Books Blog : ebooks

Additional titles added to Axis 360 eBooks

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 16:22:00 GMT

Additional titles have been added to our Axis 360 eBook collection! Popular reads, such as the following, are now available:

View all of the additional titles...

These additional titles, as well as all eBooks in our Axis 360 collection, are accessible through your Blio app or our Downloads page at evpl.org/downloads. Compatible devices include PC, Android, and iOS.

These titles are part of a test eBook partnership between EVPL and Hachette Book Group.

Harry Potter eBooks, downloadable audiobooks now available

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:27:00 GMT

Harry Potter eBooks & downloadable audiobooks are now available in our OverDrive collection!

Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone: eBook | MP3 Audiobook
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets: eBook | MP3 Audiobook
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban: eBook | MP3 Audiobook
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire: eBook | MP3 Audiobook
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix: eBook | MP3 Audiobook
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince: eBook | MP3 Audiobook
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: eBook | MP3 Audiobook

Why did it take so long? The Harry Potter titles haven't been available in digital formats until now. They released to the general public on Tuesday, with availability to libraries starting yesterday.

Now that they're available in digital formats, will you be reading/re-reading these books?

World eBook Fair

Meditatinglibrarian@evpl — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:55:00 GMT

The World eBook Fair runs from July 4-August 4, 2011. Lots of free eBooks for downloading. Contributing organizations include Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive. These are PDF format eBooks, including many reference works, scientific items, and both light and heavy fiction and nonfiction titles. About 6.5 million items are available for this one-month period.

Recently added bestsellers available for download

Meditatinglibrarian@evpl — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:56:00 GMT

We've recently added the following bestseller titles to our OverDrive collection:

WMA audiobook format - Brass Verdict, Christmas Grace, The Fire, Here's the Story, Mother Angelica's private & pithy lessons, Shadow Factory, Tried by War, Wallflower Christmas, Bones, Against Medical Advice, Cross Country, Dark Summer, Divine Justice, Gate House, Longest Trip Home, Rough Weather, Salvation in Death, Testimony (Shreve), American Lion, Buyology, Call Me Ted, Ender in Exile, Every Now and Then, Gold Coast, Good Woman, John Lennon, A Mercy, Swallowing Darkness, Ten Roads to Riches, Too Fat to Fish

Juvie WMA audiobook format- The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, Paper Towns, Inkdeath, Nation, Runaway Dolls

eBooks (PDF and MobiPocket formats) - Wicked, Who, Shadow Factory, Lion Among Men, The Fire, Christmas Grace, Bones, Longest Trip Home, Time of My Life, American Lion, Buyology, Cold Pursuit, Destiny Kills, Gears of War: Aspho Fields, Gold Coast, Graveyard Book, Nation, Rigged, Suite 606, Swallowing Darkness, Ultimate Weapon, World According to Bertie

There were no new MP3-format audiobooks available to purchase. This continues to be frustrating, especially now that OverDrive has released their OverDrive Media Console for Macs (see ProfessorKnows-It-All's blog post). Nora Rawlinson, who was a Library Journal editor editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly for 12 years, recently posted about this issue in her EarlyWord blog:

Unfortunately, there are fewer titles available from OverDrive in Mac's MP3 format than there are in the Microsoft format (Windows Media Audio, or WMA), which is often difficult to explain to library customers.

In order to make titles available in MP3, publishers must be willing to offer titles without Digital Rights Management software (the software that puts limits on how the audio can be used). This is because Apple software can only read titles encrypted with Apple's DRM, available exclusively on titles downloaded through iTunes and Audible. Thus, OverDrive cannot encrypt DRM on titles in MP3 format the way they can titles in the Windows format.

Many publishers have been reluctant to give up DRM for fear of piracy (true, publishers don't seem overly worried that CD's can be ripped and downloaded, but that takes a bit more effort). Random House recently made their titles DRM-free, so they could be sold to iPod users through more vendors than Audible and iTunes. However, they specifically excluded libraries from this arrangement, because, they said in their press release, without DRM, there's no way to limit "borrowing privileges."

Until Apple makes its DRM software available to other vendors, or until all publishers make their titles available DRM free to libraries, you will have to continue to try to explain why iPod users can only download a limited number of titles.

New Downloadable eAudiobooks and eBooks added to EVPL's OverDrive Collection

Meditatinglibrarian@evpl — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:07:00 GMT

Recently added to the EVPL OverDrive collection:

Windows Media Audiobooks - White Tiger, Snowball, Sense of Urgency, Secret Life of Bees, Passion Test, Lucky One, Letter to my daughter, Cedar Cove Christmas,

MP3 Audiobooks - Cold Sassy Tree, Confident public speaking, Elsie Dinsmore, Nailing the job interview, Passion Test, Scarlet letter,

eBooks (PDF & Mobi-Pocket) - Cedar Cove Christmas, Deadly Night, It Happened One Night, Letter to my Daughter, Mr Cavendish I presume, Rogue Hunter, Rustler, Snowball

If you're looking for something appropriate to play at your Halloween party, note that some Halloween music has also been added to the collection.

