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.

• Audiobook listeners are avid readers who use audiobooks as a way of enjoying an author’s work when they are not able to read.
• Many authors love audiobooks. Scott Turow, Janet Evanovich, Judy Blume, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Tom Wolfe, Lisa Scottoline — all listen to audiobooks.
• Most listeners use audiobooks in the car (whether they are commuting or on driving vacations) but an increasing number of people also report using audiobooks while they are exercising, cooking, gardening — and even at work.
• The average audiobook listener spends about 5 hours a week listening.
• Audiobooks are great for family listening on the road this summer–nothing ends the “Are we there yet?” blues like a great audiobook. Audiobooks keep everyone in the car entertained while also increasing literacy skills. Families can even knock out a few of the titles on a kid’s summer reading list on the way to vacation.
• Audiobooks are a great tool for building literacy. Teachers and librarians report that listening to audiobooks helps children build better vocabularies and also helps them to read with better expression.

2011’s Audiobook of the Year is Life, by Keith Richards, read by Keith Richards, Johnny Depp, and Joe Hurley.
Audies are awarded annually to those audiobooks judged to be exceptional in their category. You can hear clips and read reviews of nominated audiobooks in all categories at http://www.theaudies.com/
Explore Beebe Library’s collection of audio options. Books on CD and “Playaways” can be found on our shelves, while even more titles are available for download from our website using Overdrive. Tips for downloading to your particular device are available through the library’s web site on the Overdrive page. For additional information or assistance ask a librarian.

Need help? OverDrive has information to get you started:
The Quick Start Guide – has step-by-step instructions with links to more help.
The Digital Help FAQ – has answers to common questions about how OverDrive works and how to troubleshoot problems.
The Compatibility Guide – will help you determine which devices are compatible with the OverDrive service.
You can also e-mail NOBLE’s OverDrive tech support staff with specific questions via their support page.
And by all means contact us at Beebe Library if you have questions or comments.

OverDrive is now available for Kindle users!

As of September 2011, OverDrive is also now finally available for Amazon Kindle users! Browse our collections, check out a title, and then transfer it to your Kindle. For more information, check out Amazon’s web site or the announcement from OverDrive. There is also a nice YouTube video to help you get started.

As a Massachusetts resident you can also access the large OverDrive collection made available by the Boston Public Library to all residents of the Commonwealth. You need a valid library card, but you can easily register online for a Boston Public Library card which will allow you to download BPL’s audiobooks and ebooks as well.

You can browse our collection of e-books and audiobooks and check them out on your library card. You can have up to four items checked out at a time. If a title you want is already checked out to someone else, you can place a hold, and you’ll receive an e-mail message when the book is available for you.

The new e-book collection includes about 200 e-books for adults, teens and children, both fiction and nonfiction. As with the downloadable audiobooks, the e-book collection will grow over time.

All e-books are in the same format: EPUB with DRM (digital rights management). These must be downloaded to Adobe Digital Editions, which can be downloaded to Windows or Mac computers from Adobe’s site. The Library’s Overdrive site also has a link to download this free software. E-books download as a single file, not in parts like audiobooks, which makes for a much faster download.

To access OverDrive for either e-books or downloadable audiobooks, visit the library’s web site at www.wakefieldlibrary.org, or go directly to our collection of downloadable titles at overdrive.noblenet.org.

NOBLE hopes to expand the 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. You need a valid library card, but you can easily register online for a Boston Public Library e-card, which will allow you to download BPL’s audiobooks as well.

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

“iPod-compatibility instantly adds value to digital media catalogs powered by OverDrive and further expands the collection to the millions of iPod owners eager to download from the library,” said David Burleigh, director of marketing for OverDrive. “A simple software upgrade is all it takes to allow the transfer of thousands of additional bestsellers to the popular media player.”

Once OverDrive Media Console version 3.2 is installed, most titles in a library’s OverDrive WMA Audiobook collection will instantly become iPod-compatible for users with Windows PCs. The growing collection of iPod-compatible, Mac®-friendly OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks will still be available to help libraries better serve patrons with Apple computers.

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

All you need is a library card to begin downloading and enjoying free audiobooks from Beebe Library. More information on this service.

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.