includes Amazon Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablet; Barnes & Noble NOOKcolor, e-readers, and NOOK Tablet; Sony e-readers; Aluratek e-readers; Kobo e-readers; BlackBerry phones; iPhones; iPod touch; iPads; and the Windows Phone 7 on its list of devices with which it is compatible. Borrowers will be able to test their device for compatibility when accessing the OverDrive program.

When the system goes live on February 28, library patrons who wish to borrow an e-book will be able to do so from their home. A valid library card and a compatible desktop or laptop computer or mobile device is required.

“Go to www.chboothlibrary.org website,” said Ms Zimmermann, “and there will be a link to the OverDrive system, which will provide instructions for your specific device. There are video tutorials, too,” she said. The book is downloaded to the computer, and from there to the device. When the borrowing period comes to an end, probably two or three weeks, she said, the e-book will disappear from the device and become available to others.

“We are anticipating questions, and we will be ready to help,” said Ms Zimmermann. “The library will provide informational user sheets for the various devices, and we plan to present demonstrations this spring to the public, to introduce the system,” she added. Library patrons experiencing difficulties in downloading or accessing the OverDrive system, or who have questions concerning borrowing e-books, are welcome to bring the device in to the library for assistance, or call the library at 203-426-4533.

“This is our first step into e-book borrowing,” stressed Ms McKinley, “and we foresee service and access and titles getting better each year. It evolves continually. We’re very excited that due to the support of the Friends, we can now add this to the many services we provide our patrons.”