U.S. libraries think cyber to attract new patrons

The International Herald Tribune: "The newest books in the New York Public Library don't take up any shelf space.

They are electronic books - 3,000 titles' worth - and the library's 1.8 million cardholders can point and click through the collection at www.nypl.org, choosing from among best-sellers, nonfiction, romance novels and self-help guides. Patrons borrow them for set periods, downloading them for reading on a computer, a hand-held organizer or other device using free reader software. When they are due, the files are automatically locked out - no matter what hardware they are on - and returned to circulation, eliminating late fees.

In the first eight days of operation in early November, and with little fanfare, the library's cardholders - from New York City and New York State and, increasingly, from elsewhere - checked out more than 1,000 digital books and put 400 others on waiting lists. (The library has a limited number of licenses for each book.)

E-books are only one way that libraries are laying claim to a massive online public as their newest service audience. The institutions are breaking free from the limitations of physical location by making many kinds of materials and services available at all times to patrons who are both cardholders and Web surfers, whether they are homebound in the neighborhood or halfway around the world.

Library e-books are not new. For example, netLibrary, an online-only e-book collection for libraries, has operated since 1998. But the New York Public Library decided to wait for software that would let users read materials on hand-held devices, freeing them from computers.

The King County Library System in Washington State, which serves communities like Redmond and Bellevue and the computer-savvy workers at local companies like Microsoft and Boeing, has also embraced both e-books and audiobooks.

In November, the King County libraries added 634 audiobooks to the 8,500 e-books in its catalog (www.kcls.org). With no publicity at all, 200 of the audiobooks had already been checked out."