Looking for titles for the new ebook reader you received during the holidays? Beebe Library has a growing collection of ebooks to checkout online for free.

The collection has grown 35% in the last four months. Children’s picture book titles have recently been added, joining popular fiction, non-fiction, teen titles, children’s books and classics in the library’s online collection. All can be borrowed free of charge to residents of communities served by the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE), and cardholders of participating college libraries by entering your library card number.

The library collection is compatible will all the major devices, including the Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, and the iPad and other tablets. In addition to ebooks, audiobooks are also available for the iPod and MP3 players.

A user can have up to four downloadable items checked out at the same time, any combination of e-books or audiobooks. Unlike audio downloads, ebooks can be “returned” early to access additional titles. There are no fines or overdues with the ebooks or audiobooks because the titles expire at the end of the loan period automatically.

The library ebook and audiobook service is funded by the 28 member libraries of NOBLE.

NOBLE is a non-profit founded by participating libraries thirty years ago to share resources and improve service and efficiency through shared automation.

NOBLE has doubled the size of its eBook and audiobook collection over the past year to meet rapidly growing demand. The collection is funded by the 28 member libraries of NOBLE, a non-profit organization founded by area libraries collaborating to share resources and provide electronic resources regionally and cost-effectively and improve service.

“We are pleased to expand our eBook loans to cover all the major readers,” said NOBLE Executive Director Ronald Gagnon. “Kindle is the most popular ereader today and we are glad that we are now able to serve them. The eBook and audiobook service has grown steadily in the three years since it started, and the pace is really escalating lately,” reports Gagnon. “September’s usage was 13% higher than August use, and August was our best month ever, all that before the full effect of Kindle users.”

More information on free downloading of library eBook titles

The public libraries of NOBLE serve the communities of Beverly, Danvers, Everett, Gloucester, Lynn, Lynnfield, Marblehead, Melrose, Peabody, Reading, Revere, Salem, Saugus, Stoneham, Swampscott, Wakefield and Winthrop. NOBLE also serves the academic communities of Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Endicott College in Beverly, Gordon College in Wenham, Merrimack College in North Andover, Middlesex Community College in Bedford and Lowell, Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, North Shore Community College in Danvers and Lynn, Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill and Lawrence, Phillips Academy in Andover and Salem State University.

You can find titles in the archive in two ways. First, you can go directly to www.archive.org and search their online catalog. Second, you can search our own NOBLE catalog and if you find a link that says “Internet Archive Full Text” you can go directly to the online version at the archive’s site, where you can view it in several different formats including PDF, plain text, or flip book. All formats are fully keyword searchable, particularly handy for old titles that may not have indexes. To search specifically for archived books, simply add the words “INTERNET ARCHIVE” to any of your other search terms.

In time, the Archive’s online collections will become the first stop for researchers wanting easy access to historical documents.

LibraryThing now sells this data as an add-on for libraries to enhance the information in their own catalogs, and NOBLE has added it to our catalog for area libraries as of this month. When searching, you’ll now see three new kinds of helpful information about each item. First, a list of similar books that you may like, based on what LibraryThing members have found enjoyable. The list may include similar books by the same author or on a related subject, or just titles that may appeal to the same audience. Second, you’ll find convenient links to other editions of the same title, like the paperback, large print, or audio version. Third, each book will have a group of “tags”, or subject words that have been assigned to describe it. Unlike traditional library subject headings, tags are chosen by ordinary readers, using common language.

The catalog, which can be searched at catalog.noblenet.org, is maintained by NOBLE, the North of Boston Library Exchange, of which Wakefield is a member, and includes the holdings of 17 area public libraries, ten colleges, and one special library.

The catalog also has quick links to your online library account, as well as to the statewide library catalog, which searches all the online catalogs in Massachusetts, and the NOBLE Digital Library, which includes a growing collection of historical images from libraries in the area.

Winter arrived in Wakefield with a bang this year, bringing eighteen inches of snow. Griping about winter weather often leads to reminiscing about winters past, the enjoyable sparkling white ones as well as the dreary snowbound ones.
You can enhance your reminiscing with a nice selection of historic winter photographs in a new winter exhibit that is online in the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE) Digital Library.

Wakefield Square, from an early 20th century postcard.

NOBLE’s Digital Library is a collection of more than 2,500 historic images contributed by libraries in the NOBLE network, including Wakefield. The pictures are part of our network’s online catalog, but they can also be searched separately in this special catalog devoted solely to images. You can browse the collection by clicking on “Digital Library” in the top menu.

The exhibit was designed and compiled by Beth Willis, NOBLE’s Digital and Catalog Librarian, from photographs owned by libraries like Wakefield, Beverly, Lynn, Reading, Saugus, and Swampscott, supplemented with appropriate written excerpts and information on topics such as “Winter’s Wrath”, a “Timeline of Historic Storms”, and winter recreation and celebrations.

Wakefield’s contributions include photos of historic snowstorms which blanketed the town in the late 1800s, and local color like policemen and streetcars surrounded by snowdrifts like those we had only a couple of weeks ago.

In addition to the pictures, for cold winter nights, you’ll find suggested winter-related reading lists for kids and adults linked to the NOBLE catalog.

You can see many more historical photographs of Wakefield by visiting Beebe Library’s web site at www.wakefieldlibrary.org, and choosing “Historical Images” from the “About Wakefield” menu.

To use this new free service, go directly to our collection of downloadable titles. You can find books you want by searching for a specific title, or browsing different categories. Browse genres of fiction, like mysteries or historical novels, romance, or science fiction – or nonfiction titles like biographies and books on how to learn a foreign language, or English for foreign speakers.

You can also browse new titles, or recently returned ones that were enjoyed by others. Browse by format to see which titles are compatible with your player, and even browse through only those titles that are currently available at the moment. If the title you want is unavailable, you can reserve it the same as you would for any other library item.

How do you get started? You need a valid library card, an Internet connection, and you’ll need to download the free OverDrive Media Console software, which will manage your audiobook selections. On our OverDrive web site you’ll find plenty of useful help in the “Getting Started” section at the top of the left hand menu. If you need help, by all means contact the library staff by phone or e-mail and we can assist you in getting started.

Downloadable titles can be “checked out” to your computer for a period of two weeks. After that they automatically expire and are available for the next person. In addition to listening to them on your PC or laptop, most titles can also be transferred to a portable device like an MP3 player or an iPod. Some can also be burned to a recordable CD. Because of licensing and digital rights management (DRM) restrictions from the publishers, not all titles can be listened to on all equipment, but the listings on our web site will clearly list which options are available for each book. Icons next to each title will show you if it is compatible with Apple devices.

Use this handy cheat sheet to help determine which devices are compatible with the e-books you download through the library.

We hope to expand the NOBLE downloadable collection over time, but as a Massachusetts resident you have other options as well. Boston Public Library’s OverDrive service is available to all residents of the Commonwealth. Again, you need a valid library card, but you can easily register online for a Boston Public Library card which will allow you to download their audio- and e-books as well.

People with visual impairments may also be eligible for services, including a large collection of downloadable audiobooks, from the Perkins School for the Blind.