Ron Block, circulation supervisor for the Jacksonville Public Library, showed customers
the “Digital Bookmobile” on Wednesday.
“We don’t care how people read, as long as they read,” he said.
The high-tech trailer is on a national tour and stopped Downtown in front of the Main Library on Laura Street to give people a look at eBook technology and discover the digital resources available through the public library.
Visitors found inside interactive stations explaining how to use digital books, music and video. There were also representatives from OverDrive.com, the vendor that supplies the materials to the public library.
JPL spokeswoman Kathy Lussier said the library has about 30,000 digital books, called “eBooks,” and audio books on CD available for loan.
Customers can use their library cards to access the collection, which can be downloaded to a home computer or most mobile devices.
That makes the materials not only portable, but possibly more convenient than traditional books borrowed from the public library.
“One of the great things about e-materials is that when the loan period ends, they just disappear from your device. You don’t have to return them and there can’t be any late fees,” Lussier said.
She said one question she often hears is whether the public library will cease to exist as a brick-and-mortar operation by making the transition to purely digital distribution.
“That’s not likely. We have 30,000 items in our e-library, but there are 3 million items in the JPL inventory,” Lussier said, but added that digital material will become an even larger segment of the public library in the future.
“We’re evaluating the usage patterns to decide how to appropriate our materials budget,” she said.
“The demand is growing so fast, it’s hard to catch up,” said Block.
To complement its collection of digital materials, JPL offers “Reader’s Advisory” and “Music Advisory” services.
Customers can fill out a form found at jpl.coj.net/lib/readers.html (or music-advisory.html) and library staff will provide a list of suggested book titles or music based on preferences indicated on the form. The recommendations are emailed within five days.
“It keeps the librarian in the library experience,” said Lussier.
To view the library’s collection of digital materials and for information about compatible devices and how to download materials, visit jpl.lib.overdrive.com.
356-2466