It's a stormy winter day. You had planned on visiting your local library to pick up that novel you wanted to read, but having to shovel your driveway and then head out on the road just seems too daunting. You'll have to wait for another day to get your book.
But thanks to a new Internet-based initiative from Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries, you can now stay at home and still have access to some of the library's collection.
They recently introduced ebooks (short for electronic books) for library members. All people have to do is visit http://elibrary.nlpl.ca and login with an automated library card to download selected titles. Residents can even sign up for a card on the website.
"In some cases with the ebooks, we can order them and they can be available within days," said Betty Whalen, an assistant manager with Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries.
"If we order a real book, it has to come from the publisher and be sent to us, to our headquarters in Stephenville to be catalogued and then sent out to the libraries - it can take a little longer to actually get the physical book out on the shelf than it does an ebook."
Ms. Whalen said they started offering elibrary (short for electronic library) services in June and there are a wide variety of genres available, including fiction, non-fiction, children's books and audiobooks.
Titles automatically expire from computers or digital devices at the end of the lending period, so there aren't any late fees. And as with regular library books, if there's only one copy available and one person checks out the book, others will have to put a hold on the title and wait for it to become available.
Ms. Whalen said John Grisham's "The Litigators" and Newfoundland books, such as Kathleen Winters' "Annabel," are among most popular with readers thus far, so they are considering ordering more copies of these ebooks to meet the demand.
She also noted seniors seem to be enjoying this new library service.
"It's neat because you don't need large print. When you get it on your ereader, you can actually increase the size of the font and we're actually finding the majority of people coming into us looking for help on how to download items are actually seniors."
In addition to the website, library members can contact their local library for more information.