New Bestseller Titles added to OverDrive @ EVPL

Meditatinglibrarian@evpl — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:58:00 GMT

Remember to visit the OverDrive Digital Bookmobile at St. Joseph and the Lloyd when you go to the Fall Festival Friday, October 10^th! The Library has added a tremendous amount of new downloadable content with the addition of video, music, and MP3 audiobooks.

New titles are added every week or two. In the ebook and audiobook formats, these are often current bestseller titles. eBooks come in PDF format or Mobipocket (MOBI) format; downloadable audiobooks come in MP3 (but very few new bestsellers are available in this format) or Windows Media Audio (WMA) format. This week we added:

TITLE AUTHOR FORMAT(S)

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity Bill O'Reilly PDF, MOBI

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity Bill O'Reilly WMA

Darkfever and Faefever Karen Moning WMA

The Given Day Dennis Lehane PDF, MOBI

Hot Mahogany Stuart Woods WMA

Mother Warriors Jenny McCarthy WMA

One Fifth Avenue Candace Bushnell PDF, MOBI

One Fifth Avenue Candace Bushnell WMA

Pieces of My Heart Robert Wagner WMA

Sunset Karen Kingsbury WMA

Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson WMA

Tsar Ted Bell WMA

When the Soul Mends Cindy Woodsmall PDF, MOBI

We only purchased one copy of each of these, but we'll be watching the holds and purchasing additional copies as needed. So don't hesitate to place a hold if the title you want is not currently available!

Digital Bookmobile visits Fall Festival this Friday!

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:10:00 GMT

As part of a nationwide tour, the Digital Bookmobile, a 74-foot state-of-the-art tractor-trailer, will be visiting the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival on Friday, October 10, 10:30am to 6:00pm. Visit the Bookmobile, at the northwest corner of the Lloyd & St. Joe, to find out more about the EVPL's recently-revamped OverDrive collection: featuring downloadable audiobooks, eBooks, video, and music!

OverDrive Media Specialists will be on-hand to lead visitors through the various rooms of the bus. You'll learn how to browse our collection of digital titles; download & play audiobooks, eBooks, & videos; and get hands-on time with compatible MP3 players. If you own an MP3 player, bring it; you'll receive personal instructions on transferring titles to it!

Full information can be viewed on the event page. See you Friday on the bookmobile!

More Information

Event Page: View all the details, including info about the different areas of the Bookmobile.
OverDrive @ EVPL: Our revamped OverDrive collection launched last week. In addition to the downloadable WMA audiobooks we previously offered, we now offer downloadable MP3 audiobooks, videos, & music!
DigitalBookmobile.com: OverDrive's official website of the Digital Bookmobile. Find out more about their nationwide tour and upcoming tour stops.

eBooks

Meditatinglibrarian@evpl — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:06:00 GMT

EBooks, or electronic books, are digital versions of books, often in PDF format, that can be read on computers and/or handheld devices.

Earlier this month I came across a blog post, 20 Best Websites to Download Free eBooks. The EVPL Digital Library also offers free eBooks to download, including many recent bestsellers.

And Amazon has plans to sell a student version of the Kindle, amazon's eBook reader. It will likely have a larger screen, making it more e-textbook friendly. From ZDNet, Amazon eyeing up the textbook market? About time. and from the Wired blog network, A textbook case for the Kindle.

EVPL's Digital Library

Meditatinglibrarian@evpl — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:46:00 GMT

Audiobooks and ebooks are currently available for downloading from the EVPL Digital Library. This weekend, Todd and Chip are heading to Cleveland to attend OverDrive's user meetings, Digipalooza. We expect they will return with lots of ideas for publicity, web site changes, and new formats. Elizabeth is already working on these. OverDrive's Digital Bookmobile ( www.digitalbookmobile.com), a traveling community outreach exhibit for public library download services, will kick off a national tour on August 10 in Central Park with The New York Public Library ( http://ebooks.nypl.org). The inaugural event will allow readers of all ages to experience digital audiobook, eBook, music, and video downloads from their public library. We are hoping to have the Digital Bookmobile stop in Evansville sometime in October. New formats we are likely to add soon include MP3 audiobooks that will work on Mac computers and iPods, and downloadable videos. It is looking likely that we will add downloadable videos to the EVPL Digital Library instead of continuing our subscription to MyLibraryDV.