E-Book Checkouts Pick Up at New Lenox Library

Although the New Lenox Public Library was closed on Christmas, new director Kate Hall tried to get a new book. For her mother, that is, on the new Nook e-reader she bought as a gift.

“I tried to register for my mother on Christmas and it was extremely slow,” Hall said.

Libraries across the country saw a large increase in the number of people checking out digital media on Christmas Day. The library’s download vendor, OverDrive, had so many users that it slowed down and added bandwidth and servers to accommodate the increased use.

At the New Lenox library, the use of e-readers and the number of digital downloads has increased steadily, especially since the introduction of e-book downloads in May 2010. But that number jumped exponetially in December, library staff said.

“It’s really picked up, but there isn’t anything to compare it to last Christmas because we started in May," said Colleen Waltman, the library's adult services director.

When e-books became available in May through the New Lenox library, 13 downloads were made. Fastforward to December, and 74 e-books were downloaded, making it 244 total. Combined with audio book downloads, there have been more than 70 total so far in January.

It's still not as large a number as some other libraries, but shows signs of growth. ( that 1,594 items were downloaded in December, though that includes audio books, e-books and e-music and movies, too.)

Hall said one of the best things about the e-book downloads is that there's no late fees. Users may "check out" books for 7- or 14-day periods and then it's automatically returned at the end of that time. Because of licensing rights, many pieces still only have one copy, so items are sometimes unavailable. You may put an item on hold, though, and receive e-mail notification when it's available.

One issue Hall mentioned is that while e-readers such as the iPad and Barnes & Noble's Nook are compatible, the Kindle is not. For a full list of compatible devices, go to OverDrive's website.

To get set up to download e-books and other digital material, you can go to the Online Media of Northern Illinois Libraries website.

"A lot of people have had a hard time figuring out how to get it set up," Hall said. "So they come to the library, which I think is great. It's just another way we can help people."