News release from The Milton Public Library
The Milton Public Library has joined the initial group of libraries throughout North America that offer the Freading™ eBook Service. Freading will allow the Library to increase the size and diversity of its collection by offering access to tens of thousands of books, none of which require the patron to wait in line to download. Under the terms of the agreement, registered Milton card holders can download a select number of books each week at no direct cost, the library pays the modest cost of the downloads. Freading will be accessible through the library website, or directly at: http://miltonlibrary.freading.com.
Library Director Philip McNulty says about the new service: “Freading is the only way to quickly give Milton Library cardholders a selection of over 20,000 ebooks. While the number of books someone can read in any given week is limited, you can all be reading the same one. The amount of money we will invest in Freading otherwise could have bought maybe 125 ebooks, but with this setup readers get to decide which titles to select, rather than us trying to anticipate their wishes. The market for ebooks in libraries is still in very early days, and some publishers refuse to sell to libraries on any platform, but Freading has a tremendous selection including some of my favorite publishers, like Algonquin Books and Sterling Publishing.”
Other libraries participating in the launch include Maricopa County Library District (AZ), Orange County Public Library (FL), The Edmonton Public Library (AB), The L.E. Phillips Memorial Library in Eau Claire, WI and the Paris, TX Public Library. Milton is the second Old Colony Library Network member to offer Freading, after the Sandwich Public Library. Freading™ has its own apps for the iPad® and iPhone®, and its own apps for Android™ tablets and phones. It is also compatible with the Kindle Fire, the Nook devices, and Kobo devices. Freading is the second service the library has bought from Library Ideas, Inc., after the Friends of the Library bought the subscription to the Freegal music download service last April. In its first year Milton cardholders downloaded 8000 songs from Freegal, without DRM restrictions. For more information on either service, contact the Reference Department at (617) 698-5757