Frisco Public Library lets you download e-books, audio and video.

By Bill Sullivan

Recently, the Frisco Public Library had an opportunity to tap into some federal stimulus money to get $75,000 toward expanding and deepening its downloadables collection. As part of the application, Director Shelley Holley had to show that the money would have a positive environmental impact.

Downloadable books are green?

You bet.

“Production of books is still production,” she explained. “You’ve got the hauling, transportation, the space they take on the shelf – all those kinds of things. We recognized downloadables not only as a green option, but as a time and space saving option, too.”

In ways you may not have imagined, Frisco Public Library is doing its part to make the city just a little greener. Thanks to ever-improving technology, you don’t even have to come to the library to get a library card anymore.

“You can apply from home, be given a library card number, and you can turn around and check out digital books from home,” Holley says. When you come to the library to check out other kinds of materials, you can pick up your card to do so.

“We’re trying to make library materials as easily accessible as possible.”

The recent expansion of the downloadables collection was highlighted at January’s Town Hall Meeting. The Library currently works with three vendors to offer a wide range of titles and content:

• Overdrive offers downloadable print e-books, some video, and some music.
• MyiLibrary Audio (Ingram) offers the bulk of the Library’s audiobooks.
• NetLibrary is almost exclusively e-books.

Titles can be downloaded on most e-readers. Items can be accessed through the Library’s Web page. Using the Internet from home, a customer can download material on any compatible device.

Image: Frisco Public Library

Users can choose between seven and 14-day checkouts. When that time is up, the content “checks itself back in” by expiring from the patron’s device.

To avoid issues, be sure that the format of the book matches the device you are loading. An MP3 format, for instance, can transfer easily to MP3 players and iPods. Amazon’s Kindle, however, is programmed to work only at the Amazon Kindle store.

At the moment, the Sony e-reader is the most flexible because Sony has not contracted with a source.

“We’re still a little bit in the middle of whose format is going to win out,” Holley says. “Currently, when you buy an e-reader or an MP3 player, you’re making a choice about some formats. You need to make sure you’re aware of what you’re excluding and what you’re including, what are easier to download free items with, what are more difficult to download items with.”

The Friends of the Library have helped move the project down the tracks, providing funds to purchase a variety of e-readers for staff to evaluate.

“We’re trying to stay on top so that we know which ones are best for which formats,” Holley says. “So anyone who might be interested in buying an e-reader and is also interested in availing themselves of the free items that are provided in the library, it’s not a bad idea to come to the library and talk about what kind of device you’re interested in, what your price range is, and how important it is that you don’t have to buy everything you read in an e-reader.”

With increased inventory and greater awareness, the downloadables collection enjoyed a 70 percent jump in circulation between December 2008 and December 2009. While purists may lament the threat to the traditional format, Holley insists the Library is “not advocating the death of the book any more than people were advocating the death of the clay tablet or the scroll.

“We want people to be able to get the information they need in whatever format works best for them. But in an area where time is ever-increasingly an issue, not to mention transportation, a downloadable is a real answer to that.”

Older citizens haven’t always embraced new technology, but Library staffers have noticed a difference when it comes to e-books. A large number of technical support questions regarding downloadables have come from the AARP crowd.

“I really didn’t think that was going to happen, but I’ve had a lot of technical support questions from people who don’t navigate their computer that well but love their e-readers,” says Adult Services Librarian John McNaughton, who added that he fields about 20 downloadables-related inquiries a week.

For older readers, downloadables have plenty of appeal: No trips to the Library in bad weather. No need to arrange for transportation if they don’t have their own. No items to return. No wasted gasoline commuting back and forth to a central location, and no need to replace lost, worn or damaged printed materials.

All in all, a win-win for the library, its patrons, and — last, but hardly least — the environment. Just another way in which forward thinking helps Frisco be a little more green.