Summer is the perfect time for vacations, weekend getaways, and staycations. Of course, a perfect complement to any vacation is a good book. If you're looking to get away from it all without adding too much extra weight to your baggage, MCPL has the perfect solution, our extensive collection of e-books.
My family and I are headed out for an extended vacation soon. I don't want to fill my luggage with print books, so last month I bought my first dedicated e-reader. I've own tablets for years, but I've never been happy reading on them. Tablet batteries last hours, dedicated e-reader batteries last weeks. And with a tablet's easy access to the internet and social media, I found it hard to concentrate on even the most engaging books. So I'm bringing my new e-reader with me on our vacation, loaded with e-books borrowed from MCPL of course, and no print books. We'll see how it goes.
In buying an e-reader this late in the game, it appears I am somewhat of an anachronism. The rise of smartphones and tablets has diminished the popularity of dedicated e-readers. Perhaps my fellow readers are less easily distracted by Youtube and Subway Surfer than I.
Regardless of whether you prefer to read your e-books on your phone, a tablet, an e-reader, or some combination of these, MCPL has e-books that you can check out digitally. You can access these items from wherever you are and the items return themselves at the end of their checkout. No fines or fees to worry about.
We have two e-book services that have popular, downloadable fiction and nonfiction for adults, teens, and children. These services are cloudLibrary and Maryland's Digital eLibrary Consortium (OverDrive). You can download books from these services to your tablet or phone and many dedicated e-readers. For some e-readers, you may need to use a computer to download the book and then transfer it to your device. Have a look to find your favorite titles that you've been wanting to read!
I recently finished Earth Girl by Janet Edwards, which I downloaded from Overdrive. It's set hundreds of years in the future, when humanity has spread out among dozens of different solar systems. The main character is a girl born with a rare condition that makes it impossible for her to live anywhere but Earth. Can she prove that she, and those like her, are worthy of respect and admiration in a galactic society that views people with her condition with pity and contempt? It's an intriguing read, one of thousands you'll find in both cloudLibrary and Overdrive.
If you are looking for online books for young children, try Tumblebooks. It is an online collection of animated, talking picture books. It includes story books, chapter books, nonfiction, videos, and more. It's perfect for a rainy day at home or anywhere else you have access to the internet. You read these books within your browser as they are not downloadable.
If your summer plans lean more toward career advancement than beaches and sunsets, MCPL can help there too. Safari Books Online contains the complete content of over 8,000 books, with charts, graphics, and cut-and-paste code segments. Learn HTML, develop a mobile app, create a startup business, and more. Like Tumblebooks, the books in Safari are not downloadable. They're designed to be read from within your browser.
Whatever your summer plans, everything goes better with books. So take a look at e-book collections and enjoy the amazing lightness of e-books.Labels: Books, e-Books, Reading
