A library in Mulnomah County (Portland, OR) said cardholders can now check out e-books on their Amazon Kindle or mobile devices, such as the iPhone, tablets such as the iPad, and devices running Google Inc.’s Android operating system with the free Kindle app.
More than 10,000 titles are available and patrons will need both a library card and, of course, an Amazon account.
The length of the loan, the library says, depends on the format and the patron’s preference.
The hottest items at the public library can’t be seen on bookshelves. Kindles, iPads and Nooks are being joined by more e-readers and tablets. And the changing shape of books has the library community pondering the role of the traditional brick-and-mortar buildings where paper and ink have long reigned.
“Everybody got these e-book readers and came to the public libraries and said, ‘I want the e-books,'” said Christine Lind Hage, a Michigan librarian who serves on an e-book task force for the American Library Association. “A good library is … [READ THE FULL STORY]