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e-Book & e-Information Services

e-Book & Audiobook downloads with OverDrive
Pre-loaded digital player to borrow with Playaway
e-LIBRARY - e-Books and Information Databases (SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES)
External links to free e-Books with Project Gutenberg, Google Books etc
EPUB format

e-Books & Audiobooks downloads with OverDrive

There are over 1,000 OverDrive e-Books and Audiobooks for RBWM library members to download anytime and anywhere.

Use your RBWM library card and your PIN to login via your PC or Mac
2 eBook formats available - Adobe EPUB & Adobe PDF
2 audio book formats available - OverDrive MP3 and WMA.
You are entitled to borrow up to 5 audiobooks / e-books at any one time.
For comprehensive information on all aspects of downloading e-Books & Audiobooks please go to our OverDrive website

Using OverDrive with the KOBO e-book reader
The KOBO e-book reader that is being marketed by WH Smith can be used to download OverDrive e-books

Using OverDrive with the Amazon KINDLE
We are still awaiting developments that will make it possible for Amazon Kindle users to download our Overdrive library ebooks. No date has yet been announced by OverDrive but this is likely to happen once it has been implemented in the States. We will keep you informed.

iPAD The iPad is compatible with a number of the OverDrive formats in different scenarios. You can now download MP3 Audiobooks and EPUB eBooks directly to the device from a mobile version of our site using the new iPhone App. The OverDrive Media Console used with iPAD now offers a full screen display.
Mac users can transfer MP3 Audiobooks to an iPad from their computer. PC users can transfer both WMA and MP3 Audiobooks to an iPad from their computer

Borrow the PLAYAWAY - a digital player pre-loaded with a full length audiobook

Another new generation of audio books - The Playaway - is now available in Windsor and Maidenhead Libraries.

A pocket sized digital media player preloaded with a full length audio book.
Easy to operate and can be used with headphones or played through speakers.
The player automatically bookmarks where you are when you pause, stop or restart.
It can be used at home or on the move.

This new product will provide a wider choice of format to our visually impaired users who will be able to borrow them free of charge. Playaways are available to borrow from Maidenhead and Windsor Libraries. The cost is £2 for a 3 week loan (£1.80 Advantage card)

* Please note batteries and headphones will not be provided, but can be purchased in the library.

e-LIBRARY takes you beyond Google

Through our e-LIBRARY you can login and use over 1,200 web-based e-Books and information databases, covering computing, biographies, newspapers, art, music, business startups, family history and social issues.

We subscribe to these high quality online services to help you with your information needs, whether it is for research, homework, developing your ICT skills, searching your family history, setting up, running and managing a business or even doing the crossword!

All the following, with the exception of Ancestry and European Sources Online, which are only available on the library PCs, can be used on a PC with an Internet link, any time, anywhere. Just login in with your library membership number at e-LIBRARY

External links to Free e-Books

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of free e-Books. There are over 30,000 free e-Books are available to download. You can also use the Gutenberg collection through our OverDrive service

Recent popular downloaded e-Books from Project Gutenberg:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana by Vatsyayana
History of the United States by Charles A. Beard and Mary Ritter Beard
All About Coffee by William H. Ukers
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Google Books - e-Books to download

With the Google programme millions of books in the public domain provided by partners have been digitised.
Partners include many academic and national institutions such as Oxford University, New York Public Library, Lyon Municipal Library, National Library of Catalonia and Columbia University Library. With the addition of PDF and EPUB downloads, Google now allows Internet users all over the world to download, print and read offline many out-of-copyright books. These tend to be older publications.

EPUB e-Book format

The EPUB e-Book format offers a better reading experience with current e-Book readers such as iPhones and Sony Readers. With EPUB the contents will reflow to suit the size of your screen. You will find out more about downloading EPUB e-Books at epubBooks (external site). This site provides downloads to free e-Books in the open web standards e-Book format.

These are some of the titles available:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (F Scott Fitzgerald)
Little Lord Fauntleroy (F H Burnett)
Ben-Hur (Lew Wallace)
Dream Days (Kenneth Grahame)
The Prince (Niccolò Machiavelli)
Right Ho, Jeeves (P. G. Wodehouse)
Les Misérables (V.Hugo)

Information about Adobe EPUB books is available at the RBWM OverDrive site