The World of E-Books
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In the Colonial era of America, few books were available until Benjamin Franklin started the first lending library in the early 1730’s. Later, Andrew Carnegie who believed in self education, donated millions of dollars to build libraries across the country. According to the Boston Public Library website, the first large free library was opened in Boston, Mass. in 1848. Certainly, public libraries have always played an important role in our society as they provided access to books and materials that may not have otherwise been available. However, the role of the library has been experiencing a significant change.
The Oxford Dictionary of English defines the e-book as “an electronic version of a printed book,” but e-books can and do exist without any printed equivalent. It is a publication in digital form consisting of text and images that is readable on computers and other electronic devices. A personal computer and even a cell phone can be used to read an e-book. Whereas early e-books were more scholarly and technical in nature and written for specialty areas and devoted interest groups, recently e-books have risen in popularity.
Our local Hamden, CT library has recently announced that residents of the town can gain access to e-pub format titles through the library’s website at www.hamdenlibrary.org. If you are a resident of our Hamden rental apartments at Seramonte with a public library card, you are eligible for a one-time download of Adobe Digital Editions which is the software program that manages the lending of e-books. After the download is complete, you can borrow up to five titles. There are instructions for the download available on the library’s website, and they are also available in print format at the library’s three locations in town.
Other sources of e-books include sites such as http://e-library.net/, http://www.ebooks.com/index_us.asp and www.borders.com/eBooks.These sources contain e-books from the world’s largest professional, pop and academic publishers offering books on a broad base of subjects including business, science fiction, academia, romance, health, diet, beauty, cooking, dog training, golf, crime, thrillers, and more. And, you can download without breaking your piggy bank.
