Discovering Digital Media for Kids

As the checkout statistics prove, eBooks and eAudiobooks are overwhelmingly popular.  However, many people don't realize that we have a large selection of children's and young adult eBooks and eAudiobooks.  To get to any of the resources detailed below, look for the eBooks and eAudiobooks links on the library homepage.

eAudiobooks from One Click Digital
One Click Digital makes it possible to search by target audience, limiting search results by Beginning Reader (17 titles), Children's (347 titles), or Yound Adult (501 titles).  These titles can be downloaded to a home computer and transferred to a device or you can use the new Android or iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch apps to checkout and download to a mobile device.  The best thing about One Click Digital is that most titles can be checked out by multiple people at the same time, meaning there is never a waitlist!
Titles of note in One Click Digital are American Girl books, the Ranger's Apprentice series, the Sisters Grimm series, Meg Cabot books, titles from Anthony Horowitz, and student guides for many of Shakespeare's plays.

eBooks from Ebrary
Ebrary provides mostly non-fiction titles, with many academic sources and study guides available.  This resource is best suited for high school students and titles can be downloaded to a home computer or to an Android or iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app.  Most of these resources can be checked out by multiple people at the same time.

eBooks and eAudiobooks from Overdrive
Overdrive provides both eBooks and eAudiobooks for children and young adults, though finding them is a little tricky.  The best way to access children's titles is to do an advanced search.  In the advanced search mode, using the subject dropdown menu, results can be restricted to Juvenile Fiction (2075 titles), Juvenile Literature (100 titles), Young Adult Fiction (1761 titles), Young Adult Literature (32 titles), and Young Adult Non-fiction (83 titles).  Also in the advanced search is the option to restrict results to particular award winners, including Caldecott and Newbury Medal and Honor books, Michael L. Printz Award and Honors books for teens, and several other children's and YA awards.  Overdrive titles can be downloaded to a home computer and transferred to many devices or checked out and downloaded via an Android or iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app.

Free eBook Sources Roundup

More and more people are reading eBooks these days, on smart phones, tablets, computers, and dedicated eReaders.  Though the library is a great source for eBooks, there are many more available on the internet for free!

In January, I posted a great list of sources for free eBooks that you can still access here.  Here are some other websites to keep on your radar for yet more free Ebooks.

Digitalbooktoday.com has a daily list of free Kindle books available on Amazon.com.  Many of these are publisher promotionals that may only be free for 24 - 48 hours.  You can sign up for a daily email to be notified of the latest additions.

Smashwords.com has over 70,000 eBooks, with approximately 12,000 free in a variety of formats.  These books are from indie authors and small publishers.

Plough.com is a Christian publishing house that has free eBooks in a variety of formats and a variety of languages including English, Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish among others.

Obooko.com is another site with free eBooks from independent authors.  Most books are in PDF format, though EPUB and Kindle formats are being introduced.

Kindles!

ABC Libraries now has Kindles available for checkout, for those curious about eReaders - whether you are thinking of buying one, but want to try it first, or you just want to get a feel for eBooks! The 32 Kindles started circulating on April 1st.  Place your hold now!

While you are waiting to receive your Kindle hold, you might want to peruse our Kindle LibGuide, with its handy sections on How Borrowing a Kindle Works, How to Use the Kindle, & Help (lists an array of common  problems & how to correct them).  You will want to make special note of the ABC Libraries Kindle Borrowing Agreement, which a staff member will walk you through at checkout.

Also, many libraries have classes that can help you use your Kindle!  You can find answers to FAQ, links to branches with classes, & printable handouts in our Downloading Digital Media LibGuide.

Happy eBorrowing!

Free eBook Sources

Perhaps you are one of the lucky ones who received an eBook reader or other gadget for Christmas.  Perhaps you are an early adopter and already have one or use your computer to the same effect.  Maybe you are waiting to check out an eBook Reader from the library before you make a decision (Kindles coming soon!).  No matter which camp you are in, the library's eBook collection has been surging in popularity. 

But wait!  The library is not the only source of free eBooks.  Below is a brief list of places on the web where you can find free eBooks in a variety of formats.  Many of the sites offer public domain (out-of-copyright) works, so frequently you have a great deal of choice in which edition and which site to download those from.  Enjoy!

Amazon.com has a large selection of free titles, both books in the public domain and new books that are special offers from publishers.  For public domain books, search by title or visit the Kindle Popular Classics collection.  For free new books, the best place to check is the Best Sellers in Kindle Store Top 100 Free list.  These are in the .azw format, which can be read on a Kindle or through one of the various free Kindle apps.

Barnes and Noble has similar freebies on their website, with both publishers' special offers and free classics.  These are in the .epub format, which can be read on a Nook, though the Nook app, or on a reader which supports epub files by using Adobe Digital Editions.

Baen Books, a publisher of science fiction and fantasy, has a selection of free eBooks in many formats.  Their Free Library aims to offer the first in a series when available.

Girlebooks is a good resource for classic and contemporary ebooks by female writers. Girlebooks ebooks are hand-crafted and professionally formatted into multiple ebook formats to accommodate most ereaders, & most titles are free. All of their ebooks, even the ones in the ebook store, are DRM free (no digital rights management). This means that once you download the ebook, it is yours forever no matter what ereader you use to read it.

Digital Book Index has a large catalog of (mostly) free academic and scholarly eBooks in many formats.  This is a great resource for primary sources.  The catalog pulls results from many different contributors and shows format availability. 

Inkmesh is an eBook search engine.  It has links to free promotional books for the Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Sony and others.  It also allows you to search for a title (both eBook and eAudiobook) and compare prices at different websites.  Since most prices are set by the publisher, this may not be as helpful as it seems, though occasionally a special can be found.

Lastly is the biggie, Project Gutenberg.  This is the site to go to for out-of-print works, with more than 36,000 available.  Project Gutenberg titles can be read by almost any device available.  For more information on how to transfer them to your device, see these directions.