Altadena Library to Offer Ebooks

Starting in September, the will be offering a limited range of ebooks for Altadena residents, according to librarian Pauli Dutton.

The initial offerings will be somewhat limited, with only about 250 titles.  Altadena residents can make suggestions about what kind of ebooks they would like to see at the library's online survey.

Once the ebooks become available anyone with an Altadena Library card will be able to check out titles on various mobile devices including iPad, iPod, iPhone, Sony Reader, Barnes and Noble's Nook, and those working on the Android or BlackBerry platform, according to Dutton. 

The library staff will also be working to make the new ebook collection compatible with the Amazon Kindle as well, Dutton said.  A full list of compatible electronic devices is listed here.

Because of the high cost of buying the rights to offer multiple people access to the same title, only one reader will be able to "check out" an ebook at a time, Dutton said.

The user would be able to choose to access the book for 7 to 21 days.  The users would be able to download the ebooks through the library's website.