YOUNGSTOWN Public library links its patrons to electronic books

The eBooks can be downloaded as files that disappear after 21 days.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- You're going to have to wait if you want to borrow a hardcover copy of James Patterson's best-selling book "The Big Bad Wolf" from the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
All of the library's copies are signed out, and 149 people are on a waiting list to borrow the book.
If you have a personal digital assistant, however, you might be in luck. As of Wednesday, the library had a copy of "The Big Bad Wolf" available as an eBook, or electronic book, that can be read on a PDA.
"The Big Bad Wolf" is one of about 500 eBooks the library began offering on the library's Web site in December. Other eBooks include classics such as "1984" and "Alice in Wonderland," children's books such as "Did Dinosaurs Live in Your Back Yard?" and guides to using software or taking tests.
Some of the eBook versions are designed to be read on PDAs; others can be read on desktop or laptop computers.
"People read in different ways," library spokeswoman Janet Loew said, adding that "eBooks are an exciting new way for patrons to read books."
Sixty-three of the eBooks were signed out at one time earlier this month, Loew said. The eBooks can be "borrowed" for 21 days; after that, they are "returned" -- they disappear from a patron's computer or PDA.
Electronic services
Loew said the library began offering eBooks in response to changes in how patrons are reading books and getting access to information.
"Today's library is changing. It needs to stay up to date with what the public demands for information," Loew said. "The public demands information in a whole lot of formats."
She noted that the new eBook offerings include more popular and fiction titles than the NetLibrary, a collection of eBooks linked to the Mahoning County library Web site and offered by the Ohio Public Library Information Network. The NetLibrary consists mostly of academic works, Loew said.
In addition to signing out eBooks, patrons also can use the library's Web site to search the library catalog and borrow, renew and reserve materials kept at any of the 19 libraries in the county system. Patrons also can have materials signed out through the Internet shipped from any county library to their local branch.
The Web site also includes links to several free Internet reference and research databases, as well as an online information center for local businesses.
"The Web site is a way we serve the people and the community 24 hours a day," Loew said.
Limited quantities
Only a limited number of copies of each eBook title are offered through the Web site. For example, there are only three eBook copies of "The Big Bad Wolf."
When every copy is signed out, patrons have to reserve a copy to borrow, the same as they would with any other library material. Patrons can borrow only three eBook titles at one time.
Loew said the library paid Overdrive Inc. of Cleveland to create its eBook system using a $34,749 grant from the estate of Benjamin and Caroline Gould.
EBook titles cost between $3 and $19 each.
Steve Potash, Overdrive president and CEO, said the corporation has about 50,000 eBook titles and has provided eBook systems for libraries around the world, including in San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; the suburbs of Detroit; and Essex County in England.
"It's been very popular," Potash said. "The folks that are using it get hooked quickly."
Mahoning County library officials, however, don't expect eBooks to replace traditional books.
"There are still people that want to hold a book," said Deborah McCullough, the library's manager of adult services.
hill@vindy.com