NetLibrary is Changing to eBooks on EBSCOhost

Troy Public Library's NetLibrary eBook collection is scheduled to switch to a new platform called EBSCOhost.  All of our eBooks that were available through NetLibrary will be available on the new EBSCOhost platform.  Additionally, the NetLibrary name will be retired.

If you are a regular user of NetLibrary eBooks, you need to be aware that your NetLibrary account will no longer be available to you after this switch occurs. Any information that is associated with your account (such as notes you have taken in specific eBooks) will be deleted with your account. 

To use eBooks on the new EBSCOhost platform, you will need to create an EBSCOhost account. Account creation is easy, and you can find step-by-step instructions here.  For a tutorial on how to search for eBooks in EBSCOhost, please view this tutorial.

eBooks from EBSCOhost will function just like NetLibrary eBooks did.  They will not be downloadable. Instead, you will be able to view them directly from within your browser. They are non-holdable, can't be used on eReaders, but are always available for viewing. Additionally, after creating an EBSCOhost account, you will be able to make notes in eBooks you view.

We hope you try out eBooks on EBSCOhost. Please let us know if you have any issues by leaving us a comment.

eBooks Account for 9% of 2010 Book Sales

According to a recent press release from the Association of American Publishers, year to date eBook sales account for 9% of book sales in the U.S. for 2010. This is a dramatic increase over last year. In 2009, eBooks sales only accounted for 3.31% of total book sales.

This is interesting news, and reflects what we have seen at the Library. Checkouts of our downloadable eBooks available from OverDrive have increased over 50% this year. With the continued launch of new eBook readers, price reductions on other popular eReaders, and the availability of eReaders at more retailers, eBook sales and downloads will undoubtedly continue to increase. 

If you have yet to try eBooks, now is the perfect time. The Library offers two different eBook services, NetLibrary and OverDrive. With NetLibrary, eBooks are viewed on screen within your web browser. With OverDrive, eBooks are downloaded directly to your computer and can be transferred to a variety of devices. To access Troy Library's eBooks, click here.

Read an E-Book Week: NetLibrary

NetLibrary is one of two major vendors that supply ebooks for the Troy Public Library. Let's look at what they offer.

NetLibrary features over 17,000 ebooks that cover a wide range of subjects. While these ebooks are not able to be downloaded and saved on your computer, they open directly within your web browser and are always available to be viewed online. The majority of NetLibrary ebooks are in HTML format, however, some display as PDFs. There is no additional software needed to view NetLibrary ebooks, other than Adobe Reader for the few ebooks that are in PDF format. NetLibrary ebooks do allow you to print pages from them. However, because they are not saved to your computer, NetLibrary ebooks can not be transferred to ebook readers.

NetLibrary also features an "eBook of the Month." This month, the featured ebook is J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye: Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. If you have a NetLibrary account, you can access it here.

The NetLibrary site offers several ways to locate ebooks. You can do basic searches by title, author, and subject. There is also an advanced search that lets you search by publisher and ISBN, and also allows you to combine search terms.

To be able to use NetLibrary, you will need a valid Troy Library card. You must also register for a NetLibrary account in person at the Library. Come to the Technology Center or Adult Reference Desk for assistance. After creating account, go to the troylibrary.info, click on the "Downloadable Audiobooks, Video" link, and select NetLibrary.

iPod-Compatible Audiobooks Now Available for Download from NetLibrary

NetLibrary, one of the downloadable services to which the Troy Public Library subscribes, now offers over 800 downloadable eAudiobooks in the MP3 format, which can be downloaded to iPods. Previously, all NetLibrary eAudiobooks were only available in the DRM-protected Windows Media Audio format. These titles could not be transferred to iPods.

Authors whose works are available in this new format include Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King, Charlaine Harris, Elizabeth Peters, and many more. Nonfiction items from Recorded Books' Modern Scholar series are also available.

To access NetLibrary, you will need to have a Troy Library card. You also need to come into the Library to register for a NetLibrary account.

After you register, you can access NetLibrary at home by clicking on the "Downloadable eBooks, Audiobooks, and Videos" link in the left-hand menu of the Library's website. Click here for a list of supported devices to which NetLibrary MP3 format eAudiobooks can be transferred.

Happy Read an E-Book Week!

Not only is it Teen Tech Week, March 8-14 is also Read an E-Book Week. Check out http://www.ebookweek.com/ for all sorts of information about e-books, e-book readers, places to purchase or download free e-books, iPhone apps to turn your phone into an e-book reader, and more.

Remember, the Troy Public Library offers 2 sources for free e-books: NetLibrary and OverDrive. You can access these services here.

Downloadable eBook and Audiobook Use Soars in 2008

OverDrive, one of the suppliers of digital downloadable ebooks and audiobooks to the Troy Public Library, just announced that 2008 was a record-setting year for its service.

Checkouts of OverDrive downloadable audiobooks, ebooks, music and video exceeded 10 million items in 2008. This included 4.2 billion minutes of digital spoken word audio -- the equivalent of 47 million audio CDs.

The number of new users increased by 45% over 2007, and patron sessions grew 63% to over 30 million. The OverDrive digital catalog grew to 150,000 titles, including 5,500 iPod-compatible MP3 audiobooks.

