When it decided to hop into the eBook business, the Abilene Public Library didn't even have to publicize what it was doing.
Demand for downloadable literature was so high that people started using the library's eBook service as soon as it went live in January.
"We were surprised by how many people found it before we even said a word about it," said Ricki Brown, city librarian.
The library previously had offered downloadable music and audiobooks for users, but the eBook initiative represents something different altogether. It's taking the service that libraries are best known for and digitizing it.
But the timing makes sense: with Nooks, Kindles, iPads and tablets of every stripe taking over the market, reading a classic suddenly looks hip again.
The library partnered with eBook distribution company OverDrive in the endeavor, which currently features 218 titles. In two months, those books have been digitally checked out 774 times, Brown says.
Patrons at the Tom Green County Library in San Angelo download from the same system as Abilene users.
So how does it work? Library card holders shop for a title, then download it straight from the library's website. Users can choose a one- or two-week checkout period.
From there, they can read it on a computer (using additional downloaded Adobe software), or export it to a mobile device for on-the-go reading.
The download expires and essentially deletes itself at the end of the checkout period, which leads to an unexpected benefit: the potential death of late fees.
While the program works for most tablet readers, the Amazon Kindle isn't compatible with Adobe software, which has cost the library one of the most popular devices on the market. That might change in the future, but library staff can only guess when.
Due to the usual bit of early troubleshooting that came with the launch, the library has posted a lengthy series of tutorial videos on its website and YouTube page. Each device's operating system has its own set of quirks, and compounding the problem is the fact that the market is saturated with them at this point.
Which begs the bigger, if speculative question: where does all this downloading leave the library building itself in the years to come?
"The bricks and mortar library is not going away," said Janis Test, the library's information services manager. "People have been predicting its demise for years and years."
The more likely outcome, Test says, is hard and digital books each having a niche, the way radio, television and all of our other entertainment distractions coexist today.
But the early returns suggest that the old library stacks will have to make room for their digital counterparts.
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