In May, 2014, the North Judson-Wayne Township Library
signed an agreement with Baker & Taylor Axis360 to provide eBooks for
taxpayers in our service district. (If
you live outside of Wayne Township your home library can provide you with
eBooks – locally the Starke County Library System or the Pulaski County Library System.)
Before you get too excited, there is some bad news that
goes with the good. If you have an older
Kindle, Nook and some Android based ereaders/tablets, you will not be able to
download books directly to your reader as their operating systems are not set
up that way.
Applications
you will need:
There are four applications
that you need to download directly to your tablet. Each of them is free and you should be able
to download them through Google, Android apps or from our Axis360 site under
“App Zone” (http://njwt.axis360.baker-taylor.com/#).
1. AxisReader is an
application from Baker & Taylor which will allow you to connect to our
library, browse the collection, login to your account with the library, and
download books.
2. Acoustik is an
application that will read books to you if they are set up to be read. You will have to set up a free account
with Acoustik. Not all the books we purchase will be Acoustik compatible.
3. Blio is an application that allows you to see the books laid out
as the author intended. You will have
to set up a free account with Blio. This is especially important with books
that have directions, pictures, etc.
4. Adobe Digital Editions is an application from Adobe
which will allow you to read books on your ereader/tablet in the epub format. You will have to set up a free account with Adobe. You will need
to download this program to your laptop/computer and use it to transfer books
to your older Kindle/Nook, and some Android based ereaders/tablets, by
connecting them directly to your laptop/computer with the cord that came with
them.
How
to Checkout eBooks:
So you visited our “Magic Wall” and found a book that looks
interesting, how do you check it out?
When you linger on a title an information box will open. Choose the format you want to use and then
you can add the item to your checkout list (if you want to keep looking), check
it out right away, or put it on your wish list if it is already checked
out. Once you make your choice a box
will open asking you to enter your 14 digit library card number beginning with
2979. If you choose you can checkout up
to three items for 14 days and add titles to your wish list. You can then download the books directly to
your tablet (or computer if you are using an older Kindle, Nook, or some
Android based ereaders/tablets).
How
Often Will New Books Appear on the Magic Wall?
Now, did you know that most eBooks are only “leased” to
libraries? And that we only “own” them
for a limited amount of time? When you
purchase a book for your ereader from Amazon or Barnes & Noble you usually
pay the same price as you would for a physical copy of the book, part of that
price (the royalty) goes to the author and you get to keep the book
forever. When libraries purchase eBooks
we get them for a limited time (usually a minimum of 1 year or in some cases a
total of 26 circulations - which could be more than one year depending on the
popularity of the item) and we have to pay the author’s royalty for 26 books
whether the item circulates 26 times or not.
So the brand new book that you might pay $25/$30 for could cost us
somewhere between $75 and $150, and we don’t get to keep it. Needless to say we won’t be purchasing many
brand new books as eBooks, but once the price comes down in about 6-8 months
they will be considered.
We hope to add more titles to our eBook collection every
other month and welcome your input as to titles and authors for
consideration.
No comments:
Post a Comment