Dewey Goes Digital – Load Your Laptops and PDAs with eBooks from The New York Public Library

More Than 3,000 Titles Available for Borrowing Via Free Internet Download

New York, NY, November 1, 2004 -- Read any good bytes lately? Book lovers can now carry up to 10 books in the palm of their hands with New York City’s first, portable electronic book (eBook) circulating service. eBooks are digital versions of print books that may be read on PCs, laptops, and a variety of hand-held personal digital assistants (PDAs). New York Public Library cardholders will now have access to more than 3,000 new and popular fiction and nonfiction eBooks including best-selling and award-winning titles like Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, James Patterson’s The Big Bad Wolf, and the ever popular Cliffs Notes. eBooks are available for free Internet download through the Library’s new, user-friendly site: ebooks.nypl.org.

“We are so excited to be the first Library system in New York City to offer this service,” said Susan Kent, Director and Chief Executive of The Branch Libraries. “It falls perfectly in line with The New York Public Library’s mission to make books available, free of charge, to as many people as possible. Patrons no longer need to wait for the Library’s doors to open to be able to borrow a book – they are readily available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

Searching for eBooks Made Easy
eBook are browsable via three main subject categories: Fiction, Non-fiction, and Collections. In the Fiction category, users can browse broad subject categories like Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Suspense & Thriller, Classics and more.  Under Non-Fiction, users can browse through Study Aids & Reference, Careers & Employment, Biography & Autobiography, Business & Investing, Travel, and more. Children’s and Young Adult books, Computer Books, and Cliffs Notes titles can be searched under the Collections category. Just click on the image of the jacket cover art from the printed version of the book, and a full description of the book and a brief author biography is readily available.

Just a Click Away
Borrow an eBook by browsing the selection of titles, marking titles wanted, and keying in Library Card and PIN numbers to complete the circulation transaction.  Selected titles will then be downloaded to a patron’s PC where they can be copied onto a hand held PDA.  Download times vary but, on average, a novel of about 300 pages can be downloaded in a matter of seconds. eBooks can be read using Adobe Reader 6.0 ® or Mobipocket Reader 4.7 software.  Users whose PDAs are not equipped with this software may download it onto their devices directly from the Library’s eBook catalog site at no cost. Some eBook titles can be displayed on PCs and PDAs in large print and many titles in the Adobe Reader R format offer a voice synthesis "Read Aloud" feature.  

A Virtual Library
Up to ten eBooks may be borrowed for a period of up to 21 days each.  Users may place holds on titles that are not available when all copies are in circulation. An e-mail notification will be sent when the eBook becomes available. eBooks do not need to be returned. At the end of each loan period, access to eBooks will expire and they will be automatically checked-in and made available for other users.  

eBooks have been licensed through OverDrive, Inc. a Cleveland company that specializes in managing distribution of digitized content utilizing digital rights management (DRM) technology to publishers, retailers and libraries. Additional information about OverDrive is available at www.overdrive.com.

###


Press Contact: Debbie Bujosa, 212-704-8600.