The most downloaded OverDrive audiobooks in 2008 were:

1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2. The Appeal by John Grisham
3. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
4. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
5. 7th Heaven by James Patterson
6. 1st to Die by James Patterson
7. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
8. 24 Hours by Greg Iles
9. Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
10. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The most downloaded OverDrive ebooks for the year were:

1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
2. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
3. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
4. Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
5. Because You're Mine by Lisa Kleypas

To take a look at the Troy Library’s OverDrive collection, go to the Library’s home page at www.libcoop.net/troy, and click Downloadable eBooks, Audiobooks, and Videos in the left-hand frame. While there you can also read about our other downloadable collections.

New Year's Resolutions

It's time once again to make resolutions for the new year. Here are some technology-related resolutions you may wish to consider:

1. Check out electronic business reference sources available at the Troy Public Library

Researching businesses and stocks? We subscribe to many comprehensive business databases, including ValueLine, Morningstar, Standard & Poor's Net Advantage, thestreet.com and Mergent Online. Need to find information about a particular industry? Check out Plunkett Research Online. Looking for contact information for a particular business? Try Reference USA. You can access these databases by clicking the "Information on Demand" icon on the Library's homepage.

2. Use research databases available from the Troy Public Library
Everything from full text articles from Consumer Reports, Time, and Newsweek to Environmental Nutrition, Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, and Mathematics Education Research Journal can be found in databases from the Library (all of these publications can be found in Academic OneFile). You can access these databases by clicking the "Information on Demand" icon on the Library's homepage.

3. Check out an eBook or eAudiobook
The Troy Public Library subscribes to two services (NetLibrary and OverDrive) that provide downloadable eBooks and eAudiobooks. You can access these services here. Try them out! (Note: first-time NetLibrary users will need to register for an account in the Library).

4. Use snopes.com
Before sending money to Nigeria, deleting JDBGMGR.exe, using Listerine to kill mosquitoes, or other things that forwarded emails tell you to do, check out snopes.com. Snopes is a site the debunks urban legends and misinformation that often comes in emails. Remember, if something sounds too good to be true in an email, it probably is.

5. Keep your anti-virus software updated
Anti-virus software is only as good as its last update. Make sure your software is current so that your computer is completely protected. Also, be sure to scan your computer on a regular basis.

6. Use an RSS reader
Do you get frustrated when you check out a favorite blog, and there is no new information? Instead of wasting time checking sites to see if they have been updated, have the updates sent to you automatically by using an RSS reader. For more information, check out this video.

7. Recycle or donate old electronic equipment
So you bought a new computer, printer, cell phone, etc...? What are you going to do with the old one? Instead of throwing it away, consider donating or recycling it.

E-book Sales Still Small, But Growing Quickly

Recently, The Tech Desk has been covering the switch from print to digital format in the news business. Whether or not you are ready, more and more media are reducing or eliminating print and moving to all online, electronic publications.

But what about the book publishing business? Will book readers really forgo their paper texts for digital ones, viewable on Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s Reader, or one of the dozens of other devices now available?

Well, increasingly, evidence shows that they will. According to a recent article in The New York Times:

“For a decade, consumers mostly ignored electronic book devices, which were often hard to use and offered few popular items to read. But this year, in part because of the popularity of Amazon.com’s wireless Kindle device, the e-book has started to take hold…

Many Kindle buyers appear to be outside the usual gadget-hound demographic. Almost as many women as men are buying it… and the device is most popular among 55- to 64-year-olds.

So far, publishers like HarperCollins, Random House and Simon & Schuster say that sales of e-books for any device — including simple laptop downloads — constitute less than 1 percent of total book sales. But there are signs of momentum. The publishers say sales of e-books have tripled or quadrupled in the last year.

Amazon’s Kindle version of “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” by David Wroblewski, a best seller recommended by [Oprah] Winfrey’s book club, now represents 20 percent of total Amazon sales of the book, according to Brian Murray, chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide.

So you want to give electronic books a try? The Troy Public Library has e-books that you can download to your computer. Visit our website at www.libcoop.net/troy, and click on Downloadable eBooks, Audiobooks and Videos in the left side frame. From here, you’ll be able to access our OverDrive and netLibrary collections, each of which has hundreds of ebooks for you to download and view.

Let us know what you think.

Best MP3 Players for Audiobooks

Recently, CNET.com published an article listing their choices of the best MP3 players to use with downloadable audiobooks.

The Troy Public Library currently subscribes to two different providers of downloadable audiobooks: NetLibrary and OverDrive. Both of these services offer audiobooks in different formats that are not compatible with all MP3 players currently on the market. Compatible MP3 players for NetLibrary can be found here. Compatible players for OverDrive can be found here.

Of CNET's reviewed players, the Creative ZEN supports downloadable audiobooks from NetLibrary and both OverDrive audiobook formats (MP3 and WMA). Both SanDisk players and the Microsoft Zune work with both OverDrive formats, but are not listed as compatible players for NetLibrary. Apple's iPod is only compatible with OverDrive audiobooks in the MP3 format.

Have you used any of these players to download audiobooks? Have you had success with others? We'd love to hear about it! Let us know in the comments below.